Tech in car closer than you think: panel

VENICE, Calif.- It won't be long before cars take over more of the driving themselves and your home appliances will anticipate your every need, tech experts told a USA TODAY panel here.

USA TODAY's first ever #talkingtechLIVE podcast event was staged at TuneIn Studios here in front of a sell-out crowd of 50 attendees. The panel included executives from automaker Hyundai and automation pioneer WEMO, a unit of Belkin International. Also on the panel: Kim Horcher, the host of the Young Turks Network's Nerd Alert show.

While folks are thinking the Jetsons and flying cars, they are over-reaching a bit, said Cason Grover, a group manager from Hyundai, who specializes in future car tech.

He looks to 2030 as the year autonomous driving cars are a major reality, a time when you can walk out into your driveway and climb in the cabin and read or snooze as your car silently whisks you to work or shopping. Until then, technologies required to bring that day about will gradually roll out. In as soon as five years, for instance, cars will be able to electronically talk to each other on the road to prevent accidents and warn of traffic tie ups.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication, as it's known in the industry, will be one of the next big developments. If two cars are whizzing into an intersection, their drivers unaware that a collision is about to occur, the vehicles will be able to sound alarms or slow down in a way to prevent catastrophe. "That's the next phase," he said.

Even now, cars have technologies that are precursors to the days they drive themselves. Hyundai's adaptive cruise control, controls the distance to the car in front, letting motorists drive in stop-and-go traffic. It takes the some of the worry out of driving by reducing your chances of rear-ending the car in front of you.

Lane-keeping systems allow "minimal steering input to keep yourself in the lane," or camera sensors that automate the distance needed to park, Grover says.

The move to self-driving cars won't be without its bumps in the road. Horcher said before self-driving cars becomes a reality, she wants to see the potential of hacking addressed. "I have real issues with safety and security," she said, citing a recent Wired article that showed how hackers were able to start and stop a Jeep Cherokee remotely.

Both Grover and WEMO Chief Marketing Officer Kieran Hannon said security is an area of great focus for their companies, and one they hope to tackle.

Meanwhile, home automation takes the same concept--using technology to take care of tasks we used to have to handle manually. WEMO, for instance, uses an app to turn on and off lights, change the light's colors, operate a fan, start up the coffee maker and more.

At the event, Harron used an iPad to do all of that, standing at the front of his room, and directing the app on the tablet to turn on and off lights of a demo unit in the back of the room and change their colors. The next step, said Harron, is devices communicating with other devices--like smart cars to do the heavy lifting for consumers.

He gave a hypothetical example. If a traffic app like Waze sent an alert about the potential for massive freeway congestion the next day, it could be tied to your alarm clock, which would sound 10 minutes earlier to allow for extra commuting time. It also could be tied to your automatic coffeemaker or other devices that are part of a worker's morning routine.

"It will just go automatically," he said.

"The world is moving so fast," Hannon added. "The amount of technology you're holding in your hand now is mind-boggling."

The next #talkingtechLIVE event is scheduled for September 23, featuring superstar investor Chris Sacca in conversation with Jefferson Graham. Tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jibjab-presents-usa-today-talkingtechlive-with-chris-sacca-tickets-18218489994

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