If you thought that modern cars were complex – and a premium car does require about 200 million lines of computer code to keep it running these days – then, frankly, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Because although science fiction has been writing cheques for years that science hasn’t been able to cash, it finally looks as if a new generation of connected cars will be driving out of showrooms in the next few years.
It’s relatively early days yet and there are still hurdles to surmount, but the first shoots of real connectivity are emerging – and if the predictions offered at the recent Connected Cars 2014 conference in Amsterdam are fulfilled, our cars will soon make smartphones look like two cans joined by a piece of string.
Apps are just the start of it. New systems such as MirrorLink, Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto will enable drivers to control certain smartphone apps from the dashboard, but apps that you’ll be able to purchase and download direct from the car itself are starting to become available. There will be navigation and music-streaming apps, and apps to help us drive more smoothly and efficiently, but we can also look forward to some that take information from the vehicle and combine it with useful data beamed into the car.
So if, for example, the car detects that you’re short on fuel, it will automatically tell you the nearest filling station or the cheapest one on the route that you’ve programmed into your satellite navigation system.
Or if you install a parking app on to your in-vehicle infotainment system, and you set a course for downtown to go shopping, to the cinema or to a restaurant, it will keep you constantly updated with the car parks that have spaces – and could even guide you directly to an empty bay, eliminating the need for that stressful, head-swivelling meander around the car park.
The car will be able to receive (and transmit) information because embedded SIM cards will use mobile networks to become part of what is known as the Internet of Things, which will enable all kinds of devices – from TVs and fridges to cars – to connect to each other and share data. In the case of cars, they will be constantly relaying information about a car and its driver to a cloud computing system.
This will have numerous benefits for all of us who drive. Let’s imagine a time when all our cars are connected and are continuously relaying GPS data about their position and speed. If there’s a traffic jam and a couple of hundred cars are communicating where they are and that they’re going nowhere fast, the cloud will be able to communicate real-time traffic information to other cars heading towards the congested area, routing them away to avoid making the problem worse – and reducing the amount of wasted fuel and stress.
Because our car’s exact position will be known at all times, in the event of a crash or a car malfunction, the emergency services or breakdown service will be automatically dispatched to you, knowing where you are and exactly what has happened.
And all this data about us as drivers, because it is cloud-based, will also be portable, so we will be able to log in to any car that we drive and access our apps, previous satnav destinations, music playlists – even our seat settings.
BMW says that its ConnectedDrive system, already available in its model range, will be able to deliver this type of service in the near future. Mercedes Me, a new service to be launched in September in the next-gen CLS, will also start to take the brand’s customers down the route.
So while connected cars are still largely in our future, that future will be upon us a lot sooner than we might have imagined, turning science fiction into science fact.
Now, about those jet packs ...
weekend@thenational.ae
Scoreline
Swansea 2
Grimes 20' (pen), Celina, 29'
Man City 3
Silva 69', Nordfeldt 78' (og), Aguero 88'
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
Ramy%3A%20Season%203%2C%20Episode%201
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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ENGLAND WORLD CUP SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Tour de France
When: July 7-29
UAE Team Emirates:
Dan Martin, Alexander Kristoff, Darwin Atapuma, Marco Marcato, Kristijan Durasek, Oliviero Troia, Roberto Ferrari and Rory Sutherland
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Essentials
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Seattle from Dh6,755 return in economy and Dh24,775 in business class.
The cruise
UnCruise Adventures offers a variety of small-ship cruises in Alaska and around the world. A 14-day Alaska’s Inside Passage and San Juans Cruise from Seattle to Juneau or reverse costs from $4,695 (Dh17,246), including accommodation, food and most activities. Trips in 2019 start in April and run until September.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Company%20Profile
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Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
