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From autopilot to anti-theft: Cars are getting smarter
With high-tech features from self-driving to advanced security, today’s smart cars are turning sci-fi into reality.
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(Courtesy of BMW Astra)
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rowing up with Batman, Transformers and James Bond, we were all drawn to the coolest cars on screen. As kids, we didn’t know these cars weren’t real. But for today’s younger generation, that boundary between fantasy and reality is starting to blur.
In 2024, cars equipped with the kinds of features we once saw in movies are real, and not just for superheroes. While Batman and James Bond might use advanced tech to fend off villains, some of these systems were developed to enhance everyday safety and convenience for regular drivers.
Take the automated emergency braking system (AEBS), designed to prevent rear-end collisions by detecting when a vehicle is too close. Originally invented in the 1950s, this feature became mandatory in all new cars in Japan in 2021, with similar requirements now in place across the European Union, India and the United States.
Today, AEBS is standard in cars under four years old, turning what was once a unique feature into a new safety baseline. So, what’s the next innovation destined to become standard?
Driving from the passenger seat
I remember the buzz when Tesla Motors launched the Model S in 2014, sparking excitement over autonomous driving. Social media was flooded with videos of the car driving itself, and it seemed to herald a new era in the automotive industry. After all, if planes can have autopilot, why not cars?
Today, various brands, from Acura to Volvo, offer similar technology at different levels of automation. This ranges from level one, where cars offer basic driver assistance, to level five, representing fully autonomous vehicles. At the highest level, these cars wouldn’t need a driver at all.
