Toyota, Google, Elon Musk, Mercedes – these are just some of the big names associated with big trends in automotive technology and development. In 2015, Toyota revealed its ongoing research into artificial vehicle intelligence and robotics, Google accelerated its production of the driverless car, and Elon Musk, well, he’s just all over the inventive show with the car of the future. It may seem like a sudden and explosive shift from the engine of 1876 to the driverless, connected car of 2020, but if compared with the evolution of the mobile phone, the car is very, very slow.

The mobile phone leapt from the giant headcrab that was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the first smartphone – the IBM Simon – in a mere ten years. The engine in your car hasn’t changed that much in 140 years. It’s time for the car to evolve and adapt to the trends that define the modern world, and with the Internet of Things (IoT) taking front and centre in the motor industry today, things are starting to change. But will they really, really go beyond just media statements and test runs?