A decade of drastic changes in the automotive world: what accelerated them?

The automobile has evolved over more than a hundred years from a self-propelled carriage to a fast, efficient, safe and fast personal vehicle. History has seen many innovations, successful and unsuccessful experiments, design, technological, production changes, but they were separated by decades. And the last decade has changed cars beyond recognition.

For example, exactly 10 years ago, in 2014, Google introduced Android Auto, and Apple introduced Car Play apps, without which the driver of a new car cannot imagine his life. Safety features such as lane keeping were only available on premium models. The innovation, which can not only warn about the deviation from the traffic lane, but also automatically turn the steering wheel, return the car to its own lane, was boasted by the Mercedes-Benz W222 series, which still looks luxurious. Today, even the Kia Cee’d, Volkswagen Golf, and other affordable hatchbacks can drive themselves neatly without driver intervention, and larger models like the Kia EV6 automatically change lanes and assess when it’s safe to do so.

Currently, technology in the automotive industry is spreading much faster. For example, the ESP system, which debuted in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in 1995, began to be installed in all new cars only two decades later. In the past, only the manufacturers of “premium” models presented innovations in their most luxurious creations, and then they only gradually transferred them to simpler models. Buyers of lower class cars had to wait decades for them. And now even middle-class manufacturers are innovating. Here, the cameras installed in the mirrors to show the blind spot when the turn signal is activated on the dashboard were the first to be used by the companies Kia and Hyundai.

Experts note that this powerful advancement of the automotive industry is due to the age of technology. Mechanical components have reached near perfection over the course of a century, so we don’t see many innovations in this area, and electronics have given progress a new momentum.

“Even 10 years ago, a screen in a car was a luxury, and now it seems that you are driving a computer, not a car anymore. In fact, this area of ​​technology is the easiest and cheapest to develop, you just need more powerful computers and good programming,” assures the head of “Auto Bild Lietuva” magazine. editor Vitoldas Milius.

However, cars have advanced the most in the last decade not so much in the field of electronics, but in the electrification of the drivetrain. In its report, the World Economic Forum pointed out that the production of electric cars has increased more than 50 times in a decade. In 2012, 130 thousand were produced in the world. of pure electric cars, and in 2022 that much was produced every week. In 2023, production increased by another third, and last year 10 million vehicles were put on the road. electric cars. In developed countries, they are beginning to take a significant share of the market, as they already meet the needs of a significant number of drivers.

10 years ago, electric cars were only suitable for enthusiasts willing to make sacrifices. In 2014, the first electric car race from Vilnius to Palanga took place in Lithuania. They were won by the crew driving the Kia Soul model. He covered a distance of slightly more than 300 km in six and a half hours.

The winners came to charge twice. And last year, according to other rules that give priority to the time rate, the crew of the new Kia EV6 in second place traveled almost 560 km on public roads in 6 hours. He drove in the city, in the country, sped along the highway and stopped a few times to recharge. Nothing more, without breaking the rules, it would be possible to get away with a car with an internal combustion engine.

The electric drive, which demanded completely new competences from the manufacturers, also changed the brand hierarchy quite strongly. Everyone was surprised by Tesla jumping out of nowhere to the top of the top ten of the most popular cars, a significant number of Europeans lagged behind, and Korean manufacturers jumped up with 800 V electrical systems. In addition, the electric drive gave people very easily accessible high power and good dynamics. The already mentioned “Kia EV6” with two engines at the traffic light can surpass the older generation of sports cars, because up to 100 km/h. sprints in 5.2 sec.

Market insiders admit that cars have already become too comfortable, too well-handled and too dynamic for their drivers to adhere to age-old speed limits. And this creates new challenges.

“Both electric and hybrid drivetrains these days drive like magic. The most basic crossovers are faster and better controlled than the old generation sports models with turbo engines. In the past, the maximum permissible speed of 90 km/h was to drive with “Žigulais” on the old Molėtai highway. at speed was a real challenge, and now at this speed a modern car just flies along the road: you don’t feel any danger, adrenaline, speed, any action, it gets boring, you start shooting crows. There are many safety measures that drive for you, to feel more like a passenger”, V. Milius names the advantages of technological progress from the consumer’s point of view and the disadvantages from the driver’s perspective.