Gadgets for grandad

There are some things you can change – clothes, hairstyles, philosophies, taste in music – but there are some things that you cannot.These “unchangeables” just go to show that – unless you have discovered the Fountain of Youth – you will get old.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, because with age comes wisdom. However, what also comes are a plethora of physical and mental aches, pains and issues that make the usually simple task of driving a trying activity at best.

That’s where technology can eventually help. In the pipeline are a slew of gadgets and devices that – if perfected – will allow the warga emas among us to enjoy the joys of driving once more. Heck, it may even help the non-Golden Generation among us.

Closer to market than the drawing board comes from the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan’s Pioneer will be launching an in-car GPS system called the CyberNavi and, unlike other satnavs and their relatively small screens that often hinder us older folks and our age-weakened eyes, the CyberNavi makes use of your car’s windshield or, at least, a 90cm x 30cm area of it.

Of course, the CyberNavi works like any other GPS system and provides you with all the necessary directions to get you to where you want to go. Unlike other systems, however, this technological terror toy makes use of “augmented reality” to assist you.

What does this mean? It means that, as you look ahead, your forward vision will be augmented by directional arrows, distance countdowns and other driver-useful information – just like sitting in the cockpit of a high-tech fighter jet or the Starship Enterprise.

The best thing about Pioneer’s CyberNavi? Aside from augmented reality making navigating easier for us oldies, it ranks in the sub-zero range on the uber-cool chart. You will look and feel cool using it. You’d feel young again.

Of course, eventually you will get even older. And as helpful as augmented reality is, eventually telling apart 500m from 5,000m will become very difficult. That’s where something the British press is calling “Granny-Nav” comes in.

Part of a £12mil (RM59mil) five-year project to find ways to help pensioners remain independent, this next generation GPS system will apparently make it easier for the elderly to get from A to B with no worries.

One of its more useful functions will be to give directions by using landmarks. So, instead of Satnav Sally barking “turn left in 500 metres”, she will instead say: Turn left at the Magnum 4D shop next to the wet market.

One of Granny-Nav’s less useful functions – and the source of much mirth for the UK press – will be the ability to find a route that only makes ... left turns. Apparently, a lot of older folks get nervous when having to make right turns when there’s oncoming traffic. Hence, only left turns.

Eventually, though, even Granny-Nav will not be enough. That’s where the driverless car could come in handy. The American press are calling it the “ultimate in cruise control” and they’re not too far from the truth.

Imagine if you will, sitting in a car that drives itself. Essentially, it accelerates when it sees a clear road, brakes gently if it gets too close to the car in front of you, and stops you exactly where you want it to. It even parks itself for you. It’s like having a driver, without actually having to hire and pay a driver.

Surely something out of the imagination of a visionary science fiction writer or a high-tech special effect from a futuristic Hollywood blockbuster, no?

Actually, thanks to the power of GPS, and advances in the field of artificial intelligence and motion sensors, imagination has become reality.

In fact, the US state of Nevada is the first in the US to allow such vehicles on state roads and Florida is apparently next to make such cars road-legal.

The best part of this technology is that you don’t have to be old to enjoy it. Imagine being able to party till dawn and be too smashed to drive but able to get to your car, tell it “Home” and have it drive you back while you sit inside recovering from your indiscretions?

Such is the appeal of driverless cars in America, General Motors (GM) believes that such self-driving cars will make vehicular accidents a thing of the past.

So, does this mean older folks like me will soon have technology to help us drive?

Will this make us dependent on bits and bytes to move around? Know what? As groovy and elderly-friendly as these technologies will be, this is one older man who will eschew them and still put the pedal to the metal to feel alive.

Who needs such high-tech crutches? Not this silver-tinged rebel! Okay, but I may get the CyberNavi.