If you’re thinking about buying a new car, there are loads of options on the market that come with the latest technology.
New cars come with all different types of bells and whistles to make your life easier and the driving experience more enjoyable.
Whether it’s to do with improving comfort, visibility, connectivity or the driving dynamics, modern car technology is the most advanced it has ever been.
So, what are the best features fitted to cars today? We’ve compiled a list of some of the best modern car technological equipment.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Launched in 2014, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is one of the best and most common types of mobile phone in-car connectivity services.
Almost every new car now comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and it’s a phone mirroring connection, which allows you to control your phone over the car’s infotainment screen.
You can make calls and text people by simply saying ‘Hey, Siri’, or ‘Hey, Google’ if you have an Android phone, as well as listen to music or streamed through Spotify as well as use Google Maps, Waze or any other satellite navigation apps. It also allows you to listen to podcasts on the move and it’s a great modern touch to any vehicle.
Heated and ventilated seats
When the colder months approach, it’s always a pleasure to have heated seats, with more and more cars now coming with the feature as standard.
Not only does it warm you up, but it also helps with the car’s residual values, as it’s a desirable feature to have. Another increasingly popular and must-have option is ventilated seats, which works a treat in the summer.
Ventilated seats feature in-built little fans that provide cool air by drawing warm air away from the occupants body, which reduces sweat and makes driving in hot conditions a lot more comfortable.
Most commonly, the fans are located in the lower base of the seat and back rest area; however, certain cars can allow you to adjust where the cool air is drawn from, to make it even more relaxing.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive Cruise Control has become an important safety feature in modern cars as it can reduce the chance of an accident.
Adaptive Cruise Control works similarly to standard cruise control where you set the car to a certain speed and then the car will maintain it independently. ACC takes it one step further and is a semi-autonomous driver safety feature which scans the road ahead via a sensor located at the front of the car, automatically adjusting the speed of your car to maintain a preset distance to the vehicle in front. So, if the vehicle in front begins to slow down, you’ll slow down, then if it speeds up, your car will speed up to the set speed of the cruise control.
In some cars, the vehicle can slow down to speeds of 20mph before the driver has to take control, but in more expensive models, it can bring the car to a halt without the driver touching the brake, with the car setting off again once the car in the front has moved away.
Automatic high beam headlights
Another important safety feature is automatic high beam assist. It features a little camera located in the front windscreen which scans for any oncoming light.
When driving at night, if the system doesn’t sense any light, your high beams will come on automatically; however, if an oncoming vehicle suddenly approaches, the system will dip the headlights without you having to touch a thing.
Head-up display
A head-up display, or HUD for short, is a great way to keep your eyes focused on the road, while being able to check your vehicle’s speed.
It projects key driver information onto the windscreen, such as the vehicle’s speed, sign posts and navigation instructions.
A head-up display looks like it’s floating in the glass, but that’s because it’s a projection from a screen on the dashboard, which means that no other passenger can see the information and is just available for the driver to view.
Reverse parking cameras
Reversing cameras were introduced over two decades ago, but the technology has advanced in that time, and now there are 360-degree vision units, which are another great modern touch.
A 360-degree parking camera not only helps with reversing, but it can project a live image of the car from overhead in the infotainment screen, to make it easier to parallel park, as well as reducing the risk of curbing your wheels or damaging another vehicle.
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