The future car: Driving the next generation of automobile technology

Henry Ford’s Model T is not famous for being the first car; in fact, there were several automobiles built in the decades before his.

But the Model T is famous for being the car that ushered in a new era, not just of transportation – but of life.

In other words, Ford’s model, because it could be mass produced at an affordable cost to consumers, disrupted the world. In 1908, the Model T ushered in a new era of transportation dominated by personal automobile ownership, giving people freedom of movement much greater than that provided by wagons, trains and the earlier, more expensive versions of cars. The development had far-reaching social and economic implications, including the emergence of the middle class and the development of suburbs.

Now, more than a century after Ford began building the Model T, the car industry is again seeing great disruption, with the likes of driverless cars and the sharing economy setting the stage for another revolution with accompanying social and economic changes.

Until recently, most changes and developments in the automobile industry revolved around improved safety and increased fuel efficiency. Aside from that, cars have basically remained the same despite the dreams about flying vehicles (think Back to the Future). And if you are not one of the more than 90% of people who own cars in the United States, your choices, until now, have pretty much consisted of taking mass transit, hiring a taxi or renting a vehicle.

Now, increased connectivity technology, also known as the Internet of Things, is posing one of the greatest disruptions to transportation since the days of Henry Ford. Such technology has resulted in a plethora of companies, including Apple, Google and nearly all of the current automakers, developing so-called driverless cars. According to MarketsandMarkets, the autonomous/self-driving car market is projected to grow from 20.3 million cars in 2021 to 62.4 million cars by 2030, at a CAGR of 13.3%.

Not only has this spurred a rush of innovation in the automotive sector itself, but has given rise to developments elsewhere, including in the cybersecurity sector as the risks and dangers of hacking autonomous cars become more clear. The automotive cybersecurity market is seeing rapid growth, with startups like Argus Cyber Security, which uses networking practices to prevent attacks on driverless cars, embedding such systems at the time of vehicle manufacturing and making them available aftermarket as well.

The application of the sharing economy to the world of cars is also having far-reaching consequences. People globally are less interested in driving and owning cars, and are increasingly turning to apps like Uber, which allows users to catch rides with other drivers, and solutions like ZipCar and Zoomcar, which make it easy to rent cars for short journeys via mobile payment and multiple pick-up and drop-off points.

Although the shake-out of all of these developments is not yet fully clear, experts say the change to the car sector is inevitable. While flying cars have become a symbol of a technological promise left unrealized, driverless cars are widely believed to be inevitable in the coming decades. And like in all revolutions, there will be social and economic impact from driverless cars, especially if they can be shared, including the possible disappearance of the current public transportation sector, which is also a large employer; major adjustments in the business model of the auto insurance sector and maybe a great reduction in the traffic cop and ticket sector, which currently provides significant income to municipalities.

While consumers may feel excited or, perhaps, a bit daunted, by these changes, the automobile industry itself is working rapidly to adjust to the new scenarios. Companies like Honda opened research and development labs in Silicon Valley dedicated to developing tomorrow’s cars. Like those last few years before Ford built his model T, when various inventors were experimenting with steam-powered cars, transportation, and life itself, is once again on the verge of a revolution.