Audi is experimenting with fingerprint technology to adjust seat settings, temperature control and radio settings. It doesn’t open the doors or start the engine, but it could. Other ‘intelligent’ features already include tyres that tell the driver when they’re getting flat or engines that tell you when they need a service. The McLaren F1 supercar even calls the factory when it realises something is wrong, so that the factory can dispatch a mechanic with the necessary spare parts (they already know where the car is via GPS). Is this all a sign of things to come? Probably. We’ve already got cars that talk to the driver (badly) so cars that talk to the manufacturers and each other can’t be far away.