The average family car of 2018 could feature safety technology straight from science fiction movies. James Stanford looks at the direction things are heading.
Heat-sensing night vision, infrared sensors that keep your car from hitting others and steering wheels that vibrate if you drift out of your lane. Think I'm crazy? These features are already in production in luxury car models and that could mean all of them will trickle down to fleet cars or those that most of us can afford to drive privately.
A few years ago electronic stability control (ESC) was reserved for expensive German vehicles, but now most cars have the potentially life-saving technology fitted as standard.
It was the same with airbags and anti-skid brakes in the late 1980s and '90s.
The luxury carmakers invariably introduce the features first because they are prepared to pay the technology developer a premium in order to introduce the item first. In most cases, one car company will introduce the feature and have it to themselves for a short period before others are able to also pick up the technology. After a while, the technology becomes widespread so the cost can be driven down significantly.
Of course, it is very important for companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Volvo or Audi to be able to claim to be the first to introduce a significant feature.
Some devices, such as parking sensors, reverse cameras and tyre pressure monitors were initially more exclusive but are now increasingly widespread. But what about the really cutting-edge stuff?
The most interesting features now being introduced were the stuff of science fiction movies a few years ago. Night vision is one of the coolest. The current Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which was introduced in Australia in 2005, is available with night vision that can distinguish items that may be beyond the reach of your car's headlights.
It has a display screen mounted on the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. During the day, the screen displays a digital speedometer that looks like any other. At night, the screen turns into a monitor displaying the night vision footage which is captured using infrared sensors. It enables a driver to see beyond their headlights.
The idea is not to drive along looking at the monitor, but to keep it in the range of your vision. If something is detected, you are then likely to notice it.
A BMW system, which is also available here, uses a different type of infrared technology along with a thermal-imaging camera. This means only warm objects such as animals or people are shown on the display.
What is not yet clear is whether night vision will be deemed effective enough to be picked up on a wide range of cars. Will it be interpreted as helpful extra information or simply as a piece of expensive trickery that looks impressive but is of very little real value?
The same question can be asked of blind-spot sensing technology. Pioneered by Volvo and now available on other premium models including Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes, this system uses either cameras or radar to detect whether there is a vehicle in your blindspot.
If there is, a light mounted on the bottom of the A-pillar flashes to let you know. This system can be deemed useful and potentially life-saving or dismissed as unnecessary, depending on your viewpoint.
One argument is that if you watch the traffic and keep an eye on your mirrors, you will see the vehicle before it becomes lost in the blindspot. Another insists that if a driver has their mirrors correctly positioned, they can eradicate the blindspot. The other view is that drivers aren't perfect and need all the help they can get!
Several luxury models now feature a cruise control system that automatically slows your car in order to stop it hitting the car in front. These systems use radar or infrared technology to monitor the distance to the car you are following. If your car gets closer than this set distance, the system jumps on the brakes.
Some people love this technology and find it helps prevent them creeping up on cars in front. The counter argument is that the system could even cause an accident if a car in another lane pulls across in front of you within the prescribed distance of the adaptive cruise control. This would see the system brake your car, perhaps heavily. A driver behind you, without such technology, might not expect you to brake and all of a sudden has to pull up to avoid hitting you from behind.
A potentially valuable lane-sensing feature that uses high-tech cameras is likely to become more widespread. Currently available on a handful of high-end models including Audi, BMW and Citroen, this system senses if you drift out of a marked lane and sends a vibration through the steering wheel. If you are falling asleep and heading off the road, this could be enough to wake you from your slumber in time to prevent a potentially fatal incident. In case you were wondering, the vibration doesn't occur if you leave the lane using your indicators.
Heads-up displays could also feature widely in cars of the future. First introduced in the 1990s, these displays, which project some information onto the windscreen, were dismissed as gimmicks for some time.
Now BMW is bringing back the technology and offers it on many models. Information displayed can include simply the car's speed or engine revs and the gear selected. The advantage of this technology is that the driver doesn't need to look down to the instrument cluster to find the information. This is becoming more important in Australia where regular monitoring of speed means drivers are spending more time taking their eyes off the road.
While much of the technology currently being introduced aims at preventing accidents, lots of work is being done to improve your chances should a crash occur. One interesting feature relates to airbags and their deployment.
Did you know that some cars have sensors that can detect an accident before it has even happened? One of those is the Ford FG Falcon, the first Australian car to score five stars in ANCAP testing. It uses a system that can 'hear' pressure waves of an impending impact before the panels have started to deform. These then prepare the various safety systems to react as quickly as possible.
In the case of airbags, it can also weigh up the force of the impact and instantly determine how forcefully it should deploy various airbags. This could prevent injuries from airbags deploying with more force than is required.
Tomorrow's drivers and passengers, it seems, can even expect greater protection from the safety features themselves.
It might be hard to predict which safety technology will feature in mainstream cars of the future, but the road ahead certainly looks like being a significantly safer one.
