Car manufacturers have been promising a revolution in car design since the 1950s when General Motors showed concept cars shaped like fighter jets and powered by gas turbines. In the early 1990s the hope was that electric cars would end dependence on oil. There was even a California state target for 10% of all cars to be electric by 2003.

The truth is, there has been no revolution in cars, just evolution. But new developments are coming thicker and faster than before, largely thanks to advances in electronics. New fuels will be the biggest breakthrough in the next decade, but before then there are a multitude of innovations designed to make drivers’ lives easier or at least curb the stress of increasing traffic.

ACTIVE NOISE
First developed as a prototype in the 1980s, this deals with road and wind noise by sending an opposite phase signal through the audio system. The idea is that the active noise cancels out or reduces the unwanted sound. The 2006 Honda Legend out next July priced at about £30,000 will offer active noise as standard.

CAR-TO-CAR NETWORKING
This is technology that allows cars to “talk” to each other, developed by BMW and DaimlerChrysler. The system passes on information about congestion, bad weather or an accident to cars in the vicinity, giving drivers time to prepare.

The clever part is that the messages have to travel only short distances, because each car acts as a relay station. There is no launch date for the UK but the system goes on trial in the US next year.

STEERING ASSIST
Available on the Mercedes B-class, and on the A-class since June, steering assist determines the optimal steering lock when an emergency manoeuvre is detected. If the steering by the driver does not match, power assistance is increased or decreased.

ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The big problem with cruise control on congested roads is constantly having to brake and reset it as traffic ebbs and flows. In 1999 Jaguar was the first to offer adaptive cruise control in Britain, using microwave radar to detect slower-moving traffic, slow the car down and then speed up once the obstacle had been cleared.

The system is now only for use at cruising speed, but Bosch, the giant electronics supplier, has announced a version for 2007 that will operate in town and stop the car in traffic.

ADVANCED DRIVER ASSIST
This has been developed by Honda and is the most revolutionary advance of the lot. It takes elements of current technology and combines them to create a car that partly steers itself.

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