The Latest High-Tech Amenities For Luxury Cars

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Aug 19th 2007 at 6:03PM

Remember when getting a CD player in your car meant an upgrade package? These days it's almost impossible to find a car that doesn't come with one standard. And extras that used to only be available on luxury cars, like heated leather seats and GPS, are now available for reasonable prices on much more economical car brands. So this leaves the luxury car companies hustling to come up with the latest and baddest technology to set their cars apart from the masses. So what are they coming up with? Some good stuff:

Night vision A small dashboard screen shows the driver thermal imaging of people, animals, and other heated objects in the area.
Broadcast TV, because regular 'ol DVDs just aren't good enough.
Brand name sound systems including names like Mark Levinson, Bang & Olufsen, and Bose.
Spa seating, which means cooled seats in the summer (and of course heated in the winter), seats that recline with pop-up footrests, and built-in shiatsu massagers.
HD Radio Suddenly your local radio stations can sound as crisp and clear as your CDs or your satellite radio favorites.
Smart warning systems, which include adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, blind spot warnings, and collision warnings.