What Germans expect from the car of the future

What Germans expect from the car of the future

KITT from “Knight Rider” and the DeLorean DMC-12 from “Back to the Future” demonstrate it on the big screen: this is how futuristic the cars of tomorrow could look. According to the majority of drivers in this country, three aspects are particularly important: fewer exhaust fumes (55.9 percent), fewer traffic accidents (54.1 percent) and more environmentally friendly production and use of materials (50.7 percent). For almost one in two people (47.5 percent), the car of the future must be equipped with engines that are completely emission-free and environmentally friendly. Space in the car, equipment and comfort, however, are secondary considerations for all those surveyed. For almost a third (32.0 percent), the fuel type of the future is clearly hydrogen. This is followed by electric (14.8 percent), gasoline (13.9 percent), hybrid (11.5 percent) and diesel (5.8 percent). However, only 1.8 percent of those surveyed were in favor of gas (CNG/LPG).

Those surveyed still have clear ideas about which technical properties the car of the future should copy from the film models: almost one in three (30.6 percent) would like to see large displays and digital displays in the future, and one in five (19.8 percent) finds a large and safe panoramic roof attractive for a better view. Almost one in five people (18.9 percent) are in favor of artificial intelligence that understands, interacts and can act autonomously. At least 17.2 percent can imagine autonomous driving in the future and thus without a dashboard in the vehicle.

Just switch on the Playstation in a traffic jam and play a game: That hasn't gone down well with German drivers so far. More than half (54.9 percent) are critical of an interface for game consoles in the vehicle and think that something like this does not belong in the car. What most respondents attach least importance to in the car of the future are sound bubbles in which music can be heard individually (7.6 percent) and the integration of social media channels on all displays (6.7 percent). An automatic color change option for the paintwork, such as that recently introduced by BMW, is still attractive to 8.6 percent of the drivers surveyed.
 

Most drivers surveyed (38.4 percent) want to buy their car straight away in the future and own it straight away. Financing with subsequent ownership of the vehicle is an option for more than one in ten (12.5 percent). 8.6 percent can imagine renting their future car as part of a monthly subscription and thus being able to change flexibly at any time. In fact, 5.0 percent of drivers surveyed cannot get used to any current form of car use and would like new options.

The data used is based on an online survey by YouGov Deutschland GmbH, which involved 2,064 people, including 1,755 driving license holders. The results were weighted and are representative of the German population aged 18 and over.