About 110 years ago a new transportation vehicle was invented - the slow thing with 3 wheels was called an "automobile". For tens of years it was not obtainable by the average man thus not an alternative for many from the horse and cart. Then, with the rise of the Ford T model and the rapid development of all technologies during WWI, the car became a symbol of social status, with big, powerful machines being produced, to show the might of both the manufacturer and the owner. Little had changed till 1940-s, when the automobile had finally reached mechanical maturity and the only way for further development was to begin filling it with little extras to raise its comfort and safety level.

A good comparison is the mobile phone which was once clumpy, over priced, unrealistic and over sized. Did you know that the first "mobile" phones weighed more than 50kg! Later more 'portable' options were mountable in motor vehicles and this trend seems to have helped shape the modern car as we know it and its gadgetry we now take for granted.

With the ever increasing number of cars and the traffic jams becoming worse every year, there has become a need for something entertainment wise within the modern day motor vehicle to entertain them in these long hours, lost every day on the road. So versatile are the customization options for a vehicles technology, from mobile office, through entertainment system to weather forecasts, followed by global navigation, and multiple touch screen displays. The technology quickly becomes common place within the vehicle and a necessity for every modern vehicle and with the time the need to integrate such systems to meet the rising demand for this kind of technology within vehicles.

Nowadays each and every car manufacturer spends a lot of time trying to create and optimize the best integrated vehicle control system, sometimes spending more time on perfecting the GPS interface than on the development of the vital ABS or ESP systems. Of course, considering the fact that the interface of the integrated systems must be both intuitive and safe to use while driving, such approach is perfectly normal, yet concerning at the same time, but the display is pretty!

In the near future many new ideas await integration in to the vehicles. Satellite radio is almost an industry standard now, but rumors suggest that some car manufacturers will be considering integrating satellite internet access to allow both browsing and sending of information such as emergencies in most remote locations with no cell-phone coverage. If this seems a little over the top, how about the idea of integrating military grade IR cameras and HUD's (head up display) mounted on the windshield to allow much better awareness of vehicles or objects in front of you, even in the harshest weather conditions.

The ability of the IR light to pass through dust and fog will allow you to see a much clearer picture of what's ahead of you - while driving in fog on the highway or worse visual conditions. Most traffic accidents with more than 4 victims happen in such conditions. Seems like a Sci-Fi novel? Well, it is not, as some manufacturers have already included such extras in middle class cars (mostly all-terrain vehicles till now, but its likely we will see them in normal vehicles at some point).

There are problems of course. The most important issue is the safety of the driver and passengers. For example, there were many accidents in the years following the release of Satellite navigation systems or GPS. People were unaware of the danger of constantly watching the small screen and forgot to watch the road ahead. This is only one of the many systems the driver must check and adjust en route, leaving many people wondering if it is really worth the increased risk of accidents. The second main issue is the overall stability of the whole integrated electronics system. A simple law of engineering is that the more complex a system is - the bigger is the chance of it failing.

But when you are stuck for 3 hrs in traffic jam, such worries seem to loose their strength, compared to the DVD player with 10" screen and the idea of satellite internet that would allow you to do a quick status update on FaceBook and entertain you for the rest of the evening.