I like my new car.
I Bluetooth my phone to the in-car entertainment system and amazing things happen.
I can read incoming SMS messages on a display.
I can view and autodial my contacts by voice-activated command.
I have full hands-free/speakerphone capability as I trundle around the countryside.
I can plug my iPod Classic in to the in-car entertainment system, and access any of my many playlists/podcasts.
The external lights are fully automatic; in normal daylight the front lights are permanently on.
But when it gets gloomier or darker front and rear lights come on.
And if there’s nothing in front of me travelling in the same direction, and nothing coming in the opposite direction, the lights automatically go to full-beam.
And back to dip again, when something is in front.
The wipers are fully automatic.
The sensors on the rear bumper activate a visual display and audio warning if my reverse parking is too tight.
If I’m closing too quickly on the car in front, an audio and visual warning pops up.
If I ignore these warnings, the car brakes itself!
If I run low on fuel, the SatNav automatically offers to route me to the nearest open filling station.
But for all these safety features – and more, that the car has – I have found one significant gap.
The radio allows me to accidentally listen to Steve Wright in the Afternoon.
I mean, with all that technology on board, you’d have thought the designers would have sorted that out, wouldn’t you?
🙂
I’m wondering if we drive the same (or similar) car, as mine does all that sort of stuff too.
Except for the SMS texts. When I first got it, texts would automatically display on the screen in the centre of the dash, and I remember thinking that was a bit stupid, as it is actively encouraging you to read your texts as you drive. But it must have read my mind or something, because it downloaded an update and that function is no longer available.
But, I will never hear Steve Wright, because I don’t have Radio 1 or 2 programmed in and I don’t switch Traffic Announcements on.
The self-braking thing can be a bit hairy: mine – apropos of nothing, it seems – has done it twice.
Does it make a nice cuppa if you so desire?