A night vision system in a Mercedes Benz car (Image: Heiner Mueller-Elsner/Rex Features).

After over 100 years together, our love affair with the motor car shows no sign of fading. Almost 40 million cars were produced in 35 countries in 2001 alone. In fact, for some people cars have come to take on almost human characteristics.
But cars, trucks and motorbikes have come a long way since first chugging along at walking speeds, and following the creation of the first modern-style cars in the mid 1880s, much of the early development focused on making them faster and cheaper. The need for speed continues today, but mainly in the multi-million dollar world of racing cars, where some teams are even trying to breed speed.
Engineering safety
However, with 1.2 million road deaths worldwide each year, plus a further 50 million injuries, and with climate change causing global concern, much research now is focused on safety and new fuels - though even some electric vehicle and biofuel research aims at going faster.
Travelling at speed has always been risky, as the wavers of the red flag who preceded the first cars signified. One cutting edge area of research in motoring safety is the use of digital in-car assistants that can ensure you don't miss crucial road signs or fall asleep.
The use of artificial intelligence software allows these assistants to monitor your driving and makes sure your phone or radio doesn't distract you at a vital moment, and can even identify your emotions to help with safer driving.
Most crashes result from human and not mechanical faults and much research is being done on behavioural aspects of driving, including the influence of fast music and obesity.
Some safety developments aim to improve your vision. Radar can spot obstacles in fog or guide you in tricky parking manoeuvres, while other technology "sees through" high-sided vehicles blocking your view.
And refinements to seat belts, pedal controls and tyres are making driving smoother and safer. In the event of a prang, smart headrests and crumpling bonnets (or hoods) are helping protect both drivers and pedestrians.
The colour of a car has been found to be linked with safety, as has, less surprisingly, size and shape, with SUVs being frequently criticised.
Future fuels
SUVs are also criticised by some for their high fuel consumption, and alternatives to fossil-fuel-based gasoline, such as plant oils or hybrid engines, are a hot area of research. Brazil already makes widespread use of ethanol derived from sugar cane. Fuel cells based on hydrogen burn cleanly, and are the subject of a serious research effort. Catalytic converters are now common but continue to be refined, as are fuel additives.
But whatever's in the fuel tank, you don't want a thief in the driving seat and there have been many innovations, some using satellite tracking and remote communications, to combat car theft.
These communication systems can also come into play if you crash, automatically calling for help, or may one day alert police to drunk drivers.
Accidents cause many traffic jams, but there are more subtle interplays between vehicles that can cause jams even on a clear but busy road. Such jams can be analysed using statistical tools developed by physicists, and these can produce traffic reports that change in real-time to alleviate congestion.
Robotic drivers could be programmed to make traffic flow more smoothly and will perhaps one day be everyone's personal chauffeur, but their latest efforts suggest that won't be soon. More successful, and perhaps even scarier, have been self-swarming robotic traffic cones. link....