FutureSpeak: Cars that won’t be outdated

So why not a similar capability for the device that wields more processing power than either of those? That would be your car,of course.

In a world where technologies come and go as often as Katy Perry changes her wardrobe,automakers are pressed to keep pace. To ensure that the growing array of electronics—controlling anything from navigation systems to sophisticated antilock brakes—do not become obsolete before the car’s first oil change,engineers are creating vehicles that can adapt to new technologies and are flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen future developments.

It’s a long way from the image of young hot-rodders installing aftermarket engine computers to increase horsepower; this is about the radical shift to designing cars from the ground up to be upgradeable.

“Cars need to be upgraded—over the air—and they have to have smartphone connections now,” said Erik Goldman,president of Hughes Telematics,emphasising the need for remote wireless car connections that would help owners avoid trips to the dealership.

It’s not just about adding iPhone controls or Twitter updates to the dashboard. Upgradeable means being able to cull diagnostic information from a vehicle through,say,a satellite link,or having the ability to reprogram a transmission controller or recalibrate the braking system while the car is parked in your driveway.

It even entails the ability to change dashboard functions,Goldman said.

Indeed,the networking giant Cisco has just such an experimental dashboard,comprising a triptych of LCD panels instead of conventional dials and gauges. It is essentially one giant touch screen on which iPad-generation drivers can drag and drop instruments,digital gauges and other information displays.

Not only can its appearance be personalised,but it can be upgraded with new functions,from a g-force meter to local weather warnings. Its design will accommodate systems that could issue vehicle-to-vehicle collision warnings or alert drivers about dangerous intersections ahead.

There are two main forces driving this strategy. First,while vehicle design cycles are now as short as two or three years,they still lag well behind the pace of changes in software and communications technology,where major upheavals can arrive in a matter of months.

Consequently,programming a car to work only with Web-connected applications that are popular during the design stage is nearly certain to assure rapid obsolescence,said Robert Acker,vice president of Aha Radio,a maker of automotive and location-based applications that is owned by Harman International. By the time the car reaches the showroom,he said,“half the companies you designed for will be gone.” Compounding the problem,owners are holding onto their cars longer. The median age of passenger vehicles on the road in the United States today is more than nine years,according to R. L. Polk,the market research firm.

The second issue is that as vehicles use more advanced computer technology to improve performance and fuel efficiency—and,in the case of hybrids,control functions like charging rates and regenerative braking—they also require more sophisticated programming.

Making vehicles upgradeable might be a solution to keeping these vehicles at peak efficiencies as battery chemistries evolve and charging systems for plug-in models get faster and more powerful. Software updates are already used to fine-tune operations—for instance,uploading the latest computer instructions to correct a shortcoming in the stability control system discovered only after the car left the assembly line.

“The car is becoming the most sophisticated piece of computer equipment you own,” said Dave Evans,Cisco’s chief futurist. Adopting a new perspective of what’s parked in your garage will be required: that car will no longer be simply a mode of transportation,but rather a node on the network,he said.

Carmakers differ in their philosophies of how vehicles should be upgraded. Some of these differences can be seen in how the companies incorporate smartphones into their vehicles. On the cutting edge of openness is Ford. In December it introduced a feature called AppLink that lets drivers use smartphone apps like Pandora and Twitter. But it’s more than merely a matter of,say,plugging an iPhone into the dash. The AppLink programmes have access to the driver’s controls,including voice commands and buttons on the steering wheel that drivers can use to skip through songs.

Nevertheless,the upgradeable car is coming,and it promises to offer features that sound fantastic today. “Future upgrades may include changing the physical shape of the car for each driver and even the color of the paint,” predicts Evans of Cisco. His job is to envision technologies 20 to 50 years in the future,So don’t look for these options in 2012 models.