Amazing Car Inventions You Won't Believe Exist

From crystal ball controls to transparent hoods, the modern car industry is full of some of the coolest and most innovative tech in the world. Let's take the most insane vehicle accessories out there for a test drive, and pimp our rides with secret compartments, touchscreen mirrors, and car seat commodes as we tour through some car inventions that are at the next level!

X-Ray Vision

In 2014, Land Rover announced a new concept that essentially gives the driver X-Ray vision, by making the hood of their car appear transparent when viewed through the windscreen.

The "Transparent Bonnet Concept" uses cameras mounted on the grille to record the road below the car’s hood. That footage is then projected directly onto the glass windshield, at a perfect angle to the driver’s line of sight, functioning as a Heads-Up-Display or HUD. That displays the footage in real-time, which allows the driver to see through the hood and avoid any obstructions underneath their car.

But while Land Rover’s prototype is barely out of the conceptual phase, other manufacturers are using Heads-Up-Display tech in very real vehicles. In 2021, the new Mercedes Benz S-Class featured a new HUD with a video-game style navigation system, that displays arrows on the road with augmented reality.

The display, which is emitted from a projector in the dashboard, links to your car’s navigation system, which allows you to receive directions without having to look at the map on your center console. That allows you to keep your eyes on the road and lower your risk of crashing, as long as you resist the temptation to drift around those corners "Need For Speed-style".

The invention helps you reach your destination with ease, and once you’ve arrived, the 2021 S-Class has another piece of ‘video-game’ technology that will help you park. Lots of newer Mercedes models come with 360 camera technology that gives you a 3rd person view of your vehicle in real-time.

The system uses several cameras to scan the space around your car, before building an accurate 3D model of your surroundings and displaying it on a screen. That feature is offered by other luxury cars like the Lamborghini Urus, and the system allows drivers to view the space around their car to avoid any hidden obstacles on the ground, and park in tricky spots with a birds-eye view.

Car companies have been toying with how to display important information and options to the driver for years, from the unique startup light-show of the 1989 Buick Reatta, to the the sleek, condensed console of the Mazda Shinari concept car. But with those recent innovations in wind-shield, augmented-reality projection, it really feels like we’re living in the future.

The S-Light

There’s no denying getting stranded on the highway with a blown-out tire sucks. When that happens, you’d traditionally use a reflective warning triangle to help a vehicle recovery team find you, and ensure that other drivers don’t accidentally crash into your vehicle. However, in 2020, the Kono Corporation revolutionized that technology, with a new product that they call The S-Light.

That device is a 20-inch rod that’s covered in red LED lights. The rod attaches to the side of your vehicle with a strong magnet, and when you turn it on, it will spin rapidly as the LEDs move to display a set of warning messages. Those messages include SOS, Help and a classic red triangle, allowing you to rapidly communicate with other vehicles on the road.

That is all possible thanks to something called the persistence of vision phenomenon, where our eyes and brains continue perceive an object or light-source in its original place for a fraction of a second after it has moved. And with the rapidly-spinning S-Light, that can be used to create the illusion of a solid image!

The lights are bright enough to be spotted 200-yards away, and the battery-powered rod will last for over 2 hours. That should give you more than enough time to flag down help, and with a light display like that, you can have a dance party while you wait!

Crazy Conversions

Some people like traveling by car. Others prefer train. To solve that issue the Road-Rail Vehicle conversion was created, which involves fitting a regular truck with a set of additional train wheels that allow it to drive on train tracks. Those train wheels can be raised or lowered from the vehicle, allowing the driver to join a railway and cruise along without having to worry about steering.

Lots of rail maintenance companies choose to fit their vehicles with Road-Rail systems, so their workers can reach parts of a railway that are inaccessible by road. The accessory makes that job far easier, and it isn’t the only industry that utilizes some incredible vehicle inventions to get the job done.

In America, the vehicles used by the United States Postal Service are built with the steering wheel on the right-side, the opposite side to standard American cars. That unique feature was implemented because mailboxes sit on the right-hand side of the road as the trucks drive, so it allows Mailmen to simply reach out of their vehicle and access the mailbox, without having to hop out and walk around the van every time they deliver a letter.

United States Postal Service rural letter carrier

©Johnny_Spasm via Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, private delivery services don’t always have access to those custom-built vehicles, so they have to improvise by fitting their regular trucks with Right Hand Drive conversion kits. Those kits involve installing a secondary steering wheel to the right-hand side of the car, which is connected to the original wheel with a large pulley system.

They also feature a new set of pedals, that are directly connected to the stock accelerator and brake with a set of levers. The conversion kits cost around $2,000, and they make life far easier for deliverymen. However, they do look a little sketchy, and I don’t want to imagine what would happen if the belt slipped off the steering wheel during a delivery.

