Technology in today’s luxury vehicles still points to what will be commonplace in the cars and trucks of tomorrow
Since the earliest days of the auto industry, we’ve tended to see technology first appear in more upmarket, luxurious vehicles and then trickle down gradually to the more mainstream, volume offerings. Whether it was hydraulic brakes, automatic transmissions, electric starters, or (in more recent times) items such as anti-lock brakes (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), features that were once reserved exclusively for a luxury brand or model now come standardon every car and light truck sold in Canada.
Today, perhaps even more significant than the introduction of new technology itself, is the time-frame for technology transfer, which is shrinking from years to just months in some cases.
Features such as automatic parking assist became available in compact cars at almost the same time they were offered at the luxury level. Ditto for many infotainment technologies. In fact, some of those are appearing first in lower-priced vehicles, particularly where there’s a perception that the buyers in those demographics may be more receptive than typical luxury vehicle shoppers.
ROLE REVERSAL?
This speed to market and role reversal raises an interesting question. With mainstream vehicles now receiving new technology features at the same time or before luxury offerings, what will be left to differentiate the latter and help justify their premium prices?
In reality, there are still plenty of differentiators, among them new safety, automation and propulsion technologies, as well as comfort, convenience and personalization features.
On the safety front, most prestige marques already offer the ability to identify hazards such as other vehicles, animals, bicyclists and pedestrians in their path and initiate automatic braking to avoid or mitigate the severity of a collision. Expect those crash-avoidance capabilities to expand to add evasive steering maneuvers and non-frontal crash modes to the repertoire. Camera and sensor technologies that provide a 360-degree view around the vehicle are already being deployed.
Several premium automakers suggest the real possibility of collision-free cars by 2020. A big factor in achieving that goal will be vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) connectivity — technology that enables vehicles to talk with each other and with roadway fixtures such as traffic lights, in their own electronic language.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced earlier this year that it plans to make V2V technologies mandatory equipment for all new vehicles, perhaps even before 2020.
Beyond V2V, however, luxury brands will continue to develop and add more automated driver-assistance technologies based on on-board sensors, cameras and GPS connectivity, to help achieve that goal. The same tools will enable semi-autonomous, if not fully-autonomous, driving by then and those capabilities will almost certainly be introduced to market at the premium end of the scale.
Vehicles will be able to follow other vehicles in a lane of traffic, for example, if and when regulations and liability laws catch up to the technology. From there it’s a short technological step to even greater degrees of autonomy.
Cars that can park by themselves are part of that equation — not just in the way some do now, with the driver behind the wheel controlling the pedals, but fully on their own with no driver on board, remotely controlled and monitored by smartphone.
GREATER PERSONALIZATION
Other differentiating features for luxury brands will be increasing levels of personalization. Both drivers and passengers can expect more pampering — even beyond heated, ventilated and massaging seats and Pullman style rear leg rests currently offered. Imagine, for example, a seat that will adapt fully to the contours of your body, quite literally fitting it like a glove and equalizing pressure points to maximize comfort. Lest the driver get too comfortable, he or she will be monitored via camera and other technologies to determine and warn of drowsiness or other forms of impairment.
There will be ever-expanding levels of concierge services as well, via vehicle telematics systems. And they’ll be connected fully to the online world, probably in ways we can’t even dream of now, as their software can be constantly updated to keep up the pace with changes in infotainment technologies.
Premium-priced vehicles are also likely to be the test beds for new propulsion technologies before they become mainstream. Hybrids that employ capacitors or flywheels for energy storage could substitute batteries, and even fuel cells are a possibility.
While the pace of technology transfer to the mainstream may be increasing, premium-priced vehicles are likely to remain testbeds for new technologies well into the future. As a result, much as they have over the last century, luxury cars today will continue to be our window to tomorrow.
