Engines:
We know the internal combustion engine is probably on its way out. Although there are a myriad of alternative fueled ICEs on the horizon, electrics are coming, like it or not. Where once we heard the howl of a carbureted engine sucking in the atmosphere, and converting gasoline to thunder, with the unique crackle on the overrun as the mixture briefly runs rich as you lift for a corner, dumping over-rich mixture into the exhaust producing detonation of fuel in the exhaust manifold and flames from the exhaust stacks. Even today's tightly controlled ECM programs won't allow that auditory experience that is wasteful of fuel, better controlling the mixture and valve timing for efficiency and creating a no-fun zone in the middle of your driving experience. Just wait, it's going to get much worse.

Fuels may be hydrogen fuel cells or maybe there'll be a few old batteries hanging around, but long-distance cruising is going to require something far better than what's available now. Maybe that's more efficient motors, even large-diameter AC hub motors in the driving wheels that will avoid powertrain losses. The exhaust note of the high performance IC engine will be no longer accompany your high-speed adventures - maybe relegated to a setting on your entertainment system that mimics the exhaust note of a Ferrari or a Bugatti playing through your speakers. Meanwhile, outside the car, the sound is going to be a lot different, the hum of electric motors with the backing of the faint gurgle and hiss of hydrogen atoms flowing over a catalyst bed to be stripped of their electrons to feed the wheel motors.

Transmissions:
We've gone from a basic three-speed manual, through various iterations of automatics, from two-speeds to eight or more - now to manu-matics and a variety of paddle-shifted transmissions that range from an ordinary automatic's gear selector with paddles, to dual-clutch transmissions that work reasonably well in racing applications, to "consumer" manu-matics that work more or less well - if you can stand the head-banging ****** of the gear change (as in the Smart car). Is there a real solution to delivering economy and smoothness with any kind of reliability? The jury's still out, but with auto-trannys being pretty inefficient in an age of ultimate fuel efficiency, and we can expect to see more sophisticated auto-shifted manuals - probably in the form of a workable software patch.

At least electric cars won't need transmissions because a typical AC motor can deliver high torque from rest. A shunt-wound DC motor will deliver more torque, but they are large and heavy for their power output, and speed control under variable loads is problematic. AC motors can be smaller for their power ratings, can deliver torque well above their continuous rated power at speed, and respond well to sophisticated motor controllers. Add to that, the ability of an AC induction motor to act as a generator, and you have a way to return power to the battery bank using regenerative braking. It takes a fair amount of controller technology to ideal for automotive use, but our AC motors are getting there.

Suspension:
King posts and sliding sleeve suspensions lived through the 30's and briefly into the '50's. They were truly miserable means of locating the front wheels, but probably no worse than the semi-elliptical cart springs that were previously almost universal. Ford attempted to justify their cheap "twin I-beam" front ends on their light trucks for years, but they provided absolutely miserable location of the front wheels as their lack of articulation exhibited massive camber change over bumps. Drive a Ford pickup, they saying went, better buy stock in Firestone. You're going to eat a lot of front rubber.

We went to wishbones that better located first the front, and later all four wheels with independent suspensions. Coil springs, then coilovers became the hot set-up. MacPherson struts for a while looked like the way to cheap out suspensions because they eliminated one suspension member allowing the upper end of the shock to serve as both the upper member and the pivot - which made for easier packaging in a tight space - and ultimately more space in the cabin. They come with their own set of problems, and they are an inexpensive solution . . . to perhaps a question that nobody asked.

Brakes:
We went from mechanical band brakes on the drive shaft of early cars to drums - first on the rear, later on all four wheels. By the '60's and '70's disc brakes began to appear - at least on the front wheels of trucks and sports cars that needed serious stopping power. Eventually that technology migrated to practically all but the lowest of the lowly econo-cars, drastically improving brake performance, particularly in the wet. If you remember the standard technique of dragging your brakes to dry them after splashing through water, you probably got your license in the '60's. As the speed capability of cars - and speed limits increased - it became painfully obvious, particularly with the dawn of the muscle-car era, that drum brakes - no matter how large - just weren't up to the job. You needed a considerable amount of "whoa" to accompany the increasing "go". Even the motorcycle market went to discs with the beginning of the "big bike" craze, imitating what had been standard equipment for a few years on the racing circuits.

In most medium to full size cars, that means power disc brakes all around today. Discs, despite all their desirable qualities, are incapable of regenerative braking in terms of using the rotation of a drum to expand the shoes within. Discs are a 1:1 proposition, you don't get the benefit of the rotational force actually providing more braking force. If you are of the generations that drove drum-braked cars - particularly those without power boosters - you learned to ease off the pedal as your car reached walking speed - otherwise, the regenerating feature would tighten up so quickly that your front bumper would almost bite the pavement. A jerky, nose-diving stop was not a comfortable proposition for you or your passengers. There are remnants of that technology today to be seen in conventional disk brakes with power boosters. Although discs don't bite harder as speed decreases, the ordinary effects of friction they exhibit can cause an uncomfortable bounce if you don't feather them off as you come to a stop. One day your automatic brakes will take care of that, using your "adaptive" cruise control to measure distance and closing speed.

Today, we're looking at ceramic brakes, carbon fiber pads, and a whole litany of exotic materials for rotors and pads - at this point it's not too practical to put exotic materials on ordinary passenger cars because we don't use them nearly hard enough to get them up to a proper operating temperature where their benefits can be discerned. In fact, most exotic braking materials don't do well in everyday use - for most, they're something of an affectation like putting enormous exhaust tips on an econobox's Panatella-sized tailpipe. It's only going to drain your wallet without producing a tangible result.

Electrics will eliminate most of the need for braking systems, being able to recover energy from "braking" to feed back to the system for acceleration on exit from a corner. For that reason, regenerative braking and lighter vehicles may obviate the need for massive brakes. Look at F1's technology, where conventional brakes as we know them are under minimal stress, the majority of the energy burn-off needed to enter a corner is being recycled to the hybrid's batteries. With sophisticated regen braking systems, the brake pads receive minimal wear . . . unless, as demonstrated at LeMans this year, your wheel motors quit and you still have to stop the car. As this year's endurance race proved, the KISS principle is still with us. But innovation is on the near horizon. As racing spawned overhead cams, multiple valves, independent wishbone suspensions and even the rear-view mirror, brakes will just be another frontier.

Electronic Controls:
Ah, the computer age. Today, your engine is just a peripheral to one, two, or even three networked computer systems within your car - all communicating real time data to processors that maximize engine efficiency, and stop, steer, and brake your car with a maximum of safety. Air induction is monitored for volume, temperature, humidity and throttle setting to select the proper fuel map to ensure that your engine is at the lean end of the stoichiometric profile under all conditions and you are operating with full ecological responsibility at all times. Of course, this is where the fun ends.

Where is this all going? As we approach a time where "driving" becomes a spectator sport, maybe it's time we rode the bus. There's an app for that.