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Car Tech

Credit the microprocessor for cleaner skies, fewer traffic fatalities, and more ways to entertain yourself in traffic jams. You'll find 50 to 70 microprocessors in today's high-end car; they monitor fuel efficiency and emissions, keep you from skidding around rain-slicked curves, control the timing and force of airbag deployment, track your location, and provide satellite music and backseat DVD entertainment. Even some of the software is familiar: A version of Microsoft Windows controls the dashboard in more than a dozen car models. (Insert your own "does it crash much?" joke here.)

To be sure, the rich get new technology first. Burying a $2,500 radar cruise-control system in a $75,000 Mercedes sticker price is easier than in a $25,000 Dodge's. And luxury car buyers carry development costs in the decade it takes to make important technologies like antilock brakes and airbags affordable and standard.

In this story, we look at some of the most fascinating new technologies for your car.

Navigation

Nav systems have been available for more than a decade, and the friendliest ones now allow technophobes to key in destinations with just a few finger taps. The best, from Alpine, Denso, and Xanavi, are found mostly on Japanese cars, plus some Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Jaguars, and use touch screens for input rather than control wheels. Price: $1,500 to $2,000. What's next: Acura and Cadillac will offer real-time traffic updates overlaid onto nav maps this fall, via XM Satellite feeds. Later on, prices should fall to $1,000, driven by efficiencies of scale (500,000 out of 17 million vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2003 had navigation systems).

Joysticks/LCDs

Rather than adding another switch every time a car gains a function, a handful of automakers—Audi, BMW, and soon Acura—are using an in-dash LCD and a joystick like controller to replace nonprimary switches. BMW's iDrive knob actually provides force feedback, and its first dash panel ran Windows CE. Most users, though, have found the "simplicity" confusing—several shoves, twirls, and clicks versus flipping one switch. Audi's MMI (multimedia interface) provides a more user-friendly approach, with eight buttons to preselect navigation, CD, radio, phone, and such. Price: Included. What's next: Acura will adopt an Audi-like solution this fall, and more BMWs will go to a simpler second-generation iDrive. Watch for this kind of controller on more cars soon.

Active Cruise Control

Cruise control works well only when the highway is empty. Active (sometimes called adaptive) cruise control (ACC) adds laser or look-ahead radar in the 76- to 77-GHz frequency range to back off the gas or lightly apply the brakes if a car cuts in front of you or if you come up quickly on a left-lane bandit. ACC is a vital safety asset on long, stuporous trips. By the way, ACC uses a different frequency than police radar, so it won't interfere with your radar detector Price: $2,000 to $3,000. What's next: $1,000 ACC, with cheaper (though bulkier) 24-GHz radar units in the U.S.; ACC mated to navigation systems and used to track the cars ahead as they go around curves.

Entertainment

Not the most advanced technology but perhaps the most desirable, backseat DVD keeps kids quieter on trips than anything short of pharmaceuticals. Sirius or XM Satellite Radio ($10 to $13 a month) provides 100 ad-free channels. True 5.1 surround sound is available in a few cars via DVD Audio. Price: Up to $2,500 for DVD video and premium sound. What's next: More cars that play MP3s, not just burned CDs; line-in jacks to connect digital music players; satellite video.

Steerable Xenon Headlights

Turn your steering wheel to the right and your headlights will turn also, lighting the way around corners. This technology is usually paired with xenon headlights, a great option in any case if you do a lot of night driving. Price: $500 to $1,000 for both. What's next: Super-accurate, next-generation nav systems that turn the lights before the road curves.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth in a car turns any Bluetooth-equipped mobile phone into a hands-free device. Only a few cars (from Acura, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Lexus, Lincoln, and Toyota) have it, and you need a GSM phone (from AT&T or T-Mobile)—not a CDMA phone. Price: Around $500. What's next: CDMA (Verizon) phones with Bluetooth, $100 in-car Bluetooth, and in-car Wi-Fi for PC-to-car communications (also helpful at the dealership for uploading diagnostic info).

