I heard cars can automatically parallel park. How much more automatic will cars become in the next 40 years?
964409
Well, I've read articles that suggest that cars will drive themselves in the future. In the future, roads will be lined with computer chips that will send messages to the car. The cars will drive themselves to a pre-determinded place by entering an address on a computer screen or by saying it outloud. Recieving messages from the road chips, car will know when the stop, turn, or take alternate routes in traffic. Just imagine, no steering wheel or gas pedal. It's all automatic.
71917
the fastest I know of would be the Bugatti Veyron 16.4.  they are handbuilt with a 1001 Euro (987 SAE) horsepower, 8.0 liter quad-turbo DOHC 64-valve W-16 engine with 7-speed auto-clutch manual transmission, and tops out at 250+ mph.  in the 7th gear, the car gets less than 3 mpg.  a second key is required to program the engine into "top-speed" mode, where you can go 0-250 in less than 60 seconds.  an air-brake is required to take the car down from 250+ to 160 mph, and the audio system alone costs US$30,000.  a deposit of 350,000 is required to place an order, for a final cost of about $1.25 million.  it will be available in the US about summer 2006, and was recently featured in the January 2006 issue of Motor Trend magazine.
409713
In 20 years, the Internet likely won't exist in the same way as it does now.  We will be accessing all the Internet information through portable devices instead of huge klunky computers that are strapped to a desk.  Think of something the size of the PSP that is as powerful as the fastest desktop on the market today with complete wireless networking from anywhere.\n\nAlso, computers with wireless networking will be built into the dash of most cars in 20 years.\n\nOf course, that all assumes we eliminate our dependance on fossil fuels.  If we can't find an alternative fuel source to run our power grid, cars and transportation system, we may not need to worry about computers in 20 years as the oil may be drying up leaving no way to operate our economy.
1169866
From the beginning, with AutoUnion later becoming AUDI, there has been an attitude of "advancing technology". This has been apparent for years, both in racing and the consumer market. Their domination will end when the corporate mentality changes, which seems rather unlikely. There have been several fairly sucessful diesel race cars, but AUDI takes the technology into the future.
622648
Well just how many old cars do you still see being driven around?  Hello!\nCars are crap (especially those made now---mostly due to plain old plug-ugliness).\nOld houses look sort of dorkie too, but at least they don't fall apart after 6 years.
904699
No.\nThere are many places in the U.S. where it ""appears"" that a car will coast ""uphill"". All of them are based on optical illusions.\n\nAnd No, there is NOT a possibility for everything.
777820
Well it is an increase of 33.25%, that's like comparing 40mph with 53mph in your car. BUT in more relevant terms, it depends on what you're doing with that, are you passing large quanities of data through it like video editing and such, or are you talking about mundane tasks such as word processing?  The difference is less noticeable if you're not working with large data streams.
60776
Early cars started driving on the same side of the street as the horse carriages of the day traveled on. Other countries generally followed the country they were a colony of (e.g. India/Pakistan follow British custom).\n\nEngland has so many classic cars because they hardly mass produce any new real cars anymore. They used to build a lot of crap, and their industry died out, just as GM and Ford are dinosaurs.\n\nImran
464972
I'd rather be driving a 1960s chevy than my 92 Sentra. You're comparing 2 different things...cars/buildings and health. It's like asking, Isn't it weird that computers are soooo fast nowadays...but tortoises are so slow? Would going back to Black screened, green lettered computers make tortoises faster?
855029
i have a 2000 corvette and i was up to 150 in 5th gear. it has 6. i haven't been able to get the full 200 it's supposed to get...
77119
The first step would be to mass produce hybrid vehicles.  If any company wants to compete with Toyota over the next twenty years, they will have to make a commitment to hybrid technology.
500616
Well you seem  to have an inquisitive mind.\n\nsince the angular momentum of the earth is conserved, if all d cars drove towards east, this will prompt the earth to slow down its rotation speed eastwards, because there will be an extra component of the angular-momentum due to the cars.\nSo the rate of revolution of earth will decrease, which will lead to an increased daytime and night time.\n  But yeahh it will also lead to an immense traffic jam.\nDont even think about it.
1167446
Until we change our habits. If people started car pooling and bought what they needed in one trip instead of 20 and they didn't jump in a car to drive to blocks. When people stop buying so much gas the prices will come down. I know not everyone can carpool but they can do other things like pick up groceries on \nthe way home. Plus we can push for alternative fuels there is progress being made in that field.
105021
Depends on the rate of deceleration of the vehicle (as well as surface characteristics).  However a rule of thumb they teach in driver's education is one car length for every ten mph of speed.  So at 36 mph/60 kph, that would be about 4 car lengths, or about 20 meters (unless you drive a mini).
297496
I'm already half way there; a Vapor Chamber that converts Regular Pump Gasoline into Propane.The Problem is that it's Illegal to change anything on any Car from 1996 to the present, even if Emissions are Lowered, and Fuel Economy is Improved.100 parts of Air to 1 Part of Fuel, instead of 14.7 Parts of Air to 1 Part of Fuel, which is the Law! I've already built the Vaporizer Chamber, which is a Really Cool Gadget, and burning less Fuel would definitely make Life easier!
1075949
You could send a delorean 30 years into the future!
421023
There are two types of hybrid vehicles, parallel and series.\n\nA series hybrid, like the Honda vehicles, have an integrated motor in the transmission assembly.  The advantage of this type of system is improved highway economy and less complexity.  A series hybrid is somewhat more complex than a regular car, but much less complex than a parallel hybrid.  The disadvantage of a series hybrid is that they have no ability to drive completely on electric power, which is a primary reason behind the incredible efficiency of cars like the Prius in stop and go traffic.\n\nA parallel hybrid, like the Ford Escape and Toyota Prius, has essentially two complete powertrains- an electric and a gas powertrain joined by a planetary gearset (like a second transmission).  These cars are essentially the most complex on the road, and can on operate in full electric mode if the batteries are charged.  Some cars, like the 4wd Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX400h, have THREE powertrains, a gas and electric one in the front and a separate electric motor in the rear.  These are possibly the most complex powertrains ever installed in a mass produced vehicle.\n\nSo your concerns are valid-but consider this.  Because hybrid vehicles are such a valuable PR device, car companies will bend over backwards to make sure that you don't have problems with your vehicles.  They are not much fun to drive but if you live in an area that has clean air lanes, that combined with the federal tax credit amounts to a pretty good deal overall.  \n\nIn states like California, hybrid vehicles are in such great demand that depreciation is almost nonexistent- so total cost of ownership is for now quite low.\n\nThere are some questions around battery packs, but if you keep cars fewer than 5 years, it should not be a concern.  Also bear in mind that battery technology will only get better and cheaper in 5 years, so the $5000 quote you hear being passed around today for a new battery pack is not necessarily what they will cost in 2011 which is when you'd be due for a replacement.