5.  Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

This is actually old technology, but one of the measures outlined in a piece of EU legislation is that electronic stability control to be mandatory in all new vehicles effective from 1st November 2014.

It isn’t a new trend, ESC is already implemented in some cars, and works by automatically detecting when the car is about to skid, and applies the brakes in individual wheels to ‘steer’ the car where it needs to go. It builds onto ABS technology and helps the driver maintain control of the car.

You may have driven a car already that has ESC installed, though even if it’s a bugbear of yours, it will soon be in every new car. Newer developments with the technology are Roll Stability Control (RSC), while ESC stabilises the vehicle horizontally, RSC works vertically to stop larger vehicles, like SUVs, tipping over.

Other features which will appear to become more popular in 2014, while in many cases still can only be bought as additional features are as follows:

• Rear Parking Cameras (there are now actual kits on eBay for car owners to put them in their own car)
• Blind Spot Detection (though if all future cars are see-through like the TRW car exhibited recently at the Frankfurt motor show, this may become obsolete)
• further developments in Collision Avoidance Systems.

To summarise, tomorrow’s trends are technology that is already in existence, simply becoming more popular and more intelligent. Far from being nothing new, the cars available to buy in 2014 will still add to our overall driving experience.

We haven’t reached the stage yet where we can all own driverless cars, even with the Volvo, but certainly these features will all help us to drive better in the forthcoming year.