Cars have come a long way since the first Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line back in the early 1900s. We’ve seen things like overhead camshafts, seatbelts, navigation and even automatic transmissions move from the realm of science fiction into reality, becoming standard equipment on an enormous variety of vehicles. With this in mind, what features can we expect to see in cars in the next few years? Car-to-Car Communication A majority of car accidents are caused by human error — studies have shown that upwards of 90 percent of vehicle accidents are a result of having a human driver behind the wheel. While self-driving cars could potentially change that statistic, we’re still a long way off from those autonomous vehicles becoming mainstream. In the meantime, car-to-car communication could help to make driving safer. It’s already been implemented in Tesla’s electric cars and allows the vehicles to communicate with one another to learn about new traffic conditions or other obstacles in the road. Making it standard-issue on cars could help prevent traffic accidents caused by distracted drivers. Automated Valet Parking If you live in a populated area, finding a place to park can be a nightmare. Some cars today already come with “assisted parking” but still require you to find a parking space. Imagine being able to simply hop out of your car and tell it to go park itself. One click tells your car to go find any open parking space. Often, the parking lot or garage will be equipped with an automated “overseer” that will tell your car where to go park itself. One more click and your car comes right back to you without having to go traipsing around the parking lot looking for where it parked itself. Panoramic Sunroofs There’s nothing like opening up the sunroof on a warm, sunny day as you’re driving down the highway. It helps you get rid of hot air from the interior of your car while promoting airflow. Panoramic sunroofs take that to a whole new level, making the interior of your car feel much more open and expansive. They’re not without their problems — some users have complained that they allow the car to get hotter than it normally would or that it makes the interior of the car noisier. In general, though, it looks like the panoramic sunroof is a new option that’s here to stay and will probably start making an appearance on many more car models in the future. Biometrics If you’ve got a smartphone, chances are good you’re already taking advantage of available biometrics technology. Fingerprint scanners and facial recognition to unlock your phone are all examples of biometrics. It won’t be long before you’ll be able to unlock and start your car the same way: by pressing your finger to the door handle or letting a smart window scan your face or even your iris. As biometric technology advances and becomes more affordable, it will become easier to incorporate into vehicles for everything from unlocking the door to starting the engine. Health Monitoring for Drivers No one wants to think about the risks of having a heart attack or stroke behind the wheel of a car. In addition to being dangerous to the driver, it puts others on the road at risk when the driver loses control of the car. Heart rate monitors and other vital monitoring equipment could be incorporated into the car, alerting the driver (and potentially emergency services as well) when there is a medical emergency brewing. When paired with self-driving technology, it could even be used to safely move the car to the side of the road, taking control out of the hands of the compromised driver. The way technology is advancing, this is just a small sampling of the amazing changes that we could see come to the average car in the next few years. We’ve reached the point where car upgrades are no longer limited by the available technology — unless you’re waiting for a flying car, that is. Instead, we’re limited only by our own imagination, making it a great time to be a car-lover.