Technology is evolving faster than ever; smart phones, GPS, 3G, everything is developing faster and faster. This innovation is also clear in the auto industry that is continually developing features that make the driver’s life easier.
The most notable advancement in the last decade or so is the standardization of power steering on all vehicles. Can you imagine trying to do a 3 point turn without it, especially in a large van or even HGV!
Safety has evolved too with everything from alarms to tell you that you are not wearing your seat belt to fully functional air bags for the driver and passenger. Speaking of alarms, alert and diagnostic systems have improved as well. Back in the day for a non-mechanic type the only way you found out that you had an engine problem was when you broke down on the side of the M6. Now there is warning light for everything. This brings me to my favourite innovation, the trip computer. Anything and everything you can think of about your car is stored in the trip computer. How much petrol you havecheck here, how many miles it will give you, what the tire pressure is, and all there on one little screen, it is brilliant.
As well as that another brilliant thing that the car industry has done is take technology that has been around for a while and stuck it in our trucks, vans and cars. Air-conditioning, Bluetooth and of course satellite navigation – 3 things that make a long drive a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience. It is no wonder that these innovations are making there was into commercial vehicles and not just luxury cars. If you were to think about it commercial vehicles are more likely to do long journeys so for these drivers they are practically essentials. Most new models of trucks, vans and cars carry these features as standard but if you go back a number of years you will need to look at the highest spec vehicles to find all of these features. If you want all of these fancy add-ons but don’t want to fork out for a brand new vehicle have a look at some used commercial vehicles from large companies. These are usually high spec, relatively new due to the high vehicle turnover at large companies and relatively cheap.
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