Cars should be aware of their environment and display status in the dashboard. It is like having cameras all around. The objects around and their direction of movement and acceleration.
Simple Automobile Safety Radar
There must be a very affordable automobile radar with just a 10-20 feet radius around the vehicle. This should display as a graphic on the dashboard as some of the very old 2D car games. This radar must be based on sonar or infra red to avoid additional EMI-RFI pollution and confusion. The display should show all objects which include people, small animals, kerb and wall.
The sensor has to be a multiple sensor, static belt one near wheels and one at the roof of automobile. The display device on car should be TCP-IP so that you can monitor your vehicle with your cellphone, PDA or any browser.
Cars can have multiple skins like Winamp
If you use organic flexible LEDs, encapsulated in transparent poly-sulphone or some silicones. And the RGB triad matrix of LEDs are driven by a computer system to make it work like a flexible LCD screen. It can be used to form a skin for a car. Only there will be no high resolution, but it will do.
This flexible layer is fixed on the car like a permanent cap. Now with the onboard graphics synthesis embedded car computer you can choose any jpg, png or gif textured tile or make your own. Then output the tile or wallpaper to the car exterior LED matrix skin. Now the Car has become skinnable. Not just colors but fine textures are possible.
Now with a Bluetooth enabled Human Mood Monitor plugin you can make the car exterior to reflect the mood of the life-forms inside. This will make a road alive and traffic jams very colorful.
Some things i had written online around 2002 on cars.
Microcontroller – 8051, 8052, OpCodes, Analog Interface.
(:->)—-\–/—-< Man Sleeping
