How Technology Is Changing the Automotive Industry
- News
- 05 Mar, 2020
The automotive industry has seen plenty of benefits from the evolution of technology. Cars are safer, smarter, and cheaper because they cost less to produce. At the same time, car manufacturers are bringing in more money than ever. As technology continues to evolve, there seems to be no end in sight to the benefits that car manufacturers are experiencing. Here are six ways that technology is changing the automotive industry.
How Cars Are Safer
The idea of innovative safety features used to be cruise control and automatic seat belts. However, this technology can be considered ancient when put against the safety technology that has revolutionized the automobile market. As technology has become more and more innovative, safety features have become more advanced and "smart."
Features such as self-parking, lane-keeping assist, and forward-collision alerts have cut back on driver error. In fact, the use of forward-collision alerts has reduced rear-end accidents by around 21 percent over the last few years. These new safety features are making the roads safer for everyone.
Fuel Efficiency
As the number of cars on the road increased over the decades, more problems began to surface with the increased use of fuel. One of the biggest problems is that fuel is not unlimited. It can also wreak havoc on the environment. Scientists have scrambled to do something about this problem for decades until they finally found a solution.
Enter solar-powered and electric cars. These cars have taken the world by storm. Most cars that use these two technologies are hybrids - they use traditional fuel paired with one of these technologies. Even as a hybrid, cars are using a fraction of the fuel they once used. Over the last few years, full-electric cars have entered the market, and they are very promising.
The Online Market
Online shopping revolutionized the way retailers made money. This revolution did not skip over the automobile industry. Online shopping made it possible for people to browse more vehicles than ever. Suddenly, location wasn't a problem anymore, especially for people who had no transportation to get to the car lot.
Online shopping has become so common that people browse online even if they intend to make a purchase in-person. Studies show that most consumers rely on information online when making their purchases. This is especially true with online reviews. This allows car dealers to get more exposure than ever as people search for their perfect cars.
Robotic Technology in Factories Lead to Better Cars
Automobile factories used to be full of factory workers on an assembly line working as fast as possible to put vehicles together. Now robots and other automated technology have taken the place of hundreds of thousands of workers. In 2019, over 80,000 jobs in the automotive industry were cut all around the world, and it's expected to continue with this trend each year.
While this may seem heartbreaking at first, it has led to safer, more reliable vehicles since human error has been reduced dramatically. Also, since there are more cars on the road, there are more opportunities in other industries such as the transportation industry. Displaced workers can look forward to a simple change of career. They could also remain in the automotive industry by becoming educated in computer and technology systems. After all, with this explosion of automotive technology, someone must be around to run it.
Self-Driving Cars
Fully automated, self-driving cars have not been released on the market yet, but they are right around the corner. When these cars are made available to the public, driving as we know it will be altered forever. Self-driving cars will open driving to a group of people that have never been able to drive before - low-vision and/or blind people. It will also significantly reduce the number of collisions on the road, making it safer than ever to be behind the wheel of a car.
Increased Production Efficiency
Robotic machines in factories can make cars exponentially faster than people. Machines don't get tired, they don't call out of work, and they don't get sick. They also don't get injuries from repetitive tasks. They can keep going day and night, quickly assembling vehicles faster than anyone could have guessed. Robots have increased efficiency in car factories so much that sales and profit have been on the rise each year.
Today's technology is mind-blowing. The way that the automotive industry is incorporating technology in the manufacturing of vehicles is something that manufacturers could only dream of a few decades ago. Cars have new and improved automatic safety features, the production of cars are more efficient, and people are safer on the roads. It's fair to say that the incorporation of new technology in the car manufacturing industry has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. As technology continues to progress, the future of the automotive industry becomes more and more set in stone.
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