As a result some are of an almost staggering uselessness, the kind of items you dread finding in your Christmas stocking. But the car market has a habit of turning things derided at launch into in-car essentials. The Galvin Corporation developed the car radio in 1929 to almost universal guffaws. By the 1950s it was a staple of Hollywood films, and to buy a car not equipped with one now is unthinkable. Even in the 1980s air conditioning was the butt of jokes in the UK, but today almost every new car comes with it.

There are several technologies that have quickly become fundamental parts of modern motoring. While they might not be strictly essential to the driver, they make negotiating the busy and dangerous terrain of the open road easier, more relaxing and safer.

Satellite navigation is one of the car gadget success stories of recent years. Originally embraced by the business community, a combination of eminent practicality, increasingly brilliant packaging and its arrival at an attractive price point means that anybody who drives their car on more than a few familiar journeys can find a use for the technology.

In very few years we will wonder just how we did without it, and the road atlas industry will be a footnote in history. The rise of Satnav is one of the reasons why display screens are now a common sight in cars. Screens are also useful for all sorts of entertainment, such as television, video, DVD and games consoles, and these are finding their way into cars. To parents the appeal of these toys is obvious, as they can bring peace to the warzone of the back seat.

In-car entertainment moved beyond the AM/FM radio over a decade ago, but the new technologies were developed as individual systems that simply did not talk to each other. The cars of the technologically enthusiastic, as a result, came to resemble mobile electronics stores.

Unification has finally brought multi-media to the ordinary public, thanks to units such as Alpine’s Mobile Media Stations. These get Satnav, DVD players, audio sources and games consoles to talk to each other, and create in-car systems that can be controlled from a central touch screen. Demand for these will expand, especially as they are now as easy to use as a microwave. Even the most committed technophobe has no excuse to avoid mobile multi media.

Touching is strongly discouraged where telephones are concerned. Figures suggest that over 70 per cent of mobile phone calls are made from cars, while actually using a mobile in the usual way while driving is now illegal in 35 countries. Riding to the rescue of the road going chattering classes is Bluetooth, a language that machines can use to work together.

Many new cars are Bluetooth-enabled, which means that after an initial introduction to the driver’s mobile phone they allow calls to be answered at the touch of a steering wheel-mounted button while the phone stays in a pocket or bag. The stereo is muted and safe, legal conversation ensues. It’s good to talk, as they say.

It’s also good to know when you are driving too fast. Speed-monitoring cameras increasingly protect accident blackspots, and their proliferation has spawned a race of devices designed to warn drivers that they are heading into a danger zone. These are GPS-based, comparing the car’s position with those of the cameras. Their timely reminders to drive more attentively save both lives and licences.

Safe drivers take refreshment breaks, and the first drive-in restaurant is alleged to have set-up in Texas in 1921. The logic of the drive-in lives on in the modern-day cup-holder, still one of the most culturally important gadgets in modern motoring. The window-hung tray morphed into a cornerstone of America’s car-buying decisions. It sounds preposterous, but many Americans choose their cars primarily on the number and design of cup holders they contain. Europe is less hung up on the facility, but most new cars come equipped with them, and manufacturers have to design a range of versions depending upon which market an individual vehicle is delivered to.

The in-car toilet is a gadget that has only recently arrived, but already its manufacturer is claiming success. The Indipod, made by Bromsgrove-based Daycar, is essentially a chemical toilet in a fabric tent, which inflates when plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter. Developed for use in MPV vehicles by families, it has found unanticipated popularity among the disabled and people with incontinence problems. As yet the jury is out on the Indipod, but if it follows the path of gadget to standard feature trodden by many automotive innovations. The ‘private sanitary sanctuary’ could soon be flushed with success.