Head-up Display

Automakers that are worried about glance time—how long your eyes take to move to your instruments or LCD info panel back to the road—are projecting crucial info into the driver's line of sight using a head-up display. This technology, which GM originally marketed as a safety feature for older drivers in the late 1980s, is making a comeback at BMW and GM with color images using LEDs (rather than monochrome images from a hot projection bulb). The images appear to float at the end of the hood, so your eyes don't have to refocus. Price: $1,000 (or included). What's next: Lower prices, smaller packaging.

Lane Departure Warning

With this forthcoming feature, a windshield-mounted camera will capture lane markers, and powerful but cheap microprocessors will figure out what they mean. If you veer into another lane, the steering wheel will vibrate and an alarm will sound. Price: To be determined. What's next: Infiniti will incorporate this technology into vehicles this fall.

Precrash Safety

Front, side, rear, head, and knee airbags protect you after a crash, and seatbelt tensioners remove slack at the moment of impact. Now comes a software algorithm that senses the events leading up to a crash—sudden hard braking, skidding, heavy body lean—and prepares for the impact by raising reclined seats, closing the sunroof, and lightly increasing seatbelt snugness. Currently only high-end Mercedes-Benz cars use this. technology. Price: Included. What's next: Wider adoption.

Automatic Manual Transmission

Purists say manual transmissions are faster, give better gas mileage, and are more fun to drive with than automatics. Manual gearboxes with electronic clutch control give you the best of both worlds. Audi's Direct Shift Gearbox on the TT 3.2, with dual clutches (even gears on one clutch and odd gears on the other), reduces the jerky shifts that happen with some other manumatic transmissions. Price: $1,000 to $2,500. What's next: Smoother shifting for all and the introduction of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) in heavier cars.

Hybrid Engines

Although trucks (including SUVs and minivans) make up the majority of the auto market, highly efficient power-plant engines thrive too. Most popular is the hybrid, a small gasoline engine and a big battery driving an electric motor for extra acceleration. Price: Up to $3,000 more than a comparable car (if one exists). What's next: Return of the diesel engine (now quiet), unused-cylinder shutdown (from DaimlerChrysler), and perhaps hydrogen-based fuel in the longer term.

Night Vision

The infrared heat sensor in GM's NightVision projects a video image onto a head-up display independent of the car's headlights. It's uncanny in its ability to see dark-clothed joggers, animals, and even parked cars that are still warm. Price: $2,250. What's next: Adoption beyond the current handful of GM cars.

Top Ten High-Tech Cars

•Acura TL. Integrated Bluetooth and five-channel DVD/CD Audio in every car. Superb nav system (as with all Acuras). $33,000 base price.

•Audi A8 L. Best yet cockpit controller. Almost as many gadgets as the Lexus LS430 and even more fun to drive. $69,000.

•Audi TT Coupe. The best automatic-manual gearbox, with Formula One-style paddles for manual shifting. $40,000.

•BMW 5 Series. Head-up display, active cruise control, and variable steering (the car turns more at slow speeds). Improved but still frustrating iDrive cockpit controller. $40,000.

•Cadillac SRX. Halfway between a wagon and an SUV, the SRX offers every imaginable entertainment option. $39,000.

•Chrysler 300C Hemi. Bluetooth, navigation, and satellite radio options. The Hemi engine shuts down half of its cylinders on the highway, increasing economy up to 20 percent. $33,000.

•Infiniti FX45. This aggressively styled SUV's Technology Package has active cruise control, a backup camera, and navigation. DVD entertainment quiets the backseat crowd. $44,000.

•Lexus LS430. One of the best nav systems, backup video, and—unlike some competitors—impeccable reliability. $55,000.

•Mercedes S-Class. Sensational active cruise control, a body that leans into turns, and crash-sensing wizardry makes you forget the so-so nav system and complex audio. $74,000.

•Toyota Prius. A hybrid car that's actually big enough to carry people and their luggage. Feels and drives like a real car. $20,000.