Outlook

Already in the introductory Sect. 1.1 of this book, the current main lines of development of the automobile were discussed. With technical progress, aspects described there will gain even more importance. Since technical developments always have an impact on the interaction between man and machine, they will influence the driver's interaction possibilities with the vehicle in a new way. At this point, the trends that will determine the further development are listed again. Climate change represents an enormous challenge for the use of technology and thus for the entire technical development. Automobile traffic powered by combustion engines accounts for between a third and a half of the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. It is hoped that replacing the combustion engine with the electric motor will help to solve the problem. However, this advantage comes at the expense of the energy-intensive design of batteries, significantly reduced ranges and new challenges for the air conditioning of vehicle interiors. The use of hydrogen in combination with fuel cells is therefore being discussed especially in connection with heavy goods traffic and public transport, which would retain the advantage of the electric motor, but one could reckon with today's usual ranges and refuelling times. The use of the electric motor would, among other things, lead to a change in the driver-vehicle interaction in the sense that the partial recovery of the vehicle's kinetic energy through recuperation must be integrated into the driving process in a way that is understandable and usable for the driver. In addition to these technologies based on electric propulsion, research and work is also being done on artificially generated fuels, the so-called E-fuels, which would continue to enable the conventional drive system. In all cases, however, it is essential that the regenerative electrical energy is most reasonable for the various concepts. Even if the probability of accidents of individual vehicles can be estimated as relatively low (see also Sect. 2.6), the enormous number of vehicles integrated into traffic alone is making a terrifying number of road deaths and injuries in all societies of the world. Since it can be assumed that at least about 90% of traffic accidents are caused by inadequate human actions, the positive effects of assistance systems are being relied upon and it is even hoped that a significant reduction in accidents will be achieved through the use of autonomous vehicles that can completely dispense with the human driver. The use of such systems has a significant effect on the interaction between driver and vehicle (see Chap. 9), and as technical development progresses, this also requires corresponding ergonomic research and support. Avoiding discomfort also has a significant impact on the health of transport users. Particularly in connection with new types of usage possibilities, such as those offered by autonomous means of transport, there are demands on anthropometric design, but also on the design of so-called condition safety (Chap. 8). An important aspect in this context is the acceptance by the users, which is, however, also determined by comfort (in the sense of pleasure), which is often characterized by the keyword "joy of use". Current technical developments, such as active control of the vehicle body (e.g. reduction of the influence of road bumps on passengers, avoidance of rolling motion when cornering; Wenzelis. Optimiertes Wankverhalten durch aktive Fahrwerkssysteme und empfindungsoptimierte Objektivierung. Dissertation, Technische Universität München, 2018) make accompanying ergonomic research necessary here. Particularly in urban areas, the density of individual vehicles is so high that traffic is often at a standstill. This effect not only has disadvantages in terms of CO2 input into the atmosphere, but also represents a significant impairment of mobility and quality of life in the cities. As a result, new aspects of traffic behavior and mobility concepts will be the subject of research and development in the future.