You know those birthday and Christmas cards you can get that play a tune when you open them? I learned the other day that there is, apparently, more processing power in just one of those than existed in the whole world 50 years ago. That's an impressive enough idea to grapple with on its own but it really makes the point that we can't possibly hope to know what will be available to us after the next 50 years.
From a motoring perspective the rate of advancement hasn't been quite so earth shattering in the last five decades. I accept that cars and other motor vehicles tend to go quicker, stop better and are more luxurious than their mid-20th Century ancestors but I would argue that it has been a development in components which has led to this - we are, after all, still largely reliant on the same fossil fuel driven internal combustion engine for propulsion.
True, motor manufacturers are working towards alternatives, whether they be electrically powered, hydrogen cell, hybrid or via biofuels but there is really no clear winner in the development race at the moment - we are still at a bit of a VHS v Betamax style fork in the road. The $64m question is, though, what will be the DVD or even Blu-Ray invention that will end up being the preferred technology in the future?
It is reasonable to think that by the time we pass the mid-way point of this century we could be enjoying an as yet unthought of propulsion system, maybe even the flying cars that were predicted to be commonplace in the year 2000 by the sci-fi writers of the 1950s and 60s.
In the meantime we need to make the most efficient use of what we've got, for environmental and financial reasons. We encourage all fleet drivers on our advanced driving courses to consider eco-driving issues in order to lessen their impact on the planet as well as on their company's fleet budget by conserving fuel and reducing wear and tear on their vehicles.
Often it can be as simple as getting the driver to think ahead and plan their driving rather than reacting late to road situations, while pointing out the sometimes minor habits within the car which can cause premature wear of the clutch, the gear selector or the brakes, amongst other things.
Perhaps if we, or our offspring, are teleporting around in 50 years time a clutch will be no more than a museum oddity - if so, maybe our driving courses will help a few more to survive to populate collections of motoring memorabilia in the future.
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