18 emerging technologies for the cars of the future

Breakthrough technologies and innovations routinely pop into the middle of the bustling auto industry. And sometimes the rest of the industry largely ignores the development — or worse, an idea will make it to market only to have new-car shoppers give it the cold shoulder.

But other times, a fuse is lit. Competitors realize the wisdom of a new approach and a technology emerges from a far corner of the business to find widespread use.

Airbags were once such an idea. The expensive technology appeared only on a few high-end models — but then the federal government declared them to be safety features that ought to be standard. The hipster trend of aftermarket exterior lighting accessorizing has morphed into factory lights that display names and logos and provide soft colors to cabins at night.

Multidisc CD changers came and went. In the predawn days of cloud music storage and smartphone-synched cockpit audio, a boxy CD changer in a vehicle's trunk with eight or 10 music discs carefully loaded before driving down the highway actually looked like a technological sensation. But things changed.

Things often change quickly, rendering the hard work of engineers and R&D teams irrelevant.

Automated motorized seat belts looked for a brief time like a prudent new idea to help unmotivated drivers get their seat belts on — or really, to force them to do it. That technology has mercifully disappeared.

Meanwhile, the jury is still out on well-meaning voice-operated technologies that theoretically allow vehicle passengers to change the cabin temperature, change the music selection, conjure up driving directions or phone somebody hands-free.

These technologies may still be emerging from the status of "new," but they might well persevere and become accepted standards in an industry that won't stop improving.