NEW AUTOMOBILE TECHNOLOGIES AND HOW GHANA AS A COUNTRY CAN PREPARE AND EMBRACE IT.

NEW AUTO TECHNOLOGIES AND HOW GHANA AS A COUNTRY CAN PREPARE AND EMBRACE IT

It is the year 2018 and all those cars and gadgets we saw in James bond movies as a kid that we thought were fiction and magical are now a reality.

The current auto technologies on modern vehicles from various manufactures are fascinating. They are geared towards enhancing safety of the people on board, entertain and ease the stress of driving among others.

Here are a few of them.

1.      Electric vehicles

In this age of pollution and high environmental degradation, the world, with automakers is looking for clean source of energy to cut down on emission of gases. On the 31^st of November, 2017, I published an article on electric vehicles where I highlighted on the steps we need to take as a country to embrace this technology.

Tesla Model S

Tesla is a car manufacturer which produces electric vehicles and other makers are following their steps.

2.      Autonomous vehicles ( self driving )

Autonomous vehicles are also known as self driving vehicles. As the name goes, these vehicles have the capacity of navigating its way round by using sensors devoid of any human input or control. Autonomous vehicles use certain features to detect its surroundings such as GPS, computer vision, laser light etc.  Even though they are very sophisticated, they are safer than manned vehicles.

3.      Vehicle to vehicle communication (V2V)

This is one technological touch that I find very amazing. It is a communication system that helps one vehicle to pass on information to the other incoming vehicle through wifi. The incoming vehicle is notified of accidents, traffic, road blockage or any other vital information. This can be referred to in Ghana as “vehicular kokonsa” meaning vehicular gossip. This will improve safety, reduce accident rate and improve traffic flow.

Vehicle to Vehicle Communication - carnectiv.com

4.      Electric axles

An electric axle (e – axle) serves as a power source for hybrid and electric cars. The system is fully integrated into either the front or rear axle delivering power to turn the wheels. Electric axles improve efficiency, reduce emission and reduce fuel consumption.

5.      Augmented reality auto display dashboards.

Just as mobile messaging apps such as whatsapp and facebook messenger overtook the traditional text messaging and smart phones took over feature phones, this is the same way augmented reality auto dashboard will replace the traditional dashboards we know.

This technology uses special types of glasses that display different types of vital information to the driver in real time. This includes multimedia controls, air condition, traffic indicators, and the vehicle navigation system among others. This technology is available on new BMW models. Upgrade of this technology will help the driver steer through traffic safely. 

Augmented Reality Dashboard - autobody-review.com

The system uses GPS to check the lane most appropriate for the car to be driven on before guiding the driver on the best lane through a large display. This feature comes with touch screen ability so that passengers can zoom in on a specific object outside the vehicle to get a clearer image of the lane ahead. Toyota has this feature on some of their prototypes.

So how can Ghana embrace this new technology. 

 Legislation

For everything to take its course, the government needs to make it a priority, set laws and enforce it.  This will form the basis for transformation in our  transport sector.

·         Improvement in transport system and infrastructure

This includes road structure systems and traffic systems. Also monitoring and enforcement agencies need to be well equipped.

·         Reliable internet

All this technologies work with internet. Unfortunately, this is a huge challenge in our jurisdiction. So to use these vehicles, we need to step up our game in that sector.

·         Technical training

Once these cars are here, we would need technical minds to work on them in terms of technical after sales support. It is therefore necessary to develop our human resource capacity in that direction. This can be done through the various dealerships. We need to be proactive in this regard.

·         IT development

We need to improve upon our IT base as part of the technical development with respect to the security services so that there can be effective monitoring.

Let us embrace new technologies.

Question is...are we prepared?