Every year, more and more safety features and gadgets become available for automobiles. It seems one day our children or grandchildren will be able to climb into a car, open a magazine and say, "Drive me to the market."
While the day of the fully automated car is still far in the future, there have been some interesting advances in the last few years in the automotive safety that could contribute to lowering crashes and fatalities on the highways.
In its 2007 U.S. Automotive Emerging Technologies Study, J.D. Power and Associates found that consumers were generally more interested in safety features than they were in entertainment ones.
Night Vision
One of the most intriguing and futuristic gadgets that is currently available for some makes and models is night vision. Some gadgets use heat-seeking technology to detect animals and pedestrians in the road, but other companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been on the forefront of night vision by introducing infrared technology.
In 2006, Mercedes introduced Night View Assist (NVA).
"Night View Assist debuted on the S-Class in 2006," said Dan Barile, a product and technical coordinator for Mercedes. "What we like about it is, it is infrared based… It's more active than the heat-based versions."
NVA uses an infrared camera that projects an image of what lies ahead in the dark onto a small screen mounted on the dashboard. By occasionally glancing at the screen, the driver can see objects and pedestrians farther away than can be seen with the naked eye.
There is room for improvement with NVA, as it serves only as an occasional tool and not as a driver's main source of vision while on the road at night.
"It's impossible to drive looking simply at the two-dimensional Night View display," wrote Motor Trend magazine about NVA. "And because the screen isn't in your direct field of view, it's difficult to monitor it while driving."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a study in 2000 using night vision technology employed by truck drivers using a similar system to NVA. The NHTSA found that night vision significantly reduced night blindness from oncoming traffic and that drivers had an intuitive interpretation of the technology that didn't require extensive training.
In one of its safety tests, Mercedes said that drivers were able to discern test dummies in dark clothing at a range of 164 meters with NVA, but at about 72 meters without it.
NVA is not currently available as an individual option with Mercedes S-Class models, but comes in packages that range from $2,000 to $6,100. It also comes standard with the S-65 AMG.
Because of the high cost, relative unavailability and low user-friendliness of night vision, consumer interest in the technology is relatively low, said Mike Marshall, director of automotive emerging technologies for J.D. Power and Associates.
"In order to get to the mass market, it has to enhance the driving experience," said Marshall. "It has to make it easier to drive, give you valuable information to make driving the vehicle easier, or enhance the info-tainment value of the driving experience."
Adaptive Cruise Control
Another great advanced safety feature is adaptive cruise control.
Cruise control is beneficial on a long road trip. It saves gas by keeping a steady rate of speed and it allows the driver to spend more time scanning the road for possible hazards instead of having to focus on the pedals.
Cruise control also helps keep a driver's energy up, because constantly applying the gas and brakes to maintain a desired speed on a long road trip can be exhausting. That's where an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system comes in.
When a driver activates the ACC, a microwave radar system or camera scans for other vehicles up to 500 feet in front of the driver. When the system senses a vehicle or object, it calculates the distance and triggers the brakes to maintain a pre-determined distance behind it. When the traffic has cleared, the car will automatically accelerate back to the preset speed. The system can be shut off by simply applying the brake, as with normal cruise control systems.
ACC is available through many different auto companies like Jaguar, Infiniti, Lexus, Acura and Ford and costs around an average of $2,000.
The NHTSA found that an ACC system "could potentially reduce the incidence of rear-end crashes and harm caused by tailgating behavior."
Marshall said he has ACC in his own car and uses it often.
"It's one of those features that has a lot more appeal than night vision, that's for sure," said Marshall. "I love mine. I use it almost every day, unless I get into a traffic jam. But if I am in medium or normal traffic, I use it and pretty much I don't have to hit the brake until I get off the off ramp."
Blind Spot Monitoring
Many auto companies like Audi, General Motors and Volvo now offer blind spot monitoring technology for under $500 through the use of digital cameras or radar.
General Motors' Side Blind Zone Alert system, which is available in certain Cadillac and Buick models, uses radar to scan the rear and sides of the vehicle outward 11.5 feet and 16 feet to the rear.
If a vehicle is in the blind spot, a light mounted on the mirror will illuminate to alert the driver.
"Blind spot detection, in our research, actually garners higher levels of interest than enhanced cruise control," said Marshall.
What Does Future Hold?
Marshall said he does not see the day of the fully automated car happening in our lifetime, but what he does see in the near future is automobiles that are able to take evasive action on their own to avoid crashes by using a combination of safety features already available.
"Enhanced cruise control, backup assist, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring -- all these features are, I think, going to evolve into a collision mitigation system, which is naturally where they are going to progress to," said Marshall. "So, right now we're seeing them as stand-alone features, but seven-plus years down the road we're going to see collision-mitigation systems, which incorporate all of these features."
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