Getting Smart about Smart Cars

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Getting Smart about Smart Cars

Posted on July 16, 2019

 

Smart cars offer a multitude of features which were once considered ‘a bit fancy but not necessary’. But consumer demand has pressured car manufacturers into installing additional features such as lane departure warning and emergency braking - or risk being left off the consumer’s car-buying list.

 

Technology that helps a driver’s attention is also big news. Is this a result of overly busy lifestyles and trying to cram every minute of our day with tasks?  We think so.  As drivers, we’re all guilty of changing the song, turning on the heater, checking our reflection in the rear-view mirror, all while we should be doing just one thing. Driving safely. 

 

Most award-winning vehicles can spot driver fatigue or reckless driving by erratic steering and sudden braking and accelerating.  Hyundai’s Kona measures how long you have been driving and alerts when a break from driving is necessary.   Another high-tech example is Subaru’s Forrester ‘wandering gaze’ feature that uses facial recognition to establish how long your eyes have been closed!

 

Just like phones, new features are found in the high dollar vehicles but will become more mainstream as time goes on. Basically, if you are looking for the very latest in something you will never find it.  Technology is simply moving too fast.  

 

Think back to when reverse cameras and the vehicle back-up alarm (y’know, the beeping sound) were few and far between. These days it’s a surprise to see a car without it.   We can only imagine how much insurance claims have fallen with the help of these two features alone!

 

Electric Cars

When most of us first heard about electric vehicles an immediate concern that popped into our minds was ‘how far can we go?’  There were visions of being stranded in the middle of nowhere, last at night, using a lot of bad language.

 

Fast forward a couple of years and this concern has been dashed with the rise and rise of electric cars. So much success in fact that electric trucks are soon to be working on New Zealand shores. 

 

Though the initial outlay for an electric car is more expensive than a traditional petrol car, electric vehicles have fewer moving parts meaning a lot less could go wrong.  And of course, without the need for petrol, the long-term benefits are both environmentally and financially sound.

 

Manufacturers offer approximately 10 years for the battery life, but this might be a conservative estimate.  If a current battery went as far as 15 years a new battery can be purchased.  However, after 15 years you’ll probably see a change in lifestyle and be in the market for a replacement vehicle anyway.   

 

Regardless of what car, truck, campervan or motorbike you need to transport across the ditch or across the world, our customer-friendly shipping system takes care of the hard work for you.  

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