If you put a car salesperson from any era into a time machine and send them 30 years in either direction, they’d likely end up scratching their heads with puzzlement at what they saw. With each human generation have come advances in automotive technology that made our parents’ and grandparents’ cars far different from the ones we drive. For example, fuel injection gradually replaced the carburetor as the way gas or diesel fuel is delivered to the cylinders, and gas direct injection has in turn taken over for older throttle body and multi-port fuel injection systems.
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The cassette tape, eight-track, and compact disc players that some of us older drivers had in our first cars have now almost completely given way to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration, although there is probably more innovation to come on this front. I have driven cars made from 1964 through 2018, and am using my experience with more than a half-century of automotive technology to project where we might be when our grandchildren get their licenses. Read on to find out what features aren’t currently available in production cars, but might be on option sheets in the late 21st century.
