Future groundbreakers: the cars that will do it first

Some months ago Autocar ran a feature online and in our magazine about production cars from the past that ‘did it first’ with game-changing technology such as air conditioning and automatic transmission.

The feature proved very popular, so we thought we’d follow it up with a look into our crystal ball and envisage the cars arriving soon which will bring new technology that will change the world of driving yet again.

It’s apt, since we’ll see more changes in the automotive industry during the next 25 years than we have since its inception in the 1880s. The car of the future is all-electric, autonomous and, depending on who you ask, shared rather than owned.

The cleverer companies will take advantage of the looming shift to bring new technology to the market. Here’s what’s coming and who will do it first. 

First air-less tire: Bridgestone

In China, millions of cyclists commute on bicycles fitted with air-less tires. Soon, millions of motorists will do the same. Bridgestone recently announced it’s in the early stages of developing an affordable, long-lasting air-less tire suitable for passenger cars. It will make getting a flat tire a problem of the past, therefore eliminating the need to carry a spare and a jack. In turn, cars will be lighter and a little bit more spacious.

The air-less tire will make its debut on a high-end car before trickling down to more affordable models. It could arrive as soon as the early 2020s. 

First automatically-adjusting car seat: Ford

The Lincoln Continental offers 30-way power-adjustable front seats. That’s more ways than most motorists care to read about in the owner’s manual. Parent company Ford’s solution takes the form of seats that automatically adjust before the passengers get in the car.

The system relies on existing technology like the blind spot monitoring system. It scans the passengers as they approach the car to determine their body size and adjust the seats accordingly. Patent images confirm Ford has already started working on the technology. The feature is at least three years away from production.

First car without door handles: Tesla

Concept cars signal what’s to come in the automotive industry and the future does not look bright for the door handle. Ditching the exterior door handle will be difficult but not impossible. We suspect Tesla will be the first to do it.

The Model S and the Model X both come with door handles that pop out of the body. The next step is to eliminate the handle entirely and replace it with a small button likely positioned at the base of the door pillar. Look for the door handle’s next evolution when the next-generation Model S arrives in the early 2020s.

First company to give up the combustion engine: Volvo

As electrification technology becomes more advanced, car companies will inevitably evaluate whether to keep investing in the internal combustion engine. We predict Volvo will be the first car-maker to give it up entirely, likely around 2030.

The Swedish firm does not sell sports cars and its line-up consists mostly of premium vehicles that place an emphasis on comfort. It can switch to an all-electric catalog with fewer ramifications than a company like BMW which still needs to keep enthusiasts satisfied. We could say the same about Buick in America. The key difference is that Volvo is already a pioneer in the field of electrification.

First compression-ignition gasoline engine: Mazda

While its rivals toiled away on autonomy and electrification, Mazda focused on solving a problem no one had found the solution to. It developed a technology called SkyActiv-X that brings compression ignition to the world of gasoline (petrol) engines for the first time. Prepare to say goodbye to your spark plugs.

The SkyActiv-X engine combines the economy and torque of a diesel with the performance and lower overall emissions of a gasoline engine. It’s real and it’s coming soon. The technology will make its debut in 2019 under the hood of a brand-new car, likely the next-generation Mazda3.

First energy-storing body panels: Volvo

Today, electric cars require the use of a bulky battery pack. In a decade, the motor could draw electricity from the body panels. Several auto-makers are working on the technology but we believe Volvo has made the most progress.

Five years ago, the Swedish firm showed an S80-based prototype with rechargeable body panels made using a special type of carbon fiber. The technology was still at the embryonic stage of development, and we haven’t heard much about it since, but we expect to see it in the coming years as Volvo embarks on an electric car offensive.  

First engine with variable cylinder displacement: Hyundai

Patent filings suggest Hyundai is working on an engine whose cylinders vary in displacement. For example, it could have two smaller cylinders that power the car on their own around town and two bigger cylinders that kick in under heavy acceleration. The setup would improve efficiency, though it would require a lot of new technology to run smoothly and make a seamless transition between modes. Hyundai could launch it by 2025.

First flying car for the masses: Geely

For better or worse, the year 2000 came and went without the Jetsons-like flying cars we were promised in the 1950s. Getting a car to fly is technically possible but there are numerous hurdles to clear before such a machine becomes legal and commercially viable.

Geely, the Chinese giant which also owns Volvo, recently purchased an American start-up named Terrafugia that dreams of filling the skies with flying cars. Geely has deep pockets and it has demonstrated it knows how to spur a brand’s development in record time. We’d bet on seeing functional prototype in the early 2020s.

First level five autonomous car: Audi

Audi demonstrated its vision of an autonomous car with level five capabilities at the 2017 Frankfurt Auto Show. The technology is still years away from reaching the mainstream but the Volkswagen-owned brand’s cautious yet determined approach to autonomy all but guarantees it will bring it to the market before anyone else.

The all-new fourth-generation A8 introduced last summer became the first production car with level three autonomy. Audi is currently leading the race towards self-driving cars and we expect it will go to great lengths to ensure it doesn’t finish second. While the company will stay at level three for the remainder of the current decade, it will reach level five before the end of the next one.

First lounge-like interior: Volkswagen

The advent of autonomous technology gives designers the freedom to explore new ways of packaging an interior. If the driver becomes a passenger, does he still need to sit in the front with a clear view of the road? The answer, according to many recent concept cars, is no.

Volkswagen has already confirmed the retro-styled ID Buzz concept will spawn a production model with some form of autonomy in 2022. There’s a very good chance the concept car’s lounge-like interior will reach production, giving the driver the possibility to swivel around and play Monopoly with the rear passengers as the van drives itself through a traffic jam. 

