News Post
cars of the future
Looks like the cars from Blade Runner are never going to happen — or not anytime soon, anyway. IBM’s Institute for Business Value undertook a massive survey of automotive experts from all over the world in order to discover the shape of things to come, and the results are green: among other findings, it’s believed that all new cars will be hybrids by 2020. The industry may well be unrecognizably different in just over a decade, and the reasons for this are many:
• Vehicles will become more intelligent. “Electronics will bring new capabilities to every part of the vehicle. New technologies will provide for greater assistance in navigation, enhanced driver information about the vehicle, its environment and vehicle connectivity.” (I’m not sure what “vehicle connectivity” means, but so far I’m imagining Kit from Knight Rider.)
• Corporate social responsibility becomes a buying factor. “Consumers will be more empowered and sophisticated. They will also become increasingly watchful and wary about how companies perform outside the manufacturing and distribution processes. Corporate social responsibility will become markedly more important to the consumer.” I hope so — but I’m a bit more skeptical of this one.
• Sustainability hits the bottom line. “The impact of external forces on the industry will continue to be significant, but the leading influencers will be radically different from those that affect the industry today. Technology will continue lead, but other issues, such as sustainability, will migrate to near the top of the list.”
Blogs from mental floss
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