Your car is almost certainly one of the most technologically advanced pieces of equipment you own, and new cars are getting ever more high-tech. In the past decade or so we’ve seen a gadget-driven arms race, as car manufacturers have vied with one another for our custom by tempting us with huge numbers of technological innovations.
We’ve seen matrix LED headlights that will never dazzle oncoming traffic, ever-smarter automatic emergency braking systems that can detect pedestrians and cyclists and V2L power systems that turn your EV into a mobile power station and can run everything from laptops to fridges – and even restart stranded cars. Yet the search for new and better vehicle technology isn’t showing any signs of stopping: here are some of the most exciting innovations coming to cars in 2023.
The Best Car Tech Features Coming in 2023
- Apple CarPlay 2.0
- Mercedes EQG G-Turn
- Ford Steering Wheel Table
- City Transformer
- BMW i7 31-inch 8k Screen
- Rivian Camping Kitchen
- Porsche-Funded Synthetic Fuel Plant
- Genesis Face-Recognition Tech
- Nio – Battery-Swap Electric Car
- MG 4 Performance Model
Apple CarPlay 2.0
The original Apple CarPlay revolutionised in-car infotainment when it was first released in 2014. Suddenly, iPhone users with compatible cars could connect their phones to their car’s display screens and access simplified versions of a whole host of apps, from voice-activated WhatsApp messages or Microsoft Teams, to entertainment in the form of Spotify, podcasts or Audible, as well as a whole slew of different navigation apps. At a stroke, it rendered fiddly manufacturer-created infotainment systems largely pointless.
In summer 2022, Apple unveiled the next iteration of its CarPlay system – and it’s much more ambitious. The new Apple CarPlay 2.0 will have the ability to take over every single screen in your car, and you will be able to adjust almost every major in-car system, from the climate control to the radio and even more complex vehicle settings such as drive modes – areas that are way beyond the remit of the current iteration of Apple CarPlay.
Essentially, the next-gen CarPlay will act like a full infotainment system, although it will still be connected directly to your phone and so will rely on a cellular data connection for many of its functions and the presence of the phone in the car. This is different from the Android Auto OS used by Polestar, Volvo and Renault, which is an entire system in its own right and doesn’t require an Android smartphone to be present.
Expect the first installations of the new Apple CarPlay to appear on the market from late 2023.
What is Apple CarPlay?
Mercedes EQG G-Turn
Huge chunky-looking off-roaders like the Mercedes G-Class might not seem like an ideal candidate for electrification, but the traditional ladder-frame construction actually lends itself quite easily to EV conversion, with Mercedes engineers able to drop the classic G-Class Body on to an electrified ‘skateboard’ chassis just as they do with the regular car’s petrol drivetrain.
The party trick with the EQG, however, is courtesy of its four in-wheel electric motors: by spinning the wheels on each side, the car can effectively perform 180-degree turns or 360-degree donuts in its own length – known as the G-Turn.
Okay, so strictly speaking the Mercedes EQG doesn’t arrive until the 2024 model year, but that means we could well see it make its debut as a production car towards the end of 2023. It won’t be cheap though: expect a price tag of around £200,000.
Mercedes EQG First Drive
Ford Steering Wheel Table
Ever sat in the driving seat of a car or van balancing a coffee and a sandwich while you take a quick lunch break? Or perhaps you’ve tried to balance a laptop against a steering wheel in a parked car?
If you have, you’ll know how much of a faff it is, and Ford seems to agree, because the new Transit Custom – which is due in the second half of 2023 – is set to feature a tilting steering wheel. This can be adjusted to three angles – the normal driving setting, flat as a tray table for lunch on the go (well, on the go-ish – you will have to be parked up), or at an angle to act as a laptop stand.
We reckon this set-up should be ideal for the electric version of the new Transit van if you’re waiting at a public charger for your battery to fill up.
City Transformer
This is the City Transformer CT-1. It’s a small, two-seat (driver and passenger sit one behind the other) electric car with a 115-mile range. That’s a pretty decent range compared with the only similar vehicle we can think of – the Renault Twizy – which can manage a maximum of around 50 miles. And, unlike the Twizy, the CT-1 also gets doors and a roof.
The big trick, though, is that this car is a shape-shifter. In its city mode it’s just one metre wide,with a top speed of 28mph, but press a button marked ‘Performance’ and the wheels and axles extended by 20cm on each side, and top speed is derestricted to 56mph.
Viewers of BBC Top Gear may well recall this slimline car-in-miniature gallivanting around Paris in a recent episode. Could there be a better car for zipping around the congested streets of a European capital? We doubt it.
BMW i7 31-inch 8k Screen
We’ve become used to DVD players embedded in the headrests of family-friendly cars or, more recently, mounts for the kids’ iPads. However, BMW has taken this somewhat further with the latest 7 Series (and i7 EV sister car): it’s dropped in a 31-inch home cinema with 8k resolution.
