Technology is evolving exponentially and we are really seeing it in cars. I took my 8 year old daughter for a ride in my 1989 Mazda Miata. She looked at the window handle and asked:
"What is this for?"
"Old cars did not have power windows" I answered. "We used this handle."
She has never seen one of those before because power windows has been a standard option in almost all models her whole life. And the way things are going, most probably my grandson will not know what a CD is.
Auto makers are getting really good at adapting new technologies. But they are still not there. They used to build cars equipped with older technologies, now its a couple years old, and eventually it will be the current year. And that is not the far future, this is in the next few years. They are building cars that can easily be modified to be integrated with the new Hi-Tech gizmos.
Some of them love to include new technologies right away and some still hang onto old ones. Audi is the pioneer in adopting newer technologies. Some of their 2008 models included cars without CD players. Infinti, on the other hand, still had a tape player in their early FX models. An option that was, by most people, not used at that time.We could argue that some people still want to have the option. But we are in the technology age, things are evolving at an amazing rate; and we are getting really good at taking on new ones.
Luxury auto makers, like Mercedes, Lexus and BMW are offering celluar capability embedded in the car. They have Apps, similar to what you have on your phone. You can check the weather, search for stores; do things that you usually do on your phone, even check your email. Chevy, on the other hand, is offering a whole new experience. Mylink will be introudced in their 2014 Spark model. This will allow you to sync your phone with the car, and you're phone Apps will appear on the 7 inch screen in the dashboard, mirroring the phone's home screen. You can tap the touch screen as if it's your phone. You can run Google Maps and if you have an iPhone, holding down a button on the steering wheel will launch Siri.
Seeing amazing options like these in a $15000 car is great news. It means that the standard options for cars will change, it will include options suited for the current date. Just like power windows was an option 15 years ago and now it is standard. These technologies will be standard in every car.
Welcome to the "Silver" age of technology. Its not "Golden" yet, but sooner than you think.
