High-gloss color and seductive curves are not the only features we need to consider when buying our new car. With the advancement of technology, safety features have also become one of the biggest selling points. Days when the seat belts, anti-lock brakes, airbags, and cruise control were novelties, are long gone. Now those are the standard features of almost every new car, along with traction control and pressure monitoring. With a once cutting-edge technology becoming a standard, there is room for new embedded technology which works automatically to make you safer every time you get behind the wheel.

Towards The Autonomous

What has brought these high-tech safety features inside modern cars is the movement towards the autonomous vehicles, meaning self-driving cars. The effort of this movement has caused many groundbreaking advances in the car safety area. However, this striving towards the autonomous doesn’t mean there will be no more need for maintenance. Quite the opposite – all those outstanding gadgets will need an outstanding service, which is ‛the fuel that should drive every team focused on delivering exceptional standards in every detail’. In other words, if you have features that have set the benchmark in safety standards, you should also find the service that plans to do the same in their automotive portfolio. That cleared out, it’s time to look at the fruits of advanced technologies that are revolutionizing traffic safety.

Before They Blink Twice

Regarding the pedestrian safety, almost all automakers have voluntarily committed to including automatic braking systems as standard technology in every new vehicle by 2022. In some markets, more advanced systems are already available, improving pedestrian safety by avoiding the ones that are not visible to the driver. This is accomplished by the use of cameras and radars which are able to detect pedestrians and cyclists within a twenty-meter radius. That way the automatic emergency braking is deployed in less time than it takes them to blink twice.  What’s more, the clouds of steam which could be rising from vents along the urban pavement are not an obstacle to this technology. The trick lies in the fact that this system is continuously monitoring the scene in front and to the side of the vehicle. This, in combination with quality tyres, leaves you with a full automotive package that delivers absolute safety for the driver and all the passengers.

A Bird’s Eye Perspective

Pedestrian safety would be largely promoted if vehicles are enabled to communicate with road equipment and the other way around. With vehicle-to-infrastructure communication that has become possible, and this system is just getting better. It will use short-range wireless sensors that are mounted on boom arms and poles along the road which will detect pedestrians and convey the information to vehicles in the area. That way the drivers will receive signals if pedestrians are on the road, no matter if they’re around the corner and out of view. It is practically a bird’s eye perspective of the intersection, providing the drivers with a much better vantage point of everything that’s approaching.

Eyes on The Road

Engineers have been trying to keep our eyes on the road for quite some time now, but complex touch-screen infotainment systems have proven also to be a part of the distraction. So it was about time to make some advancement, which will come in the form of augmented reality systems. These systems would project all the essential control information – fuel, speed, GPS, etc. – onto the non-distracting area of the windshield, making sure the eyes of the drivers remain on the road.

Dispersing The Glare

While it’s not considered as an advanced technology that deserves much publicity, improving the headlight performance is crucial for one simple fact – there are too many cars that lack adequate headlights and more than 70% of pedestrian fatalities occur at night. This clearly shows that the improvement of safety also requires a renewed focus on the basics of engineering and automotive design. Any modification that will brighten the area ahead of the driver will undoubtedly be helpful regarding pedestrian safety, but the key is in technology that will automatically control the lighting dispersal and therefore reduce the glare, enabling drivers to see better. The technology is already there, all it takes it to get rid of some ancient regulations.

We’re slowly approaching to what is considered the holy grail of the auto industry – cars that are able to handle all road functions on their own, with a goal of eliminating all road deaths within approximately three decades. But until then our vehicles will have eyes on all sides, enabling ours to stay on the road, lit brightly by the top-notch headlight performance.