Remember the days when all you could do in a car was climb in behind the wheel and drive? If you were the passenger, you would pack a Walkman and books for a road trip and experience boredom less than 2 hours in. Now, being in the car is almost like being at home. You have so many technological options that there’s very little you can’t do while on the road. Whether you’re driving or just along for the ride, take advantage of all the great tech features to make road trips fly by.
Navigation
There was once a time when the passenger was also the map reader. If you’ve never had to deal with one of those folding maps, consider yourself lucky. Thanks to navigation systems, passengers are free to handle the road trip playlist and play on social media while the driver can see the route and hear instructions for each and every turn along the way. Screen sizes vary depending on the infotainment system in the car, but the goal of integrated navigation systems is to make driving easier and safer than ever before.
Entertainment
Both driver and passengers have options for entertainment in today’s new cars. Social media, smartphone integration, satellite or Wi-Fi music options, heck you can even stream television and movies in the car. There’s no chance of getting bored on the road these days. If there’s an electronic device you usually use at home, you can definitely use it or integrate it with the technology in a new car. Many of these devices, when connected to the car, also offer hands-free options.
Driver Assistance
Remember when movies showed self-driving cars and everyone thought how far in the future that would be? The future has arrived. There are several driver assist electronic programs installed in new cars. Lane change alerts, notification or auto braking for items or cars in the roadway, parking assist to help you parallel park and even sensors and cameras for backing up. While you may not be able to program an address in and go to sleep while your car automatically drives you to where you want to go just yet, there are a lot of auto drive features available on new vehicles.
All of these great technology features make driving more fun for both drivers and passengers. You might think that all of this integration and technology in cars would lead to distracted driving and more accidents but most of these options are considered to be safety features. Having technology integration such as voice texting and hands-free calling keeps drivers from using their smartphones while driving.There’s no need to take your eyes off the road to answer calls, have conversations and even exchange text messages.
Visit your local auto dealership today to check out all the technological features available and test drive what may be your next new car.
