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Cars are more than just a mode of transportation today. With the advancement of in-car technology, they now provide for entertainment and utility like never before. But there are several features that have made our lives easier in our daily commutes, there are also those that seem a bit unnecessary. Drivers and passengers can perhaps have a similar in-car experience in the absence of many such features we'll talk about.
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Mirrorlink: Mirroring your smartphone on your television at home might make some sense, if it does. But doing the same on your car's infotainment screen isn't helping with entertainment or utility. You still have to use your phone to work Mirrorlink. (Image: Slashgear)
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Sunglass holder: First of all, not all sunglasses fit those holders. Even if they do, I reckon most people would prefer keeping their expensive pair of eyewear in its original case and not forget it in the car every single time they get off. Or worse, lose the case entirely.
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Gesture-controls for audio: If you do happen to have one of those fancy infotainment systems in your car where rotating your hand in front of it increases or decreases volume, you might agree – you can live without that. In fact, at times the system misjudges a regular hand movement as a request to alter volume!
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Roof rails: Now these may actually come in handy if you're transporting some serious payload, but roof rails have now have also become a design feature – roof rails that look like roof rails but don't serve the purpose. It's almost like pasting a sticker of an air scoop on the bonnet.
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Compass: If Sir David Attenborough were to drive a car to the North Pole, a compass is a perfectly necessary feature. But all city dwellers need is Google Maps to navigate them through the jungle of tarmac. Not once will we look at the compass, even just for fun.
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In-built navigation: Cars today come with a navigation system with maps fed in by the company and let's be honest all they do is give you a 'somewhere in Delhi' (if you're driving in Delhi) feeling. The details are very scarce and most people prefer using Google Maps on their smartphones. However, there's one benefit to these. In-built car navigation systems work at areas that have no network.
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AM radio: It was perhaps last in the early 90s, someone may have tuned into AM radio. From then on, it eventually moved on a thousand (metaphorically) FM channels or you can just plug in your phone through a data cable or Bluetooth or use a USB drive.
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DRLs: Now made mandatory by the government, DRLs (daytime running headlamps) were first introduced in Scandinavian countries since days are seasonally very short there. They aren't very necessary in countries like ours but they sure look good.
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Aftermarket screens at the front: Fitting your car with aftermarket screens to catch up with your daily soaps or movies seems like a good idea, and it is. But only for the rear passengers. People must stop putting distracting Bollywood dance numbers in front of the driver. (Image: Eincar)
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Opposing directional windshield wipers: Windshield wipers have one job and there's no harm having them face the same direction. Wipers in opposing direction can A- mess up with your OCD since they overlap when resting and B- are quite unnecessary. (Image: Oppositelock)
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