According to a Centre for Future Studies report commissioned by Škoda, fleet vehicles will be revolutionized over the next 40 years, providing company car drivers with a virtual office on the road by 2050. The increased robotization of the car will ultimately hand over control to the vehicle, which will boost road safety and enable motorists to use their traveling time to watch the morning news, video conference or answer emails, Paddock Talk reports. Manufacturers will also implement haptic systems—a set of technologies from the aerospace industry that add a sense of touch to the man-made interface—to warn of dangerous conditions or even wake up drowsy drivers by vibrating the steering wheel or activating actuators in the driver’s seat, much to the relief of fleet managers. The next generation of the Internet, or ‘Next Net’ will encompass all digital devices, from PC to mobile phone and television, according to Paddock Talk, and will extend the office to the car, enabling the company car driver to have full interaction with the office computer and personal assistant. Essentially, vehicles will become a “virtual colleague” with full communication interaction. Features will include technology that can read out incoming emails to the driver, allow the driver to dictate responses, permit the driver to set up meetings, update ‘to-do’ lists and write short memos. Automated highway systems will operate on major commuter routes, creating trains of automatically controlled cars that travel close together at high speed. The agent-based software will also calculate the most cost-effective route for every journey. The key drivers of change determining the design, manufacture and usage of the car of the future are technology, energy supply and demographics, making the car of the future far more versatile, eco-friendly and cyber-connected, Škoda officials say.