Car Shoppers Must Think Tech

Is your next car going to be smarter than you are? Will it be a better driver?

Maybe. Technology is increasingly common in cars, so Jaguars can be told to "go home" and the driver need only follow directions. The Acura's Zagat guide finds nearby restaurants, sorted by neighborhood, cuisine, distance or rating.

Fender-benders, theoretically, would become things of the past with the use of other gadgets on display at the Washington Auto Show this week. The 2008 GMC Acadia, for example, takes the guesswork out of backing up. A sonar-like sensor beeps more frequently as a driver gets closer to another car or a wall.

The flip side to all this convenience might be that there is more technology than ever for car shoppers to think about. Does that voice-recognition technology really work? Do you go with XM or Sirius (and, by the way, are those satellite radio guys merging or what)? How do you pair a car's Bluetooth wireless connection with your mobile phone? And what is HD radio, anyway?

For the serious gadget-loving gearhead, one of the big events this year may be the arrival of the Nissan GT-R. The car, made famous by such video games as Gran Turismo, will soon become available in the United States for the first time.

It attracted a constant stream of gawkers at the auto show, some of whom said they came mainly to see it.

"This car has been in a lot of video games, movies, everything," said Mario Yesquem, a Bethesda resident. "This car is a legend."

Video games played a small part in helping the GT-R win a place in the hearts of the PlayStation generation. So it's fitting, if strange, that the software company that designed the Gran Turismo games also designed the interface on the LCD screen built into the car's dashboard, designed to let a driver monitor everything from braking to fuel use.

Nissan says the technology can "monitor and record the driver's progress to make anyone a better, more efficient driver." The GT-R starts at around $70,000.

Most of the new technologies being shown are for people who want to pay less attention to their cars, not more.

Keyless ignition and door opening are increasingly popular. They work as long as the key is somewhere on your person.

Some automakers, such as Acura and Mercedes-Benz, have introduced cars with "active cruise control," a feature that senses whether the car is coming too close to the car ahead.

The Cadillac STS features the Side Blind Zone Alert system, which signals through an icon on the driver's side mirror when another vehicle creeps up alongside. The car also flashes and buzzes when drivers seem to be wandering inattentively out of their lanes.

Some of yesterday's technology is notably absent from the show. The vulnerable, old, easy-to-break antenna of yore has been replaced on many cars by hidden "in glass" antennas. Some industry reports have it that less than half of new cars have old-fashioned antennas.

And when they get tired of looking under the hood, owners of the new high-end Mercedes S-Class cars can watch a DVD on their dashboards as they idle. The playback feature is disabled when the car is in motion.

DVD? What, no high-definition Blu-ray video player?

"Not yet," a sales guy said with a chuckle. "But, with Mercedes, I'm sure it's coming soon."