‘The car of the future’ from 30 years ago – From the Old Box

Looking ahead to the future is sometimes a bit painful to look back years later. It is not uncommon for certain expectations to turn out not to be fully met, or to have been somewhat too cautious. In 1992 we envisioned ‘the car of the year 2000’, with technology we expected to become commonplace in the new century. What seems? Some things took a little longer than the year 2000 or came to fruition in a somewhat different form. However, we were already pretty good when it came to what would become some of the most important ‘future’ features in cars.

This is how we imagined the dashboard of the future with an important role for screens. We sketched a real digital set of instruments, in which different data could be displayed in the same window. “In the dashboard is a monitor with a changing screen. For example, when designating the route, other instruments disappear into the background.” It took a little longer than eight years before this really became commonplace, but in 2022 cars in all segments (optional or not) actually have such instruments. Navigate? We also started doing this via the screen, thanks to CDs with maps on them. They would be put in a CD changer and then you could load the map of the area where you wanted to navigate with the push of a button. Old-fashioned? Now it is, but in 1992 it was still a thing of the future and it would indeed work that way in various cars around the year 2000. Also the head up display we already foreseen. “The speed indication appears in the windshield, so that the driver can keep his eye on the traffic”.

What we did not see coming was the rise of the infotainment screen placed centrally in the dashboard. In 1992 we still imagined that the screen in front of the steering wheel would show all the information and that would be it. “There will be fewer instruments on the dashboard sooner. That will reduce costs. Many instruments will make way for one multifunctional information device.” The latter was correct in itself, although that role is mainly due to the central infotainment screen that still shone due to its absence on the dashboard of the future from 1992. We were mainly guided by what Mercedes-Benz had shown with the F100 Concept and Volkswagen with the Futura. After all, the instruments also took care of all information provision.

The futuristic steering wheel in the sketch had only two buttons; one to disengage the automatic transmission and one to select the direction of travel. The second has become reality, in different forms. Nowadays, more and more manufacturers choose to let you (often with EVs) select the direction of travel via the steering wheel or a lever on the steering column. Yet the more traditional lever in the center tunnel has certainly not disappeared. Thirty years ago, we expected to find an ‘integrated car phone’ at that location. However, the rapid advance of mobile phones at the beginning of this century has quickly made the ex-factory car phone superfluous. However, the planned ‘button to start the car’ has been introduced and it has indeed largely made the old-fashioned ignition lock disappear. We also regularly see the automatic setting of the car (seat position, position of the mirrors, favorite radio station) to the person who will be driving. The ‘code card’ you would need for this has not become commonplace.

Finally, we looked ahead at a few gadgets that would relieve the driver of tasks. For example, with the Futura, Volkswagen showed something that we were sure would become very normal in the 21st century: automatic parking. “Sensors calculate the space to park, after which the computer puts the car neatly in the right place.” Less advanced, but still future music in 1992, was the reversing camera. Mercedes-Benz had already shown it: “A video camera on the back of the car helps with parking. Costs a lot of money, but it does work.”