Eyes on
the road
drive
reasonable limits, choose with whom
that data is shared.
Inside the car, USB and Bluetooth
connections for your phone are now
pretty much standard. Apple CarPlay
and Android Auto go a step further by
mirroring your phone’s screen on the
car’s display. This helps keep the phone
out of your hands by enabling access
to apps via voice command or touch
(when the car is not in motion), but it’s
not a complete solution for distracted
driving. Research shows that interact-
ing with these technologies still has an
impact on drivers’ mental workload.
Manufacturers also offer their own
apps for locating your car and under-
standing its basic diagnostics. The
BMW ConnectedDrive app can even
tell when you’re headed home, and
offers the ability to turn on lights and
adjust the thermostat at your house.
In spite of your
car’s autonomous
features, always avoid
distracted driving
caask.ca/safety
Drive
Cars of the Future
Three trends making waves in showrooms
around the world
By mark riChardson
Cars are getting smarter every year.
Here are some of the latest techno-
logical breakthroughs—and what they
mean for drivers like you.
autonomous cars
On the official scale rating self-driving
cars, where zero is an old car with no
autonomous features and five is a vehi-
cle without even a steering wheel, the
2018 Audi A8 claims to be the first pro-
duction car to reach level three. It uses
lidar, a laser-radar combination, to
virtually “see” the road ahead.
The car isn’t yet legal in Canada,
but it’s already being used in Europe.
When it does arrive here, you’ll still
have to be in the driver’s seat—and
will need to employ safe-driving tech-
niques—regardless of the vehicle’s
high-tech qualities.
Many existing, less expensive cars
can already drive themselves for short
periods under specific conditions—all
of which require driver supervision.
Every major automaker’s goal, how-
ever, is to do away with manual opera-
tion, likely within the next decade.
Meanwhile, manufacturers continue
to add autonomous features to mass-
market cars. Sensors and cameras on
many new vehicles help them stay
within their lane on the road (a feature
dubbed active lane assistance),
keep a safe distance from the car
ahead (adaptive cruise control), and
park themselves.
Fully connected
Most current cars connect digitally
to a central server to provide engine
diagnostics. Components like cameras,
radar, sonar, and GPS are also expected
to generate large amounts of data.
With the vast amount of data being
collected, a key concern for CAA is
the protection of consumer privacy.
CAA believes drivers should be
informed about what data is being
collected and be able to, within
new fuels
Electric vehicles (EVs) are finally coming
into their own in much of the world.
That said, some countries, states and
provinces are now encouraging the cars’
uptake with subsidies and incentives—
which is good, since base prices for EVs
are higher than gas-powered cars. The
Chevrolet Bolt is the most advanced
lower-priced EV and boasts a full-charge
driving range of almost 400 kilometres,
but it still costs more than $43,000.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles are
also on the road in California, Japan,
and parts of Europe. They could be
sold in Canada as early as 2020 if
a network of filling stations linking
Quebec City to Detroit comes to
fruition. The cars’ biggest selling point
is that they “drive clean” by emitting
only pure water. But there are hurdles
to overcome: While hydrogen is
abundant, turning it into fuel in
a way that’s environmentally friendly
and cost-effective remains a challenge.
Long story short, traditional gas-
powered cars are far from finished.
Mazda, for example, is about to
introduce a gas engine that doesn’t
even need a spark plug. It’s alleged
to be considerably more fuel-efficient
than regular engines and could
rule the road for years to come.
CAA saskatchewan
winter 2017
21