Built-In Toilet

Picture a scene. You break down on a rural road and set up your S-Light, when you realize that you need the restroom. In a regular car, you’d be forced to run for the bushes by the side of the road or sacrifice your favorite pants.

However, in 2009 a Chinese entrepreneur called Chang Lianying solved all our traffic toilet troubles, by inventing the world’s first car seat with a built in toilet. Chang unveiled the invention at the Beijing Motor Show in 2009, demonstrating that with the push of a button, a panel in his car’s seat would flip up and reveal a fully functioning toilet.

With the push of a button a build-in commode will pop up in your car seat

Chang explained that he’d heard lots of taxi drivers complaining about needing the toilet while on the job, and his invention would allow them to relieve themselves without leaving their cars. Chang stated that installing the system would cost between 110 to $280, but unsurprisingly, taxi drivers weren’t interested in buying his product, and it looks like Chang has stopped advertising his portable potty online.

Fingerprint Car Key

As a driver, there’s nothing more frustrating than leaving the house and realizing that you can’t find your car keys. However, our days of rummaging through drawers are over, because in 2019, Hyundai released a vehicle that offered a new, futuristic way to open your car.

The Santa Fe is one of the South Korean company’s most popular lines of SUV, and the 2019 Chinese model broke new ground, when it became the first vehicle to feature a fingerprint scanner. That innovation allows the driver to unlock their car and start its engine with the touch of a finger, through scanners on the door handles and ignition button. The incredible invention turns your body into a car key, and it means that the only way a driver can get locked out of their vehicle is if they lose both of their hands.

Unfortunately, like wild Pandas, the fully-fledged hi-tech version of the Santa Fe is only available in China; the 2024 international version only features an interior finger print scanner for starting the engine and activating certain settings profiles, missing out the door lock scanners. But luckily, Hyundai’s other international offerings offer some other remarkable tech to make up for it.

In 2023, the company released a new SUV through their luxury brand Genesis. The Genesis GV60 lets you start the engine with a fingerprint scanner, and it’s also the first car to feature face recognition technology. That allows you to unlock the vehicle by looking at a face scanner situated next to the driver’s door.

That kind of technology means that if you forget your keys at home, you can still access and use your vehicle, and it ensures that the only person who can steal your car is your evil identical twin. The GV60 also comes with an amazingly cool crystal sphere that auto-rotates to reveal the gear shifter when you start the engine, making you feel simultaneously like a wizard and a high-tech motorist from the year 2084.

Airless Tire

Hyundai’s technology has completely negated the need for car keys, however, they aren’t the only company who’ve attempted to revolutionize the way that our cars work. They say that reinventing the wheel is a pointless task but in 2019, Michelin did it anyway, by announcing that they’d developed the world’s first commercial airless tire. Their Unique Puncture-Proof Tire System, or UPTIS, uses rubber spokes to support the weight of the car, completely negating the need for air.

That structure is partially made up of reinforced plastic, and it’s completely puncture proof, allowing you to drive over nails or curbs without damaging your tires. Fascinatingly, Michelin’s airless design has its origins in space rover technology, with airless tires initially being developed by NASA, to address the issue that changing a tire on Mars tends to be quite difficult, what with there being no Martian mechanics yet.

But Michelin’s latest Earth-bound designs are much hardier, even lasting far longer than traditional air-tires, and in 2020, they unveiled a 3D printed, fully-recyclable version of the UPTIS that they want to mass produce in the future.

Unfortunately, UPTIS isn’t available to the general public yet, outside of a few applications, like a lawn-mower team up with Tweel, but they are currently being trialed by the delivery service DHL. DHL Singapore equipped 50 of their trucks with UPTIS tires, and they noted that they function just as well as traditional tires, which certainly gives some hope for wide-spread usage in the future.

Smart Mirrors

Road Angel is a company aiming to reinvent the rearview mirror, by creating one that doubles as a touchscreen dashcam. Their Halo Mirror has a camera that records and stores the front-view footage, while a rearview camera attached to your car’s rear bumper records the road behind you. All the while, the Halo Mirror’s touchscreen allows you to switch between those live-views with a tap of your finger.

That allows you to seamlessly reverse into any parking space without scratching your paintwork, or breaking the bank on a car with in-built cameras. However, Road Angel have competition from other smart mirrors, and a company called Junsun have upped the ante by creating a rearview mirror that doubles as an Android tablet.

When you first turn Junsun’s device on, it connects to a camera on the back of your vehicle to give you a rearview like a standard mirror. However, when you press the device’s home button, its Android operating system allows it to function just like a regular tablet, letting you play music, make calls, or open up a maps app.

