At the moment, the cars will not fly as planned and Tesla or Uber have already advanced, but the new prototypes that will leave the factory will have more futuristic overtones than we think, inside and out.

Autonomous, connected, sustainable and more efficient, but also more comfortable, spacious and transformable. With these initial and general characteristics, the car of the future is designed. Far from being a pipe dream, the smart car is closer to Kitt, the legendary prototype star of the television series, Fantastic Rider, than we think. The Pontiac Firebird Trans-AM V8 incorporated artificial intelligence, was self-aware and could speak and interact as if it were a real person.

The issue of sustainability and energy efficiency is one of the issues that most concerns manufacturers and users. Not surprisingly, the transport sector is responsible for around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and almost 90% of these correspond to road traffic, according to data from the United Nations.

“95% of new cars registered in 2030 will be electric (55%) or hybrid (40%). However, a majority of the vehicle stock, around 80%, will continue to be combustion vehicles”, according to the report The five trends that will mark the automobile market, prepared by the PwC consultancy and in which it is highlighted that “the digitization and shared transport will drastically change the market”.

The study also points out that “the transition to an emission-free mobility market will be impossible without the electrification of the mobile fleet, which would also be powered by renewable energy sources.” Electric or hydrogen-powered cars (the latter in Spain only Hyundai and Toyota), are already circulating on the streets, replacing those with fossil fuels such as gasoline or diesel, and it is increasingly common to see more recharging points on public roads or places of affluence such as restaurants, shopping malls or parks.

In full ecological transition, 2030 is also the date for the connected car to become a reality. “A connectivity that will be developed in three areas: between vehicles, with transport networks and infrastructures and between the occupants of the cars and the outside world”, according to the PwC study.

This connectivity will allow us to do things that were previously unthinkable inside our car, such as “working, surfing the Internet and having access to all kinds of multimedia services during journeys”, highlights the report.

In Europe and the United States around 70% of cars will be connected in 2030 and in China it will be 100% that will enjoy full connectivity, according to data from the consultancy.

Brands such as Bmw, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen are already testing systems for vehicles to communicate with traffic lights and technologies related to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications.

The fully autonomous vehicle will take time to become a reality. It is possible that before 2023 we will see “the first cars with level four automation – level five marks fully autonomous driving – and that in 2030 between 85% and 90% of cars will still be driven by people”, according to the PwC trend study, which clarifies that “the speed of change will depend not only on technological development but also on the ability we have to equip ourselves with regulation.”

New technologies will make it possible for cars of the future to maintain safe distances from other objects while in motion, automatically brake or park autonomously. Many models will enable what we know as delegated or autonomous driving with systems such as Tesla’s autopilot.

Some of these innovations were already seen, for example, at the Tokyo Olympics, where athletes traveled around the Olympic village in driverless buses.

Manufacturers of cars and interior components are also working hard to design the interiors of the cars of the future. A more comfortable space thanks to the fact that the large internal combustion mechanisms are reduced or eliminated. The interior of the cars to come is conceived as a space that will serve to work, relax or be able to communicate with other users while one is driving or being taken by autonomous driving.

New technologies will allow the use of active acoustic systems, projection of information on interior surfaces or personalized functional lighting integrated into the ceiling substrate, as well as retractable sunshades that deploy automatically only when needed and allow individual comfort bubbles to be created. .