Cars. What is it?
Car: /kär/ a road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people. (According to Google of course)
That's the definition of a car. From the invention of the car in 1886 till today, 2015, a lot has changed in both the car industry and the world in general. I don't know about you but car expectations for my generation has definitely gone up in many aspects that did not even exist back then.
You might wonder why you should care about a 13 year olds expectations... well here is your answer: We are the future of this world (whether you like it or not). Whether it is technology or politics or culture. What ever the older generations have done we are the ones to carry on or change the world.
I have been to a lot of my parents meetings and conferences and i have noticed a term that suddenly faded into the background. M2M. A lot of people over think this concept. The acronym stands for Machine to Machine. That's all it really is. When I call someone my phone, a machine, connect with another phone, also a machine. Simple right?
So I started thinking. All these advances has happened in so many different areas in technology and all this time cars have been left alone. Now some companies are trying to make over the air updates which is as simple as software updates on my iPhone. This shouldn't be a big deal. I have been updating my technology for years and never noticed how cars need that too. For example the navigation. New roads are added to our world every day. Just few days ago I was driving past a new apartment complex and on the vehicle's navigation it did not even show the street.
Since Software updates are already in use in many other technologies I know it should not take too long for cars to catch up.
I started thinking about what other possibilities that might open up in terms of safety which is a huge concern as the world becomes more and more hyper connected. Currently we only have the honk to warn other cars.
I used to imagine that you could type something on the screen in the car and this huge sign would pop up to warn the car.
Once I was driving in La Honda and a car in front of us dropped something and we could not honk at them because they would think they did something wrong. Or warning people behind you on the highway that they have to slow down instead of having them break suddenly. This could save major accidents and even save lives. This communication is just like texting between cars. Of course options can be created so there will be no need to take your eyes of the road. Or location sharing. If a car is looking for a specific place that car's technology could look through other cars destinations and see if there is a match. Someone could be looking for a Target shop. They send that information out and without the other cars having to worry about privacy, the car could send information that already exists. This creates a car community just like social media has their own community.
As I said before safety is also an issue in the cyber world. Just this summer Chrysler and GM got hacked. This can cause the public to reject car advancement in technology. However, instead of fearing it we should understand and then take advantage of the technology. Like in a movie every car should have a shut down button. It can even be as cliché as a big red button. It will stop the car no mater what because in the end technology can never be perfect.
These are just a few opportunities that I have realized. Imagine how many ideas and how advanced this world could get by listening to the younger generations. All I want you to think about is how far we have come. Now think this is just the beginning, and if refrigerators are part of IoT then why on earth are cars still stuck in the 90s.