The device sounds incredibly distracting, but surprisingly it’s legal in many countries, as you don’t always legally need a central mirror to drive if you have two functional wing-mirrors. Still, there are limitations to how you can use the tablet while driving, and if you boot up Subway Surfers while cruising down the highway, you’ll likely get pulled over and charged with distracted driving.

Those smart-devices make your rearview mirror more useful, and other companies have invented high-tech wing-mirrors too. Lots of companies offer kits that allow you to fit LED indicating arrows behind the side mirror, being much easier to see than regular blinkers. The bright LEDs allow other drivers to clearly see which way you’re turning, and incredibly the accessory can be bought for around $16 online!

Handpresso: Coffee Machine For The Car

If you’re as caffeine-dependent as me, you’ll know that even driving to the Starbucks in the morning can be a struggle. Luckily, the Handpresso exists. The portable coffee maker is specifically designed to be used inside a vehicle. The device fits into the average cup holder, and once plugged into your car’s power outlet, it will heat up water and allow you to insert a coffee pod to make the perfect cup of espresso.

The cheapest version of the device costs around $100, which seems pretty steep. However, if your morning commute involves grabbing a cup of joe at a drive thru, the device can save you a few minutes every morning!

The Handpresso brings your car one step closer to a mobile diner but what if you want a bite to eat? In 2022 Ford unveiled their new E-Transit van, and announced that it was the first vehicle with a steering wheel that doubles as a lunch tray. That can be folded down to create a flat surface, ready for the clip-on tray, and according to Ford, it was specifically designed as a tray for workers who like to eat lunch in their vans.

For van drivers, the invention is pretty neat, but unfortunately, it’s a $650 add-on to the $40,000 E-Transit van, which may be out of your budget. Luckily, you can buy fold-down tray tables that are designed to fix to any standard steering wheel, for around $10 on websites like Amazon. Those products are functionally identical to Ford’s high-tech version, as they allow you to eat lunch or work on your laptop while sitting behind the wheel.

Living Facilities

Surprisingly, there are some inventions out there that allow you to sleep like a king while living in your vehicle. One such system is The Notel a kit that allows you to turn any truck into a giant bed. It consists of telescopic aluminum poles and a folding frame, that can extend or shrink down to fill any truck or SUV.

AMAZING Car Inventions You Won't Believe Exist

Notel via doityourselfrv

That frame is topped with a comfortable sleeping surface, which essentially allows you to pull up anywhere and comfortably crash in your vehicle. You might be thinking, your mobile home has a bedroom but where’s the kitchen? This next nifty invention lets you keep food and drinks in the vehicle while hiding them in plain sight.

That’s one way to stop your friends from stealing your drinks! The TikToker has modified his truck by installing a hidden storage compartment in the bed. It isn’t clear where he got his vehicle customized, but Decked is a company that specializes in those truck bed trays, and they’ll take almost any standard truck and fit it with a hidden compartment for around $1,600.

Of course, most people use that modification to store tools, not cans of beer, and the invention is a great way to leave valuables in your truck while ensuring they don’t get stolen. Other companies offer similar products, like the taillight compartment in the video below, by the Off-Roading specialists Black Sheep Innovations.

The secret drawers can be fitted to the brake lights of the Volkswagen Amarok or the Toyota Hilux, and they cost $3,600 to buy and install. Once fitted, they’re a handy place to store drinks, or maybe your guns if you are in America. When you combine those secret compartments with the Notel, they can turn a regular truck into a mobile home that’s perfect for camping.

However, before we head into the wilderness, we need to fit our car with one more invention to help guide the way. When you’re driving in the pitch-black wilderness regular headlights won’t cut it, and Rigid Industries is a company that builds powerful multi-colored LED lightbars that are made for off-roading. Rigid’s lights mount on the roof of your vehicle or the front bumper, and they’re so bright that they can be spotted up to 14-miles away.

With the addition of that invention, our custom truck has become the perfect camping vehicle, and we can use it to light up a dark area in the wilderness, grab a cold one from the taillight drawer and crash on our Notel beds. Sounds better than most apartments!

Air Balance Package

If you find yourself eating, drinking, and generally spending a lot of time in your car, it’s not hard to work up a bit of a stink. And sometimes, a regular pine-scented air freshener isn’t going to cut it. Luckily, if you own a Mercedes-Benz, you never have to worry about funky smells, due to the Air Balance package. That is an optional add-on for your A/C system, that allows you to fill your car with purified air that’s been infused with Mercedes-branded perfume.

