21st Century Automotive Safety Capabilities
Undoubtedly, our society is getting more and more dependent on
technology. Technology and digitalisation have massively influenced the way
people interact with each other, the way we work, and even our simple day-to-day
activities.
Digital technology has developed in all sectors, including the travel
industry with online booking platforms, and the press with digital newspapers
and magazines accessible via smartphones. Then, we have access to mobile payments,
digital music, and so on.
The automotive industry is one that also keeps evolving rapidly, with
new security systems and advanced technology featured in the majority of
recently manufactured cars. From lane departure warning systems, which alert drivers
of other cars presence, to a newly developed facial recognition software, which
analyses a driver’s facial expressions and notes tiredness, safety features
within cars has increased tenfold over the past ten years. In this article, we
run through some recently developed automotive safety features.
Blind Spot Detection
Who
would have imagined that your own car could come with a technology that watches
where you physically can’t yourself?
You’ll
remember being told multiple times, as a learner driver, to look carefully, make
sure you’re always checking your side mirrors, as well as looking over your
shoulder before changing lanes or making any other maneuvers. Fast forward a
few years, we now have a blind spot detection technology that sees what we as
drivers might miss. This technology warns the person at the wheel of any
approaching vehicles, by flashing orange or yellow lights in the door mirrors.
Face Recognition
According
to a 2018 study conducted by Teensafe,
80 per cent of road collisions are caused by tiredness and distraction, with 3,287
deaths everyday due to car crashes. The
data revealed that averagely, nine of these deaths are strictly related to
distraction.
Looking
at the figures, innovative technologies such as the face recognition in
vehicles will be highly beneficial and almost essential to help reduce such
incidents. The face recognition system keeps the driver’s minor movements
monitored, including eye blinking, head movements, and facial expressions. It
consequently recognises when these denote tiredness in the driver.
In
the case where the system detects a tired driver, it sends audible or visible alerts
in an attempt to draw the driver’s attention and get them to focus on the road.
In
extreme cases where the driver doesn’t react to the alerts given by the face
recognition system, the technology initiates an automatic emergency stop of the
vehicle, to prevent the driver from a potential collision.
360 Degree Surround View Camera
Nowadays,
drivers are always searching for more. Similar to the blind spot detection, the
360 degree surround view camera technology is a great asset that gives the
driver a complete vision of the area surrounding his vehicle. It’s available in
new cars such as the Volvo XC40, which comes with
this innovative feature. Every car that offers the 360 degree surround
view camera comes with a display in the vehicle, where a high-resolution image
of the area surrounding the car is shown.
When
a driver is maneuvering in a particularly tight space, or in the event of a
limited visibility due to other vehicles in sight, the driver will be able to
watch the screen display in the car, which will provide a clear vision of both
sides of his vehicle from.
Safety Exit Assist
The
safety exit assistant is one of the most innovative automotive technologies of
the 21st century.
It’s
one of the most beneficial features for families with your children. The way
this technology works is that safety exit assistant uses a radar to detect when
another car, motorcycle or bicycle is approaching while attempting to open one
of your back doors.
Families
with children often know the risk of a child accidentally opening the back door
of a vehicle, and because this is highly dangerous and has caused issues for
many families in the past, a car that offers
such technology is highly beneficial to reduce or even completely eliminate the
risks.
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
This
is another technology that can be found in many cars nowadays. Adaptive Cruise Control
enables cars to accelerate or slow down in respect to traffic conditions and
vehicles ahead on the road. More specifically, this system uses laser or radar
systems, fitted in the front of the car, to scan and
detect the presence and proximity of other vehicles. Then, when a car ahead of
you slows down, your vehicle will automatically slow down to keep the safe
distance and to avoid a collision. The system also automatically accelerates
your vehicle when traffic requires so.
If
the Adaptive Cruise Control senses a potential collision, it automatically
slows the vehicle down, braking heavily and then immediately tightens the
seatbelts for the driver and passengers in the vehicle.
These
are just a few of the many car technologies that we can find in our society
today. Many believe that these have come to make driving experience safer and
to make life easier for drivers and passengers.
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