I was thinking about the differences between my new, two year old car and my old, twenty year old car, and all the things that are now standard that seem new to me.

So there's automatic choke, 5 gears, back windscreen wiper, electric windows, electric wing mirrors, central locking, point and click key.

But there are other things you can get too, if you spend more money, like air conditioning, parking sensors, heated wing mirrors, 6 gears, sat nav, buttons on the steering wheel to control the radio. Basically a whole load of things you'll never use but will go wrong and beep at you.

I vaguely remembering hearing on Top Gear years ago about an S type Mercedes, I think it was, that knows how close you are to the car in front and essentially drives for you.

So that makes me think. In twenty (or more) years time, what's going to be standard in all cars? All of the above, plus not running on petrol. And probably ability to plug your ipod in directly and control it from the radio. Can anyone think of anything else?