New Technology Surges Forward At Vancouver Auto Show

Green cars remain a relatively small part of the overall auto industry, but eco-friendly tech is accelerating at a remarkable rate. Take Toyota’s Mirai Fuel Cell Vehicle, for instance. It is a concept car that uses a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity for power. Water is the vehicle’s only by product. It can be refilled in about five minutes and has a driving range of about 500 kilometres on a full tank. Zack Spencer, a Canadian automobile journalist, recently spent a week testing a similar fuel cell vehicle made by Hyundai.

He told Xinhua at the auto show that the performance gap between fuel cell cars and regular autos is quickly closing. “We’re talking about very advanced technology, as a fuel cell on board taking only hydrogen, converting it into electricity to power the vehicle and then emitting only water out of the tail pipe, but you drive it like a regular car,” Spencer said. Another major breakthrough has been driverless technology. Although parking assist, lane control and automatic breaking are already normal for many cars, Mercedes is building and selling a series of luxury cars that can travel up to 30 kilometres an hour on autopilot by using radar and camera technology, or the driverless cars.

Spencer said there was no question it could be done. “Mercedes Benz has done beta testing in Germany, driving over 130 kilometres with a driver there to watch the car but not touch any of the controls. It could be done today. The problem we have is regulations are not going to move fast enough for this to happen.”

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