The vehicles of the future should be smart, comfortable and climate-friendly: In the May edition, Image of Science reports on the exciting development trends in the automotive industry. Digital techniques, artificial intelligence and new materials in particular could revolutionize many aspects of automobile.
The history of development goes back to the 19th century. As is well known, the passenger cars have changed a lot since then: they have become more and more powerful, more convenient, safer and also the attractiveness was tiled intensively. Pronounced high-tech designs are now on our roads. But the development potential is by no means exhausted and new framework conditions make special adjustments necessary. The auto industry will therefore change again, explain experts. The title topic “The Car of the Future” illuminates this development.
In the first sub-article, BDW author Heike Stüvel gives an overview of the innovative concepts and design ideas that are intended to give the cars of the future new whistle. The developers therefore rely more and more intensively on intelligent systems, all -round networking and sophisticated sensor technology. The “rolling computers” could adapt to their drivers even more individually and offer them sophisticated assistance functions up to health checks at the wheel, reports the author.
Something is happening in the development of the car hardware: currently tinkering with particularly robust and elastic tires without air and vehicles manufactured on the modular, which enable an amazingly complex change in the wagon shape. In addition, the color of the car could soon be adapted through sophisticated E-ink and on car paintings with a solar cell function, Stüvel reports in the article “Assistant, kit, chameleon”.
Smart, digital and autonomous
In a supplementary interview with automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, the author then focuses on developments in the field of autonomous driving. After some hype, it has become a little quieter about this futuristic concept. Dudenhöffer reports on the state of development and the challenges that have to be mastered on the way to driverless traffic. The tenor is: “Recognizing accidents and construction sites has not yet been mature”.
The BDW technology editor Ralf Butscher then deals with another important topic in automotive development: progress in electromobility. He highlights the question of the extent to which electric vehicles with large batteries offer advantages in terms of efficiency and environmental friendliness towards alternative concepts such as the fuel cell. One aspect seems to be clear: Without green electricity, there is no green e-mobility and emerges from the article “The Stony Way to the E-Age”.
Electrical and sustainable?
The article is rounded off by an interview with industry expert Stefan Bratzel. He explains why Chinese automobile manufacturers currently seem to hang their competitors from western countries in the development of electromobility and how the trend could be correct. “An important point is the pace in vehicle development,” emphasizes Bratzel.
In the third article in the titlehemas, Heike Stüvel investigates the extent to which automobile traffic can be made more sustainable. The most important starting points lie in the streamlining of vehicle production and improvements in the recyclability of the materials. The battery systems in particular prepare the developers headaches. However, there are already promising successes on the way to more sustainability, reports the author in the article “Race to the circulation”.
You can read the articles of the title theme “The Auto of the Future” online as part of a BDW+ subscription, or you will find it in the May edition of Science, which is available in stores from April 17th.