The most cutting-edge car features today

Technological advances in the automobile industry continue to push the limits of our expectations. As well as performance and vehicle efficiency, safety is one of the key areas that is constantly evolving. According to car safety experts Armoured Shielding, the industry has shifted from protecting people involved in accidents to preventing accidents altogether.

Here they outline some of the most exciting technologies that have hit the automobile industry and are potential game changers for car safety in the future.

ESC (Electronic Stability Control)

To put it simply, ESC uses sensors to determine when the vehicle isn’t going where it should be, and uses ABS (Anti-Lock Braking Systems) targeted at specific wheels in order to point the car back in the right direction. It is estimated that ESC systems could prevent around 10,000 fatal crashes each year.

Lane Departure Warning

This sophisticated piece of technology recognises when your vehicle is drifting out of its lane. Some even automatically redirect the vehicle back on course. It is believed that lane departure warning systems can reduce collisions by a significant 30 per cent.

Collision warning with automatic braking

Adopting radars similar to those used by adaptive cruise control, collision warning technology can sense when the traffic ahead is stopping and alerts the driver with an audible warning. If the driver fails to react to the warning, the automatic braking system intelligently brings the car to a stop. Technology like this shows just how far the automobile industry has come in the past 10 years.

Emergency brake assist

When faced with a potential bumper to bumper crash, most drivers don’t apply the brakes firmly enough. With this in mind, the emergency brake system determines when the driver is applying the brakes in a panic situation and applies them harder. This can significantly reduce the severity of a crash, or prevent impacts altogether.

Adaptive headlights

Adaptive headlights aren’t the newest feature on the market, but they are now becoming more commonplace in regular passenger vehicles. Adaptive headlights pivot in response to where the front wheels are pointing. This piece of technology can be a great support to road safety, with an estimated 150,000 crashes occurring each year on dark curves.

Pedestrian detection

This sophisticated piece of technology has already been integrated into some of the vehicles produced by major car manufacturers and is another great example of significantly improved vehicle intelligence. The innovative system alerts or immediately brings the car to a stop the moment it detects a person or cyclist passing in front of the path of the vehicle – an excellent system to have in place if you’re a regular city driver.

Car safety is fast becoming a priority in the passenger vehicle industry. Technological advances are moving at a rapid pace, so much so that it can be hard to keep up! It’s exciting to think of what the future holds for the industry and what innovative and revolutionary pieces of technology may find their way into our cars in the not too distant future.