Dream car of the future – self-cleaning, climate zones and levitating wheels

This is the average motorist's dream car of the future - featuring self-cleaning paintwork, passenger micro-climates - and levitating wheels to avoid potholes.

A poll of 2,000 drivers influenced the image, with 37 per cent expecting seemingly futuristic characteristics to be a reality within 10 years.

Self-cleaning paintwork, passenger micro-climates - and levitating wheels to avoid potholes are features Brits want in a car | Shutterstock

placeholder image — Self-cleaning paintwork, passenger micro-climates - and levitating wheels to avoid potholes are features Brits want in a car | Shutterstock

Including the likes of solar panel roofs, noise cancelling cabins and seats that clean themselves.

It also emerged 71 per cent consider the tech in their car to be important, prioritising it ahead of the colour (66 per cent) or its perception as a ‘status’ symbol (35 per cent).

A spokesperson for car manufacturing company XPENG UK, which commissioned the research, said: "The image of the perfect car might look out of reach, but some features are becoming a reality.

“Not so long ago, the idea of power steering or electric windows might have appeared fantastical, and now they’re the bare minimum.

“And the most cutting-edge cars today already feature futuristic cameras and sensors – our G6 model can park itself or even be driven out of a tight parking space via your phone.

“So, while people aren’t quite flying around in Jetsons-style personal spaceships yet – although we’re working on it with flying cars – we’re seeing a huge boom in automotive technology at the moment.”

The research found other futuristic tech motorists would like their cars to offer in years to come included windows that could be tinted on demand (27 per cent).

While 11 per cent would like to see seats that could fold out perfectly flat, in case they ever needed to sleep in their vehicle.

However, 35 per cent confessed they aren’t currently able to work all the technology they’ve got in their current car, let alone anything new.

Nearly three in 10 (28 per cent) don’t know how to turn off the passenger airbags in their car, while 25 per cent couldn’t re-set the tyre pressure sensor, to stop a warning light from needlessly flashing at them.

Despite this, a third of those polled, via OnePoll, believe the future does hold space-age flying cars.

As 61 per cent of these already reckon they would be ‘comfortable’ taking to the skies in a personal vehicle now.

The spokesperson for XPENG UK added: “When people think of the future, we think of Blade Runner-style flying cars, or jetpacks whizzing people around.

“Some of our vehicles already feature charging in as little as 20 minutes and 18-speaker surround sound systems.

“This reality may not be coming down the track in the next year or two, but it’s very possible current cars will be seen as old-fashioned as a horse and cart in the near future.

“In the meantime, it’s all about making the driving experience as safe and enjoyable as possible, in the vehicles we do have, and tech can play a huge part in that.