Start your engines, car fans: The First Hawaiian International Car Show is rolling into town, bringing the past, present and future in automotive technology to the Hawaii Convention Center this weekend.

More than 350 vehicles, ranging from exotics and antiques for that “hey, look at that!” factor to the “haven’t seen that before (and you won’t for awhile)” concept cars of tomorrow will be on display. Whether you’re a potential car buyer, a motorhead or a style guru for vehicles, there will be plenty to rev you up.

This year, high technology and its role in developing self-driving cars will be a major feature of the show.

Automotive writer Charlie Vogelheim, who has worked for Kelly Bluebook, J.D. Power and Associates, Motor Trend and Car and Driver, test-driven several concept cars and kept a close watch on developments in the industry, uses the acronym ACES to describe what’s going on in the car technology now.

“It stands for autonomous, connected, electrification and shared,” he said. “This is kind of the environment we’re living in now – one of those four.”

Google’s Waymo program to develop self-driving cars, Apple’s efforts to ensure safe connectivity for vehicles, the increasing popularity of electric cars, and the Uber model of car-sharing are examples of each type of development, Vogelheim noted.

“Portions of all of that that are about this transformation of transportation that we’re involved in,” he said. “These cars that you’re seeing now are a big step from what they were the last generation or the last car that you owned.”

VOGELHEIM COMPARES current developments to advanced car safety measures that were developed over the last 40 years or so. Air bags, for example, were introduced in the 1970s in Cadillacs and other luxury cars, and are now standard throughout the industry, even in subcompacts.

“That was about saving you if there was an accident,” he said. “Now the technology is to prevent the accident.”

Accident-prevention features now becoming more common include technology that warns drivers if they stray from their lane, steering technology that keeps the car in the lane, “intelligent” cruise control that maintains adequate stopping distance from vehicles in front of the driver, automatic braking and blind-spot indicators.

The latest in connectivity for cars aims to take over some of the things that drivers do when they use their cellphones while driving, like calling about traffic hangups, Vogelheim said. “We’re getting to the point where if a car turns on its windshield wipers or headlights and puts the brakes on, maybe there’s a weather incident, and that gets passed down through to other cars, so that they don’t have those big pileups that happen in the fog,” he said.

Some mainland drivers are using Waze, an app that creates a community of drivers to report on traffic problems. If the driver runs into bad traffic, the system automatically contacts other users.

Certain technologies, especially self-driving cars, have raised concerns recently over their reliability. Two fatalities involving driver-assisted or self-driving cars occurred last month. Vogelheim said the technology will still go forward, because there’s a need for it.

“There’s 40,000 people killed in accidents every year, with “90 to 95 percent of that due to driver error,” he said. “The development of the autonomous car isn’t going to do away with all of that right away, but hopefully will mitigate it.

“We can say, ‘Oh, somebody died,’ but there were 10,000 lives saved. And then you go, ‘Well, where are they?’ They’re out there. They didn’t have an accident, they’re safe now.”

ULTIMATELY, THE car show, which runs Friday through Sunday, is an excellent place for prospective car buyers, a place where you can do more than just kick the tires.

“Come check them out,” Vogelheim said. “Sit in them, check out the blind spots and see if they fit.”

Classic cars will also have a place at the Auto Show this year. They always have their fans.

Fred Weisberger, president of the local chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America, said that even though the cars are getting older, it’s become easier than ever to find them and rehabilitate them. “With the Internet, we can find parts much easier and generic things like tires and spark plugs,” he said.

The club is highlighting two themes this year: “the fabulous 1950s” and the Ford Model A, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Weisberger is bringing two of his cars to the show that exemplify both. His 1953 Ford Country Squire Station is a “woodie” model that old-time surfers should love.

Weisberger said that in one particular way, antique cars like his are suitable for driving here today.

“The prewar cars, they were designed for not having roads in certain areas,” he said. “The early cars had large wheels, pretty big tires, low-pressure inflated, and were really designed to be driving on our ‘unpaved’ paved roads. The low-tech technology designed for back then works perfectly on Hawaii’s bad roads today.”