Driving a vehicle is one of the best ways to get to your destination, putting you in the driver’s seat, literally, freeing you of public transportation schedules (they’re usually late, anyway).

Automobiles have already made our lives more convenient, but because of the latest technological advancements, car manufacturers continue to make car-ownership even more enticing.

Smart headlights

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up with Intel to perfect the smart headlights that help people see while driving in the rain or snow.  The project was published last year and the smart headlights are comprised of a camera, projector and a beam-splitter.  The scientists at Carnegie Mellon used low-cost, off-the-shelf components for the system.  The camera takes images of the raindrops then a processor uses a predictive algorithm to figure out where rain or snow will fall.  The projector then switches off light rays based on the predictive algorithm or where the rain or snow is projected to drop.

Headlights hitting drops of rain or snow flakes produces glare which makes it hard for drivers to see ahead.  By eliminating the chance of the light hitting rain or snow by using a predictive algorithm, drivers will be able to see better even if the weather is wants to make it impossible.

The prototype has been tested at different car speeds and rainfall intensity, and their system had a 79 percent success rate if the car is travelling at 30km/h.  But that number dropped to only 20 percent if the car is speeding at 100km/h.

Though the technology is impressive, it’s going to take about a decade before it becomes available in the market.

Mercedes Benz is also working on new features for headlights and taillights for upcoming models.  The taillights will be dinner during nights and brighter during the day.  Also, while you’re driving and you hit the brakes, the taillights will be bright to warn other cars behind you, and will become dimmer when you come to a complete stop, so as not to annoy other drivers.  As for the headlight brightness, some people like driving with their headlights on high which can be irritating to oncoming vehicles.  Mercedes-Benz figured out a way to enable headlights on high beam without blinding oncoming traffic, and if it detects a person on the side of the road, the headlights will flash the person to alert both the driver and the person standing on the side of the road.

Smart carpooling

Carpooling is encouraged in many countries as it is proven to be cost-effective.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to find people who you can actually carpool with.  With that in mind, SAP has come up with TwoGo, a ride share program aimed to create corporate carpools and drive sustainability within the company.

“TwoGo by SAP is another great example of how our innovations help the world run better. We’ve combined our mobile and cloud technologies into a carpooling solution to help provide immediate economic, environmental and social benefits to companies and their employees,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer, SAP AG. “As such, we expect TwoGo to not only help people and businesses save money and greenhouse gas emissions, but to also connect people more closely with each other and with the company they work for. It has been designed around employees with one single objective in mind: create the most effective, intuitive and beautiful experience possible.”

Once a company licenses the use of TwoGo, employees can sign up online and enter ride-sharing preferences such as proximity, timing to and from work and willingness to leave the highway to pick up passengers.  TwoGo eliminates the hassles of figuring out which person to carpool with as the system automatically matches you based on your preferences and communication between carpool participants established via e-mail or SMS.  TwoGo is powered by Nokia HERE.

Apple to invade cars

Apple is said to be working with car manufacturers for center consoles that allow drivers or passengers to dock their iPhone.  Upon docking the iPhone, the revamped version of Apple Maps will pop up in the car’s built-in display and with Siri, the Maps app, and other iOS functionality can be controlled just by talking.  The new functionalities are said to be a part of the upcoming iOS 7.  This is conjunction to the Eyes-Free Siri service Apple announced at last year’s WWDC in partnership with BMW, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Audi.  It is expected that the same brands are still in on Apple’s plan of vehicle domination.