Future cars go high-tech, add entertainment features

"Automakers are paying more attention to designing the interior of the car," says Jeremy Anwyl, of Edmunds.com, a consumer-automotive Website. "They've realized that we care how the inside looks, too."

In fact, heavy circuitry is adding so much weight to cars that engineers' next challenge is using technology to reduce weight from other parts of the car. "Future weight -saving advances will only allow us to break even, because consumers continue to expect more electronics that add more and more weight in copper," says Wolfgang Reitzle, head of Ford's luxury-car division.

Americans also seem to want the car that can do it all - a station wagon, sports sedan, minivan, pickup, even convertible all rolled into one. Designers are responding with movable gates and electronically dimming roof panels that make many of the new breed of combination "crossover" cars feel like airy convertibles inside. A knob allows the driver to make the glass roof panels light or dark, depending on the mood.

A series of motors can move glass hatchbacks out of the way and tuck away tailgates to make an open-air pickup bed in the back of, for instance the Buick LaCrosse sedan or the Saab 9X sports coupe. The 2002 Chrysler minivans have not only power-operated side doors, but a power tailgate and the 2003 Ford Expedition uses electric motors to raise and lower the rear seat.

The technology on display here are not only skin deep. In some cases they're likely to change the way we even think about our cars. The General Motors AUTOnomy looks like nothing more than a giant skateboard with an electric motor in each wheel and turns the whole idea of the car on its head. Computerlike plug-and-play technology would allow you to change the whole body of the car and simply plug the new one into an electronic socket that would connect all the controls - steering, brakes, "gas" - to the new body much like plugging a PDA into your computer. Plus, you could sit anywhere you like; a portable joystick could handle all the controls.

If this is the car of the future, then driving to work could be just like playing an old Atari driving game from the 1970s.

By Cathy Scott and Associated Press

The Detroit Auto Show isn't the only expo this week with wave-of-the-future wares. In Las Vegas, the International Consumer Electronics Show is boasting the latest in high-tech gadgetry. The show, which ends today, follows a holiday season when Americans gobbled up gadgets that help them cocoon at home or communicate on the road. From flat-screen TVs to pocket-held music players, a key trend is smaller and thinner. Among the show's products:

The TeleZapper by Privacy Technologies, a small box that attaches to a phone, reduces annoying telemarketer calls by emitting a special tone to tell automated dialing computers that your number is disconnected.

A GPS Personal Locator by Wherify, worn like a wristwatch, uses global positioning satellite technology to help a worried parent locate the child who has it on.

The Moxi Media Center, a digital media server with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, has the ability to integrate digital audio, video, television, and computer data.

A wireless weather station, by Royal, is the size of a wall clock and displays temperatures, humidity, and more.

Fashion Cam is a digital camera designed for kids. At $69, it has a fixed memory "with no pieces to lose," says Thomas Piehn, marketing manager for maker Vivitar.

The Rio Advanced Digital Audio Center, by SONICblue, stores more than 650 CDs, can record music onto a CD, and stream the music to Rio receiver units in the home.

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