Since the introduction of the automobile, we take a smooth and uneventful ride for granted. Gone are the days when vehicle and road safety features were limited to the seat belt and airbag. With the increasing concern about road safety, automobile companies have been focusing on developing sophisticated technology that makes your every drive worry-free. As various problems can occur on the road, from inattentive drivers to blind spots or sudden lane change, automobile companies have come up with multiple technologies to minimize the risks associated with these issues.
From innovative technologies that react to specific situations to the tools that alert you about potential dangers, these are some of the most innovative tech-based features that help you have a safer drive.
1. Lane Departure Warning System
Being alert and expecting danger is good road behavior, and always sticking to your own lane is one way to do just that. To discourage unexpected lane jumping behavior, lane departure warning is designed with a system to warn you whenever you drift into another lane without giving an indication. The system works basically by monitoring the markings on the road. The more advanced version of this system can even intervene with corrective steering and braking to take it entirely out of your hands.
2. Fatigue Detection
It is not uncommon to feel drowsy on long road trips, but it is extremely dangerous to drift off even for a few seconds. The legal experts at https://www.joyelawfirm.com explain that if you are one of those people who are always sleepy or someone who has to regularly drive long distances or overnight, fatigue detection is an important tool for your car. One of the most common accident lawsuits is a claim against a tired driver. Fatigue detection will issue an audible warning when it detects erratic driving patterns such as sudden deceleration, moving across lanes, or erratic steering. Some major car manufacturers have already included this technology in their cars as a standard feature, such as Volvo and Volkswagen.
3. Intelligent Speed Assistance
This system is designed to ensure that your vehicle doesn’t exceed the legal speed limit, which is one of the most common reasons for road accidents. By constantly monitoring your vehicle through the GPS, this system can calculate your speed and compare it to the speed limit data of the road and area you are in. Whenever an over-limit speed is detected, it will issue an audio and visual to warn the driver. There is also a speed limiter that can go with this system, which automatically cuts off the fuel to slow the car down. This is a great choice for parents who are looking to buy the first car for their children.
4. External Airbags
Long gone are the days where airbags were considered to only minimize the impact of crashes on the occupants of a vehicle, nowadays, automobile manufacturers have even created external airbags to protect anything that collides with the car, such as animals or pedestrians. The more advanced version of external airbags is equipped with sensors to detect whether there has been a collision and then release an airbag on the windshield to soften the impact, which can reduce the damage caused all round.
5. Frontal Collision Warning Systems
By precisely detecting impending frontal collisions, this warning system can help you reduce or avoid the collision completely. It is also extremely helpful if you have to park in a compact parking space. This technology mainly relies on radar to detect the presence of other objects around you as well as their distance to your car and their ongoing speed. In case a collision is anticipated, the warning system may inform you or automatically take over and brake the vehicle.
6. Blind-Spot Monitoring
For larger vehicles like trucks or buses, its size somewhat limits the driver’s view of what is coming from behind or on the side. This technology is specially designed to solve this limitation and enable large vehicle drivers to be aware of views that they cannot originally see, in real-time. This monitor mainly relies on an ultrasonic sensor that is fitted in the rear end of the vehicle, which informs the driver with real-time data about whether there is something behind. This is extremely helpful when truck drivers want to make a lane.
No matter how many tech-based car features are introduced to change how we drive and make things safer, being on the road comes with no guarantee of avoiding mishaps and unpredictable challenges. It is important to remember that you, as a driver, are the one who ensures your road safety. Always follow good road practices, drive at safe speeds, stay attentive, and watch out for other vehicles, even if your car is specifically designed to assist you with these important tasks.
