The Past
Cars manufactured before the 1970s were purely mechanical animals. The combination of advanced manufacturing processes and a deeper understanding of simple machines gave way to cars in the steam age. The idea was refined and redeveloped, eventually leading to the model-T: the first affordable and mass produced car ever. Technology changed and cars switched from steam to internal combustion. Manufacturing precision and speed increased with time, allowing for higher quality cars to be mass produced.
Coming to the 1970s, computers were placed in cars. At first, these were simple computers that monitored simple things, like oxygen to gas ratio and temperature. Even these simple computers helped engines run more efficiently.
The Present
Today, computers are an integral and inseparable part of any car. Cars now perform diagnostics and monitor most---if not all---working components. From air pressure in the tires to rain-sensing wind shield wipers, cars today do it all. GPS navigation systems are becoming increasingly common standard components in cars. In fact, desktop computers are even built into some high end models with internet capability, just like a regular computer at home. So with computers becoming increasingly common in todays cars, some might ask, what's next?The Future
So here is my idea for where cars are headed next. Instead of making separate displays (GPS screens, etc), make the windshield itself the display. Instead of having to look away from the road to see where your going on a small 3"x3" screen with a map on it, the map would be overlaid on your windshield.Manipulation of the screen would be handled by motion sensing gloves. If there was a high amount of glare on your hood, you could draw (using your gloves) to block the glare with a small box drawn on the windshield/computer display.
When driving at night, you could open up a night-vision box so you could see both via normal headlights and with night vision right beside it on the windshield.
Plus, some amount of normal computerness would be available, like opening a youtube window to entertain your guests, or checking weather reports. Traffic reports would be built into the GPS system.
Alerts (like your air pressure is low in the right front tire), would pop up directly on your windshield. Alerts telling you its time for an oil change would also display on the screen along with options to schedule an oil change, a map box showing you nearby locations for oil changes, and the functionality to call ahead and see if one is busy or not.
Lastly, the all-to-familiar "Distance to empty" feature would be much cooler. Instead of showing you a rough estimate of how many miles you've got left to drive, on the GPS screen, you could overlay a Distance To Empty map, showing the farthest gas station you can reach along your current route. Now, if you're running on empty and on a long trip, you can see exactly how far you can push it before running out of gas.
So if I could make a car, this would be it. You've gotta admit, it'd be hard to top!
You have some good ideas! It's interesting the way things evolve. We think we have such great technology and innovations now, but then someone thinks of something new to do and everyone goes, "Wow"!
this site is lame it needs cool picctures