The package can be installed in the company’s most luxurious models, and it starts by sucking in air from outside your vehicle and using charcoal to filter out any dust or pollen. Then, the system’s ‘fragrance atomizer’ infuses that air with perfume, before releasing it through your A/C system.

the system’s ‘fragrance atomizer’ infuses the air with perfume

The perfume is stored in a special compartment in your glovebox, and there are lots of scents to choose from, including Forest Mood, Nightlife Mood, and ‘Bamboo Mood.’ Each Mercedes perfume bottle costs around 80 bucks, and all in all the system costs $380 to install. That isn’t too bad but to access the Air Balance package you’ll have to buy a Mercedes first.

Open-Hearted Wagon For Dogs

Luxury car manufacturers like Mercedes fill their vehicles with fancy features to appeal to drivers. However, the next vehicle is specifically designed to cater to man’s best friend. In 2005, Honda developed the Wonderfully Open-Hearted Wagon, a concept car that aimed to be the most dog-friendly vehicle ever. The car comes with a dog crate that can be placed in the center console, or in back; a dog leash post in the center of the car; and a small window at the bottom of each door, so your pooch can still see outside while lying down.

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Those features give your pup lots of places to rest during a long drive, and the chassis of the car is built with a low center of gravity to make the ride more stable and comfortable if your dog wants to stand up and stretch its legs. Honda have always been a pet friendly company, and in 2022, they unveiled a Doggy Co-Pilot Seat that featured a treat dispenser in the glovebox, dog bowls in the footwell, and a comfortable harness. The invention would allow you to feel like Han Solo, cruising through the galaxy with Chewbacca by your side, but unfortunately, the car seat was later revealed to be an April Fool’s Day prank.

Gesture Control

The technology in modern cars is growing so advanced, that it borders on science fiction, and in 2015, BMW announced a futuristic feature for their 7-Series Sedan that they called Gesture Control. That innovation consists of a set of sensors in the car’s ceiling that constantly track your hands. Those sensors connect to the vehicle’s center console, allowing you to swipe a finger to reject a phone call, spin your finger to change the music volume, and give a sideways thumbs-up to skip to the next song.

You can even create your own custom hand movements and assign them to specific functions in the car. Since 2015, that has become a standard feature in almost every new BMW model, which might explain why BMW drivers are so terrible. They’re too busy waving their hands around to use their blinkers.

Still, that technology isn’t exclusive to Beamers, and it’s becoming increasingly common in luxury and standard vehicles. Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and SEAT all have models that let you control the radio with gestures, and in 2017, Jaguar announced that the latest version of their XF Sedan would feature a sunroof that you can open and close by waving your hand. The car’s gesture control can only perform that specific function, which seems like a pretty unnecessary use of the technology.

AlertMe Lifesaver Driver Alert

So far, we’ve discussed some incredible inventions that you can attach to your vehicle. But the next device is a car accessory that connects directly to the driver’s body. Each year drowsiness causes around 100,000 crashes in the USA, and the car safety company RESQME has developed a device attempting to cut that number down.

The "AlertMe" is a small earpiece that, when worn, tracks the driver’s head movements, and if their head tilts towards the ground for a few seconds, indicating they may have fallen asleep at the wheel, it will emit a warning alarm to wake them up. Clocking in at 90 decibels, the warning sound is the same volume as a lawn mower, so blasting it into a sleeping driver’s ear is guaranteed to wake them up.

The idea is great but it's debatable, as if you woke up to a 90 decibel alarm screaming in your ear the shock could still cause you to drive your car straight off the road. So, while the invention is impressive, you should still avoid driving while sleep-deprived, and if you start to feel drowsy behind the wheel, the best thing to do is pull over and get some rest!

ETTcor Expandable Truck Trailer

The vehicle in the video below may look like a standard truck but at the push of a button, the sides fold out and grow into a structure that’s 3 times larger in just 30 seconds.

ETTcor is a company that builds expandable truck trailers, and the largest version can grow to become 22ft wide and 54ft long, giving it a total area of 1,188 square feet. That is far larger than the 887 square feet of space in the average American apartment, but the ETTcor trailer isn’t technically a mobile home.

The giant trailer is actually intended to be used as a mobile restaurant, a classroom, or a workshop. It can also be used as a mobile garage, allowing mechanics to work on a car that’s broken down on the side of the road, while being protected from the elements.

In January 2023, ETTcor’s founder Rick Marintchev created a Kickstarter campaign for the expandable trailer, attempting to raise $31,000 so he could grow the company. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter failed to raise sufficient funds, but Rick is still promoting the project. Despite the difficultires, ETTcor’s trailer is surely a great idea!

If you were amazed at these amazing car inventions, you might want to read about car secrets only the most experience drivers know. Thanks for reading!