This extraordinary dropdown screen is also a touchscreen, has a built-in Amazon Fire TV set-up (so you can stream pretty much anything via the car’s 5G-compatible data connection) and is electrically adjustable so you can get the perfect viewing angle.
Oh, and for the true cinephile, you can spec the 7 Series with 4a D Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound system, which features 36 speakers and a 1965-watt amplifier.
BMW i7 Review
Rivian Camping Kitchen
Rivian is an American electric-car start-up that’s trying to crack the lucrative pick-up truck market in the US. Its full-size offering, known as the R1T, is hoping to persuade US truck drivers to not only make the switch from their petrol and diesel-powered utility vehicles, but to change to an all-new brand, rather than the Rams, Fords, Chevys and GMCs so beloved of millions of US motorists.
In 2023, the brand is coming to Europe. And besides the ability for this 2.7-tonne beast to accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.0 seconds, one of the Rivian’s most interesting quirks is the optional Camp Kitchen. This is a slide-out kitchen-in-miniature that comes with a two-burner induction hob, a kitchen sink, fold-out table and a four-gallon water tank.
Unfortunately, Rivian has temporarily withdrawn the Camp Kitchen at the time of writing, pending a redesign – but they promise it’ll be back soon. Hopefully in time for the model’s launch in European markets.
Porsche-Funded Synthetic Fuel Plant
Porsche is a brand that’s deeply connected to its history, so perhaps more than most car manufacturers, it has an interest in keeping its own models roadworthy. But the company is also committed to sustainability, working to make its factories carbon-neutral, and developing an expanding range of electric cars to go alongside the popular Taycan.
And this is where synthetic fuels – which Porsche calls e-Fuels – come in. These are an environmentally friendly way to keep internal combustion-engined cars running, in an almost carbon-neutral way. They are created by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using wind power, then combining the hydrogen with CO2 to produce synthetic methanol, which can then be converted into vehicle fuel for regular cars.
Porsche owns a 12.5 per cent stake in a company called HIF Global, which is operating the pilot project at Haru Oni in Chile. Initially, the plant is set to produce 130,000 litres per year, though this will rise to 550 million litres annually by 2027. By then, e-Fuels might just be available for your cherished ICE classic, but for now they’re limited to Porsche Experience Centers and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race series.
Genesis Face-Recognition Tech
We’re used to our phones recognising our faces, but Korean luxury car brand Genesis is taking things a step further – in 2023 you’ll be able to open its cars with just your face, a world-first. Useful when you can’t work out in which one of your jacket’s 50 pockets you’ve put the key fob.
The first model to get this will be the electric Genesis GV60, but before you worry too much about people nicking your car with nothing more than a detailed photo of your face, fear not: you will only unlock the GV60 with your face. To get it actually started, there’s a built-in fingerprint scanner.
Along with this fancy facial recognition tech, Genesis is launching a Digital Key for the GV60, which will allow owners to provide access to their car with up to three other people via a smartphone app.
Genesis GV60 Review
Nio – Battery-Swap Electric Car
Nio is an ambitious Chinese-owned electric car brand that’s only been around for less than a decade, but is already making big waves in China and now Europe, with its range of high-end electric cars such as the ET5 and ET7 saloons and the ES8 and EL7 SUVs.
After reaching European showrooms during 2022, Nio is now set to enter the UK market in 2023 with its ET5 model, which is a rival for the Tesla Model 3.
A key part of the brand’s appeal, however, is the option to battery-swap its cars, rather than having to wait for the vehicle to charge in the conventional way. There are almost 1,000 swapping stations for the brand in China, with 20 or so in Norway (a market that’s often an early adopter of EV tech).
To swap a battery, you simply set your satnav to the swap station’s location, join a virtual queue to give you a specified time, and turn up. You then park your car, and it will drive itself autonomously into the swap station, where its battery will be changed in less than six minutes.
There’s no word on plans for swap stations in the UK as yet, but you will be able to charge the Nio ET5 at home or via public rapid chargers while you wait for Nio to bring its battery swap tech over here.
MG 4 Performance Model
Okay, so this isn’t technically a piece of new tech, though in a way it is a lot of pieces of new tech, because it’s an entire car – an all-new high-performance version of the MG 4 electric hatchback (note, the MG 4 pictured is the standard model). Way back in the mists of time, MG made a name for itself as a maker of exciting open-topped sports cars, but there hasn’t been a hot MG since the demise of MG Rover as a British-owned brand in 2005.
That’s set to change in 2023, as the MG brand – now owned by Chinese firm SAIC – will introduce a twin-motor, four-wheel-drive version of the MG 4. This is exciting because, so far, there’s not been an electric car that you could confidently call a hot hatch. The Cupra Born is probably closest, but the fastest version of that car only has around half the power of the forthcoming fast MG, which should feature around 443bhp.
And the best news of all? A potential price tag in the 30,000s – which would potentially undercut petrol hot hatch rivals.
MG4 Review