Column: 7 technologies that could come with your next car

If “Back to the Future II” got it right, by 2015 flying cars will be whizzing across the skyways of America - in towns even as sleepy as Hill Valley, Calif. In reality, the marketplace won’t have a Hovercraft in two years.

Though plucky startups like Terrafugia are hard at work trying to realize Robert Zemeckis’ vision, the near (alternate) future will have the average automobile buyer settling for something a tad less lofty.

We’re in store for some nifty standard features for sure, they’ll just have be enjoyed on all four wheels.

The airbag of tomorrow is just about here. No longer reserved for luxury brands or in pricey options packages, safety systems that use radar and camera sensors to keep cars at a safe distance from those ahead, alert drivers of an impending crash, and automatically apply the brakes in an emergency are destined to become as ubiquitous as tensioned seatbelts.