Automakers’ latest cars are becoming smarter – not just in terms of tofu and sunscreen – by employing sensors and cameras to monitor your vehicle and its surroundings, and ensure your safety.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and front collision prevention with automatic emergency braking could prevent or mitigate nearly one third of all reported crashes.
Lane Departure Warning
Your windshield camera monitors lane markers and alerts you if your car veers over them or near them. This system may sound an audible beep or flash an indicator symbol on the dashboard, while some cars even provide steering wheel- or seat-vibration (haptic feedback) to prompt further action to be taken immediately.
Some systems go the extra step by actively steering your car back onto its intended course; this feature is known as lane keeping assist or lane-centering assist and could eliminate nearly half of head-on collisions that happen when drivers lose control on freeways and arterial roads.
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Bear in mind, though, that these systems don’t fully prevent lane-departure accidents; they may still result in accidents if you fail to use your turn signal or change lanes while the system is active. Furthermore, these systems don’t work well on roads with no lane markings or on curves where edges of vehicles could potentially be hidden from view.
Blind Spot Monitoring
Blind spot monitoring systems act like extra eyes for you on the road, keeping tabs on any areas between your car and those around it. Depending on its manufacturer and model, this may involve sensors on either side of the rear bumper or cameras mounted to outboard mirrors – these measures allow drivers to keep an eye out for potential danger zones around their vehicles.
This ADAS feature can help to mitigate accidents by alerting drivers when vehicles approach from adjoining lanes, providing timely warning of imminent danger such as lane change incidents or backover crashes which occur when drivers fail to check their mirrors before backing into something.
Most systems provide an alert in the form of a visible signal on either your outboard or A-pillars or via your head-up display, depending on which model is installed. More advanced models may also offer steering assistance; however, this technology should only ever be used as an additional safety measure.
Forward Collision Warning
Safety technology such as radar, cameras or LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors to detect objects ahead can alert drivers if it senses an imminent front-end collision with another vehicle, or when following too closely behind another car.
Forward collision warning, similar to blind spot monitoring systems, emits a warning chime or displays a red icon when danger is detected; however, unlike automatic emergency braking systems this technology does not take over control of your car.
Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and FIAT models equipped with sensor fusion systems can detect pedestrians, bicycles and large animals; however, drivers are ultimately responsible for managing speed and avoiding hazards on the road. An attentive driver may look 10-12 seconds down the road ahead to anticipate potential dangers more effectively than any computerized system can. Refer to your owner’s manual for information regarding what features your specific system offers or can’t offer.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control utilizes radar technology to track the speed and distance of vehicles ahead of you, automatically adjusting throttle and brake adjustments as well as acceleration/deceleration depending on road conditions and traffic density. It can automatically keep a pre-set following distance while also accelerating/decelerating as necessary.
Mitsubishi was the pioneering company that developed an adaptive cruise control system with laser sensors in 1992, which allowed vehicles to adapt when it detected slower cars ahead. When these cars accelerated away, your original speed was reinstated automatically.
Today’s systems are increasingly sophisticated, capable of adapting their distance and speed according to curves in the road or posted speed limits. But they’re not autonomous; drivers must remain fully engaged at all times and be ready to take over when necessary. Some systems even bring cars to a stop automatically depending on automaker, while other require tapping the accelerator or pressing the cruise control resume button before continuing again.
