The Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association unveiled a “connected car” demo vehicle today in Windsor, Ontario, with built-in 4G, Wi-Fi, 360-degree proximity sensors, in-vehicle inductive mobile device charging, and gesture-based controls.

Hope you’re not a hand talker — you could find yourself suddenly in reverse.

“Dream cars these days are defined more by technology than by what’s under the hood,” a representative told VentureBeat. “This concept car is made up of hundreds of parts and components that establish a new benchmark for what a connected car can be.”

Nissan Europe has developed a version of its Note MPV with a special coating that repels mud, rain, oil and dirt.

This may sound a little dramatic, but the humble automobile is evolving at a far greater speed than ever before.

Huge handfuls of gadgets are being crammed into increasingly advanced vehicles as consumers demand more and more from their cars. What once was a mere transportation box — designed to do little more than move you from your front gate to the shops – has morphed into something resembling a radical smartphone on wheels.

This, of course, excites us here at Motorburn. Which means it should excite you, too.

So, we looked into the (very near) future to identify eight cool technology trends that could or will soon find their way into production cars.

Who knows? You could experience this type of tech in your next car…

La voiture autonome (ou "driverless car") est en route ! La technologie est encore en phase d'expérimentation aujourd'hui mais devrait être disponible dans moins d'une décennie pour les particuliers. La Californie prépare une réglementation pour accueillir sur ses routes ces nouveaux véhicules. La Convention de Vienne de 1968 stipule qu'un conducteur ayant les capacités physiques et mentales de contrôler son véhicule doit être présent à tout moment. Les Etats-Unis n'étant pas signataire de cette convention, les véhicules autonomes ne sont pas a priori interdits sur le territoire américain, en application du principe : "tout ce qui n'est pas interdit est autorisé".

While there’s always new and improved technologies every year that are said to make driving all the better, how many of them are actually new or actually want to make you drive more?

Most of them are old things toted as new, with fancy spangled names and almost always acronymed.

And if they are genuinely new, then they’re most likely about safety this and efficiency that, that they make driving terribly, terribly boring.

So what do we have here?

A few new technologies that are fun, you say?

Some that actually make you want to get behind the wheel and punt it, instead of feeling guilty of killing off another species of plankton (which I do not condone, mind you)?

Yes, I do believe we have.