What will cars look like in the future?

What will the cars in 2050 look like? What will power them? Will they even have a steering wheel? This article answers all of these questions.

Car companies have recently been announcing what the car of 2021 and beyond will be like and one word that can not be mentioned is autonomous, electric is another word with connectivity to the internet. Sounds exciting? It is, but it is doubtful you will find all of this on the forecourt in the next seven years because cars typically get completely redesigned every five to seven years. However, the directions being proposed are a very good starting point to look even further and ask the question: what might the car of 2050 look like?

The first question to start with is: will there even be cars in 2050? Will an invention that will be 150 years old by then be replaced by something better? Will environmental concerns kill it? Will people become tired of getting behind the wheel? The answers seem to be “maybe”, but the reality is that the automobile is a very liberating and flexible means of transportation. It fulfils people’s desire to move around freely and independently. With the right way, the automobile can be a sustainable and safe means of transportation.

But we must also acknowledge this form of mobility comes at a premium which is climate change amongst others, as polar ice melts, megacities become suffocated by smog and congestion, resources dwindle, and around 1.2 million people get killed in traffic accidents globally every year. We know why: we want to be mobile, and our mobility has some negative implications.

AUTONOMOUS CARS

The automobile in 2050 will be self-driving. Companies are working on concepts allowing cars to cruise along on the highway without driver intervention, many of which are likely to be seen on our roads. When the car makes it to its destination, it can park itself in a high-tech parking structure, just as Audi has demonstrated.

Still, questions such as will the driver need to do anything at all? Will there still be a steering wheel? Cars will probably require that drivers monitor what the vehicle does and switch from one mode to another like highway driving to city driving. There will probably still be a steering wheel, but some models could have a little joystick that the driver only uses rarely.

Driving is likely to get much safer, asides from human error which still accounts for the majority of all accidents, and also much more efficient, as centralised traffic control will lead to a smoother flow and less congestion.

DIGITAL CARS

Personal mobility will become more of a service, one that companies like Google make. The search and computing giant has become strongly involved in creating automated vehicles and some think the car needs to serve us in other ways, whether we drive it or it drives itself. Many car companies are already working with Apple to integrate Siri into automobiles, creating virtual personal assistants in the car to help us with routes, traffic information, and the scheduling of our day. Our vehicles will be fully integrated into the digital lifestyle of 2050.

It is hard to imagine what the world of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google will be like in 30 years time, but we can assume that everything that has a digital representation will be available in our cars. The automobile seems to be the final form of the digital lifestyle, some people want to be disconnected while driving, but in decades to come it will be completely connected and safe to use.

FUTURE CARS

People love the flexibility, just as they have come to expect it from their smartphones and laptops, so do they want it from their car. As mobile technology has allowed us to make decisions on everything in an instant and away from home, we will want those same freedoms in our cars.

It is safe to assume that it will still have four seats and wheels and might still resemble a metal box by 2050. But that is where the similarities are likely to end. Carbon fibre or other lightweight material might replace steel. The design will be a mix of efficient contours like low aerodynamic drag and emotional styling and maybe there will be some sort of morphing shape.

The car of 2050 might be relatively easy to recognise, which might not be true for the phone or computer. This is because a car is a car and it is supposed to transport people and goods and as long as people continue to be as tall as they are cars would look too much different. But the personal automobile as we know it will have much competition: from the remote-controlled, on-demand pods and personalised public transportation.