Motoring is about to enter a brave new world. Howard his autonomous might change he future of motoring has already been laid out pretty accurately in film. Soon – no one's exactly sure when –– cars will either take to the air (Blade Runner, Back To The Future Part II, The Fifth Element) or begin driving themselves (Minority Report, I, Robot). That’s when they’re not cobbled together from other car parts ( Mad Max, Spaceballs) or, most worryingly, driven by an automated puppet called Johnny ( Total Recall ). But while self-driving cars seem the most realistic of those options, what will the roads be like in the 2020s? What we do know is that crude oil is not only contributing to global warming, but it will run out soon. In fact, according to recent figures by the CIA Factbook, all known supplies of oil could run dry by 2052. And as it depletes, petrol and diesel prices will rise to a point where the only street populated with cars will be Kings Road. The main car-power choices battling each other for supremacy, like some kind of atmosphere-saving VHS vs Betamax wingding, are currently: electric (battery power or hydrogen fuel cells), biofuel (essentially mixing petrol or diesel with bioethanol, controversial due to some of it being derived from palm oil) and compressed natural gas (Honda only sold 751 of its CNG car, the Civic GX, in the US in 2014 according to Sam Abuelsamid of Navigant Research, the low sales put down to the high price of CNG fuel). One of oil’s most notable user-providers, Shell, runs an Eco-Marathon every year, where students build ultra-efficient concept cars to race and see who can travel the farthest on the least amount of fuel (the current record is the equivalent of 2,343 miles on 1 litre of gasoline). I spoke to Imperial University’s current captain, Max Naylor Marlow, a fourth year mechanical engineering student, whose vehicle is powered by an innovative printed circuit board hydrogen fuel cell. He believes that hydrogen fuel cells will soon be more applicable to niche operations such as forklifts. "In the long-term, battery electric is much more promising," he says.
FRIENDS ELECTRIC
One company in particular would agree. Tesla has revolutionised the way cars are built, powered and driven with its Model S, the fastest four-door sedan of all time (0-60mph in 3.2 seconds). l test drove a Model S for a weekend and it t ruly is, as US cartoonist Matthew Inman described his, an 'Intergalactic Space Boat Of Time And Wonder' lt’s controlled by a 17in touchscreen: satnav, Spotify, suspension, regenerative braking... it’s all tweaked from there. You download software updates overnight, like on an iPhone. One of the most recent major updates was installing Autosteer (which drives the car at t he speed limit in your lane on the motorway, braking automatically when the car in front gets too close) and Auto Lane Change (indicate, and the car moves itself into the next lane). Tesla claims that its Autopilot is building towards an autonomous future. And there’s another key word when it comes to future car chat: "autonomous". We all know about Google's driverless experiments in Palo Alto, but when will cars drive us to Tesco for a pint of semi-skimmed? Experts agree the answer is the vaguely "soon". It’s hard to imagine, but driving a vehicle could be illegal one day. According to the Department For Transport, there were 1,713 deaths on British roads in 2013. With driverless cars sensing vehicles around them and braking accordingly, this could be drastically reduced. Shell’s chief scientist for mobility Wolfgang Warnecke says: "Their success will be largely pegged to how quickly they become socially acceptable. In terms of safety, many in the industry are convinced they will reduce traffic accidents, but would even a small number of accidents impact their wider adoption? "l think we'll see a staged evolution during the next few years – initially drive-assist systems such as reverse parking and lane assistants, then self-driving at a moderate speed in an enclosed environment, eg garages; then part-time autonomous in, where the driver could regain control in an emergency; and then fully autonomous with no driver." people. But next year its more affordable, mass-market Model 3 is set for release for around $35k. This could well be a defining moment in the history of automobiles, up there with the first cup holder in 1953. With vast numbers of Tesla Superchargers springing up across the UK and Europe, its CEO, Elon Musk, has joked that "if there’s a zombie apocalypse, Tesla owners will be fine because they won't need the grid to fuel their car". Another problematic factor for electric cars is the new affliction of "range anxiety". The fear of running out of charge is one that will initially affect many, but manufacturers have gone to great lengths to explain how unlikely this is to happen. The Model S gives you a detailed breakdown of how much charge you have left, how far that will get you on your planned journey, and will even direct you to the nearest Supercharger if it calculates that you don’t have enough power to get you to your destination. There are currently 641 Supercharger stations, with 3,844 Superchargers across Europe, and the car has a range of more than 230 miles on a full charge. FUTURE PERFECT? So aside from driving us everywhere via battery power, what else is set to change? The C A R S  O F  F U T U R E  P A S T WHEN CONCEPT CARS GOT IT TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY WRONG Lincoln Futura  With a double-hooded plastic roof, this car cost $25Ok to make and was redundant until 11 years after its creation, when it became Batman’s choice of transport in the 1966 TV series. Ferrari 512 S Modulo Impossibly low, mildly hideous and completely impractical; we still can’t help but like Ferrari’s futuristic concept car. Even if you did have to use the roof as a door. buzzword here is "connectivity". Our cars, our phones, the internet, us and the world around us are getting much more intimate. BMW already has its ConnectedDrive concierge system, where you press a button and a personal assistant will locate the nearest ATM, drive-thru or even automatically call emergency services if you’re in an accident. Ford’s SYNC technology means you’ll soon be able to control in-car systems via your voice, and check fuel levels or lock your car via an app. Goodyear is working on spherical wheels for driverless cars making them easier to park. Seats will turn into biometric scanners that can read your heart rate, give you a massage if your stress levels rise and even wake you if you drowse. Harman Audio is planning an in-car entertainment system that
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can speak to multiple smartphones and create a 'connected jukebox' (not so great if your partner's into Adele); and expect Autonomous Emergency Braking (in-car tech that monitors the road and brakes if there is danger – hailed by experts as the greatest safety innovation since the seatbelt) to be standard on all new cars in the US by 2022. So have we yet had a glimpse of the 2020s car? Perhaps. But it’s not Google’s self-driving effort (unless you like travelling in something that Itchy & Scratchy would be happy to be seen in). Instead, for a more aesthetically pleasing concept, look to the Mercedes F 015. Planned to be on the streets by the end of the 202Os, it will drive itself entirely, powered by battery and fuel cells with a range of 700 miles. Passengers will sit inside facing each other. It’s airy, spacious and more akin to a private jet: you can even recline the seats and have a snooze while your car transports you to your office. The company is also experimenting with projecting scenery onto the windows, so instead of roadworks along the A10 you can view waterfalls. So, it seems, the future is safer, calmer, more economical and less carbon-monoxidey. With not a whistling Johnny Cab in sight. We hope. ｗ ｗ ｗ . S H O R T L I S T . C O M　 5 3 Firebird I  Produced by General Motors in 1953, the Firebird I was on the innovative fighter jets of its time. This was car designers at their childish best: “Let’s build a car that’s useless, but looks like a jet!" Linrrican Wonder Ninety years before Google was clogging up Palo Alto’s roads with driverless cars, Houdina Radio Control unleashed the Linrrican Wonder on the busy streets of NYC.