Top Vehicle Trends Update

The automotive world is changing so quickly that if you come to the Beach Boulevard of Cars in Huntington Beach next year, you may discover completely new engineering and tech that doesn’t exist today. To bring you up to speed, here are some of the top trends currently affecting vehicles in Orange County, California, and beyond.

Going Electric

Many manufacturers are increasing their EV offerings while adding more charging stations to make longer trips possible. A new concept is battery swapping, where drivers can drive up to a station and swap out their spent battery for one that is fully charged, all within a few minutes.

Car Connections

With the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the quickening speeds of mobile networks, vehicles are becoming more connected with manufacturers, each other, and your smartphone. Cars become more aware of what’s happening around them. They are able to respond effectively, such as when your SUV advises you to take a different route because a work truck has just announced via the airwaves that road construction has just started a few miles down the road.

Hands-Free Driving

Completely hands-free vehicles are still being tested, but by combining adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, and automated emergency braking, many cars can take you down compatible highways while you take a breather from your driving chores. Autonomous tech is generally available only on the top trims of higher-end manufacturers, such as Tesla and Cadillac. Still, this feature is slowly filtering down to the less expensive models of brands like Ford and Chevrolet.

Augmented Reality

At a basic level, augmented reality (AR) appears when a Heads-Up Display projects data, such as speed, on the windshield in front of your eyes. Because AR keeps your focus on the road, expect more operational information, such as navigation directions and driver alerts, to appear in front of you rather than on the dashboard. More sophisticated systems in the future may even provide additional descriptions on demand, such as when you ask to translate a traffic sign or billboard to another language.

Buying Online

The pandemic encouraged most auto purchases to move online to avoid personal contact, but this trend has since continued because of the convenience and time-savings for both buyers and sellers. Even now, most car purchases perform online research before completing a transaction.

Expect the trends to continue because spending an average of three hours haggling at a showroom does not compare to the efficiency of a quick mouse click. Most dealers enable you to order or select a vehicle, fill out paperwork, pay, and have the car delivered to your home all online. When it’s time for maintenance or repair, check with the facilities, as they may offer to pick up your vehicle from your home or office and deliver it back to you when servicing is done, which is a real thing today – just ask your service center about this service.