TODAY’S CARS ARE HIGH TECH DEVICES ON FOUR WHEELS

1.Connected Cars:-

Technological improvements in computers, smartphones, wireless communications and the cloud have converged to advance safety for connected consumers. Connectivity and the internet are changing the world of autos, and more change is coming. The percentage of new passenger cars globally shipping with factory-installed telematics will increase from nearly 10 percent in 2010 to 62 percent in 2016, according to ABI Research.

Looking forward, cars may soon be “talking” to each other and to the roadway. Car-tocar information sharing can alert vehicles miles behind that cars ahead have come to a halt, warning drivers to prepare to slow down. “Smart” intersections will allow stop signs and traffic lights to communicate with vehicles, as sensors report if another vehicle is running a red light. Traffic lights could be synchronized to improve traffic flow — and fuel efficiency — and if there is only one vehicle sitting at a traffic light late at night, the light could be programmed to turn green.

2.Building Autonomous Cars for the future:-

Today’s leading automakers are developing cars that park themselves, brake at the sign of danger and stay in lanes without driver assistance. What once only existed in the imaginations of science fiction writers is now being developed and tested by carmakers in laboratories and on roadways across the globe.

As partially-autonomous functions in vehicles become more common, the leap to achieving fully driverless cars becomes ever smaller. Today’s emerging technology — sensors able to read road signs and traffic signals, while also employing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) systems to navigate roadways, traffic and pedestrian hazards — will be available widespread in the future.

3. The rise of COBOTS:-

A century after Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, carmakers have come a long way, integrating banks of robots, computers and other automation into a high-tech manufacturing process. Today’s auto assembly line is “part human and part machine,” according to The Detroit News.

But “a new generation of smarter, smaller and gentler robots is poised to transform manufacturing again, this time by working alongside their human colleagues.”1 Collaborative robots, or “cobots,” now populate factory floors working in tandem with humans to make operations run more smoothly. Cobots are a newer trend, able to assist in a myriad of ways, from moving parts and improving safety to taking on wearisome tasks to improve the health of workers

4.Carmakers complete with silicon valley for talented "CODAHOLICS":-

As consumers demand “connected” cars that sync with smartphones, the importance of computer systems in cars is growing. Ernst & Young predicts over the next decade 104 million vehicles around the world will possess “some form of connectivity.” Reuters reported millions of lines of computer code control important auto operations, from braking to air conditioning. Similar to computers and smartphones, electronic parts like sensors and microprocessors comprise the “backbone” of today’s cars.

Automakers are hiring thousands of software programmers – or “codaholics” – who play an even greater role in vehicle design and operation. The impetus to hire “codaholics” is “increasingly pitting Detroit against its technology partners in Silicon Valley,” reports Reuters. It should not be surprising that the state of California – long considered the nation’s high-tech and R&D capital – has the largest number of engineers employed in the U.S. with 62,000. Michigan, however, with a workforce one-quarter the size of the Golden State’s, has nearly 60,000 engineers in its labor force.