Toyota Isn't the Industry's Only Major Story: Many Trends Emerge

Believe it or not, there is an automotive world outside Toyota and its troubles. It's true that the Japanese automaker is facing problems due to a variety of ills that are impacting its core vehicles - millions of them, in fact - but it's equally as true there's a whole range of exciting things happening outside of the troubles called Toyota.

Eric Sofge of MSN Autos took a long look at some of the exciting trends that are emerging for 2010 and beyond and while the findings he made might not surprise you totally, they still point to an exciting time in the auto industry.

From propulsion systems to smart networking, there is innovation going on from one end of the auto industry to the other. The one thing you won't find, Sofge pointed out in his MSN article recently, is a George Jetson skyway of flying cars, any time soon, although, the MSN scribe did point out that there have been some interesting tests with networked vehicle control with one vehicle make the decisions for a number of vehicles daisychained to it.

Touch Screen Technology

If you were to sit in the driver's seat of a 2010 vehicle the chances are good you would see far fewer stalks, control knobs and buttons than in previous years. Sofge's investigations noted that car makers are increasingly using LCD touch-screen technology to control many car systems. Sofge believes that the traditional knobs and buttons you expect on the instrument panel of a vehicle are "an endangered species."

To prove his point, he pointed to a hybrid and electric cars that made heavy-duty use of LCD touch-screen technology. For example, he noted that Volkswagen's E-Up! Concept car made heavy-duty use of a touch screen as did Citroen's REVOLTe.

The change in technology between first generation electric cars and today's vehicles is amazing. For example, Sofge pointed out that the Chrysler 200C EV Concept car and the Tesla Model 5 both had lots of dashboard real estate devoted to knobs, buttons and switches. Today, though, many of those buttons are gone thanks to the touch-sensitive screens, Sofge noted.

And, hybrids and electrics aren't the only vehicles that are using touch-screen technology. The 2010 Land Rover features a dual 12-inch display that allows the driver to see GPS-generated map information - routes and things - while the front passenger can happily be watching a DVD.

Augmented Reality

A few years ago, the hot-button was "virtual reality," where you became part of "virtual" world created by a PC and with which you could interact. That seemed to go over like a bag of fish on a warm day and it never caught on.

There's a new type of reality today, though, that MSN's Sofge believes is ready to move - Augmented Reality. This is a reality where a real image is combined with a virtual one so that you get a "really virtual" image.

As explained by Sofge for his MSN Autos readers, virtual reality is available today on Droid phones with a device called a Wikitude Drive. A Wikitude drive is an in-car NAV unit that floats your position on a real picture taken by the Droid's camera. Other researches, Sofge noted, are experimenting with integrating this type of reality with heads-up displays and they are overlaying road warning symbols.

Intelligent Vehicles

As Sofge points out, the ongoing national effort to created a "smart road" system, where sensors at the roadside will pickup and control your car and its spacing is going nowhere. This program, the author noted, has already costs hundreds of millions and countless research time and it isn't going anywhere very fast.

Today, he indicated, the emphasis is moving from the roadway into the a more realistic venue, your car. The plan outlined to him by researchers would employ GPS systems and short-range radios for connection to either other vehicles on the road or to a national grid or car-based computer systems that would effectively control your car.

Audi used the recent Frankfurt Auto Show to unveil its e-Tron concept vehicle that features onboard communications devices, Sofge noted. These devices, linked to the GPS system, analyze traffic flow and traffic light timing to optimize the routing that is presented on the driver's screen.

This simple system is only a start, Sofge indicated. These onboard devices could also be used for:

Simple traffic reports

Collision alerts

Information about conditions ahead

Daimler, which has always been a leader in automotive technology, has already shown such a system, Sofge noted and in 2003 actually equipped a fleet of trucks with a wireless network so that the lead truck was the focal point and all the trucks following emulated its actions. Also, Sofge pointed out, that the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Tex., one of the nation's leading auto research institutions, ran a similar three-car test successfully in Washington DC last year.

Sofge's conclusion was that this type of system "with its combination of autonomous driving and old-fashioned drafting (a racing technique where a car pulls in behind a faster one to gain power as it moves into the other vehicles "low pressure" zone at the rear and is dragged along) ... could reduce congestion and improve energy consumption."

Advanced Materials

A couple of years ago, when we were working at a Ford dealership, one of the hot-button issues at the time was the "greenness" of some of our product interiors. Indeed, seatbacks and padding were being made thinner, but as comfortable, due to the use of soy-based plastic products.

Sofge pointed out to his MSN audience that this use of bioplastics - "plastics which contain varying amounts of organic material," Sofge explained - will not only cut the amount of petroleum-based material in a vehicle, it will also lower the carbon footprint for the automakers. At present, these materials, Sofge explained, are used primarily on the interior because they are vulnerable to moisture and sunlight.

Sofge explained that the research being conducted is aimed at making these materials more durable so that they can be used in places that are traditionally dominated by metals - body panels, for instance.

Nanotechnology is being applied to lithium-ion batteries that use carbon-based nanotube technology. Rather and building flat nanotubes to act as conductors, researchers are building nubbly round nanotubes that actually have more surface area for current carrying and this makes them more energy efficient per ounce of weight. Combining enough of these into a battery - which LI battery construction lends itself to - you can then have a more powerful battery that can actually be smaller because the anode and cathode (plus and minus) can be moved closer together. Sofge also noted these batteries can be made safer with this technology.

Spooky idea

Sofge noted that perhaps "The most dramatic trend in automotive materials could also be the spookiest, smart alloys."

Smart alloys would allow "morphing spoilers and air dams that flow into place on demand, and door panels and bumpers that reshape themselves after a collision," Sofge noted in his MSN piece. Heat-flexible, these materials, if damaged, snap back into their original shape as they cool, Sofge said, indicating that GM may integrate this type of material into its doorhandles as early as next year.

While this does show considerable promise, on the upside, the downside is there's still a way to go until they manufacturing techniques available to handle these materials, Sofge said.

Power Issue

Then, there's the power issue as the industry has found ways to clean up diesel fuel while increasing battery efficiency with new batteries and other related technologies, Sofge's article concluded.

Other Trends

Ford: Parking Assist Technology where the vehicle will parallel park for you, if there is enough space Blind spot warning technology where a side sonar and sensor system watches the vehicle's blindspot and tells you if a car is there when you are changing lanes. Fiesta marks Ford's entry into the microcar market that is likely to be one of the battlegrounds of the future. Other entries in the micro segment include: Fiat's 500, the new mini-Cooper, Honda Fit, Chevy Aveo and others.

Electrics will be a supercharged market this year with everyone trying to jump on the bandwagon and steal the first-to-market thunder that Chevy's Volt, a pure electric with gasoline engine charger, has. Toyota tried marketing several hundred all-electric Priuses as an effort to be first to market, while Nissan is pushing its Leaf. BYD, a manufacturer from China, promised a 205-mile-range all-electric mini-crossover e6 next year, as noted by several sources including AOL Autos and MSN Autos.

(Sources: MSN Autos, AOL Autos, author's experience)