First mainstream Chinese brand in the US: GAC

China’s largest auto-makers see the American market as the biggest test of all, like a final exam or the boss in a Super Mario game. Many have tried to gain a secure foothold in the US and all have failed. That’s set to change soon.

Chinese companies now have a much better grasp on the concept of quality control than they did a decade ago. Their expansion into America will be fueled by the Chinese government and backed by low production costs. State-owned GAC hopes the GS8 SUV will set sail for the US before the end of 2019. It could be a success if it’s built well and priced right. 

First mass-produced hydrogen-powered car: Toyota

Every hydrogen-powered model on the market today is a low-volume vehicle. The most credible contenders are the Honda Clarity and the Toyota Mirai. Toyota has been working on hydrogen-powered mobility for 23 years and it’s in a good position to go mainstream with the technology when the market is ready in a few years’ time. Honda and General Motors, which are jointly investing $85 million into hydrogen research, won’t be far behind.

Hydrogen cars have a long way to go before they reach mainstream status. There are currently 16,292 charging stations for electric vehicles scattered across the US. In comparison, the Department of Energy counted 40 hydrogen filling stations. Just four of those are outside of California.

First mass-produced mirror-less car: BMW

There is, seemingly, an unwritten rule that states every modern concept car must use cameras in lieu of door mirrors. Though futuristic, the technology is relatively simple and it’s ready for mass production with one major caveat: it’s still illegal in many countries.

Japan made mirror-less cars legal in 2016. BMW has vowed to break through the red tape and show law-makers in Europe, in China and in the US that cameras are safer than mirrors. It shouldn’t take long and we predict mirror-less cars will become a common sight all over the globe by the early 2020s. 

First production car with supercapacitors: Lamborghini

On average, a supercapacitor can’t hold as much energy as a more conventional lithium-ion battery pack but it dispenses its charge in record time. Some argue the technology is key to building lightweight, high-performance electric cars.

Toyota could have been the first company to use supercapacitors in a street-legal model. It employed the technology in some of its endurance race cars but it switched to battery storage when it introduced the TS050 Hybrid for the 2016 season. Instead, the first production car with a supercapacitor will wear a Lamborghini emblem. The Italian firm is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to make the technology a reality in the not-too-distant future. It needs to electrify by 2030 so that’s when we’ll first see supercapacitors in showrooms.

First self-cleaning car: General Motors

As Paris officials recently found out, operating a fleet of shared cars comes with the immense challenge of keeping them clean. Rather than paying humans to do the dirty work, General Motors wants to build cars capable of cleaning themselves. We could see them on the road when the American firm launches its autonomous ride-sharing service in 2019.

Still at the prototype stage, its system relies on sensors that paint a virtual picture of the car’s interior. They can trigger an in-car vacuum cleaner if they detect the carpet is dirty or a steam cleaner powered by the engine’s heat. The sensors also warn passengers if they detect allergens from pets or peanuts. 

First self-disinfecting door handle: Ford

Ford wants to keep germs from spreading by coating door handles in a layer of disinfectant that’s activated by ultraviolet light, according to patent applications filed in the US. The light could shine onto the handle every time the user unlocks the car.

It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to speculate the feature will encourage motorists to participate in car-sharing programs. As part of its newfound love of tech, Ford aims to begin building fully autonomous vehicles for ride-sharing services in 2021.

First SUV to break the 200-mph barrier: Lamborghini

SUVs continue to defy the laws of physics by posting mind-bending performance figures in spite of their colossal weight. Bentley’s W12-powered Bentayga maxes out at 187 mph. The recently-unveiled Lamborghini Urus hits 190 mph if you give it a long enough stretch of tarmac.

We know Lamborghini will launch a hotter Urus we’re tentatively calling Superveloce before the end of the decade. We forecast it will become the first SUV to break the 200-mph barrier. 

First triple-clutch automatic transmission: Honda

Honda believes adding a third clutch to an automatic transmission can further reduce shift times and eliminate the power loss that occurs between gears changes. Patent image show the triple-clutch setup as part of an 11-speed automatic, a configuration which would give Honda another first to brag about. Production could begin in the early 2020s. 

First variable compression ratio engine: Infiniti

Infiniti showed the world’s first variable compression ratio engine earlier this year at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Named VC-Turbo, it’s a 2.0-liter unit that uses a multi-link system to continuously adjust the piston’s reach, changing the compression ratio on-the-go. It varies between 8:1, for sportier driving, and 14:1, for more efficient driving.

The 268hp VC-Turbo will make its debut next year under the hood of the 2019 QX50 (pictured). The technology will trickle down to other Infiniti and Nissan models in the coming years. 

First Wankel-electric hybrid: Mazda

Mazda, the auto-maker most often associated with the Wankel rotary engine, asked its research and development department to design a rotary unit it can use as a range extender in an electric car. The drivetrain could hit the market as early as 2019.

Audi could have been the first company to bring a Wankel-electric hybrid powertrain to the market. The German brand first experimented with the setup when it built an A1-based prototype in 2010. However, company officials recently confirmed the project is dead.

First 800-volt charging system: Porsche

Porsche is fine-tuning the 800-volt charging system that will equip its all-electric Mission E. Zapping the car with 800 volts can give its battery pack an 80-percent charge in only 15 minutes. That’s a boon on road trips and for owners who want to use the Mission E as a track car. It’s scheduled to make its debut before the end of 2019 and Porsche will introduce a second electric car shortly after.