Ever wished your car had the ability to squeeze itself into that tight parking spot you worked so hard to find? Or that you could take care of your emails during the morning drive to work? Thanks to recent developments in automobile technology, these pipe dreams might soon become reality.
While the cars of today might not quite have evolved to become fully autonomous, Transformer-esque beings, there is a wealth of new and exciting features making its way onto the market that looks set not only to make driving a whole lot easier, but safer too.
So if you’re sick of working that clutch for hours on end or looking to better protect the lives of your loved ones, you might want to check out some of these exciting new developments making their way to a car near you soon.
Lane departure warning systems – A.K.A “Lane Assist”:
In many instances, accidents happen as a result of drivers losing control due to drowsiness, something that can now be avoided thanks to lane assist technology. Using sensors, this new feature activates flashing lights, sounds and steering wheel vibrations when you step outside the bounds of your lane, and can in fact even gently counter-steer you back on course. Whilst this technology hasn’t yet evolved to work on poorly marked roads, it can be an enormous help to those driving long distances on highways.
Automated braking:
Fender benders are an all-too-real possibility, especially in congested city traffic, but thanks to automated braking technology, you can reduce the risk significantly. Making use of similar sensor-based systems as well as cameras, lasers and radar, this ground-breaking feature taps into artificial intelligence to detect the risk of an accident, taking corrective action where necessary so as to avoid it. In cases where high-speed collisions are imminent, the system pre-loads the brake to enable a harder stop, cutting down your chances of injury.
Automated parking:
Cars are getting bigger by the day, yet the spaces we’re expected to squeeze into remain woefully small. Audi identified and rectified this dilemma with the introduction of its 2016 Q7, which comes complete with a feature that enables the car to self-steer into tight parking spots. Whilst this technology has been in play for a few years now, it looks set to continually evolve, thus making the city a far more easily navigable place.
Of course, as with all technological developments, these newly available features do come at a fairly significant cost. However, over the next few years we should see them following in the footsteps of power steering, ABS braking and airbags and becoming standard-issue on the majority of new vehicles.
[ By: Rory Judd, head of online marketing at MiWay]
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