Five technologies that will change driving

(Euro NCAP)

Influential auto website Edmunds.com has offered its picks of the technologies which will change driving.

The publication's InsideLine.com website focused heavily on internet related technologies, picking connected cars, in-car apps and telematics and tracking among the top five of its picks.

Ford Sync and Google Maps Navigation were singled out as among "connected cars" technologies allowing updated maps, local services and real-time traffic to the dashboard.

In-Car Apps, as recently launched by both Ford and General Motors as part of the MyFord Touch and OnStar suites respectively, were also featured for their power to customize dashboards, while telematics and tracking improvements also got a mention.

Advanced driver assistance systems, several of which were recently awarded by Euro NCAP, were also selected for their ability to make vehicle movement safer by offering warnings of lane departures, collisions, blind-spot monitoring and pedestrian detection.

Finally, next generation head up displays, capable of displaying additional information on a windshield (such as a virtual road edge "painted" onto the screen during low visibility) were also picked.

Although InsideLine.com's Doug Newcomb, said that "cars that drive themselves may not be too far off", there was no mention of recent work by Google in that field, although the search giant says that it is trying to "to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use."

See the full list: http://www.insideline.com/features/five-car-technologies-that-will-change-how-you-drive.html