The Role of Technology in Automobile Safety :: exploratoty essay research paper

Safety in automobiles always seems to be a large concern for both car manufacturers and buyers alike. While airbags and anti-lock breaks have become a common, yet useful commodity, the increasing role that technology is playing in the development of cars truly shows its potential with these in-the-works safety features. Night Vision Night Vision is a system that uses infrared cameras to help drivers see much farther distances at night while driving. Many different companies are each working on different designs of night vision, but they all have similar ideas. There are several mirrors with little cameras in them placed throughout the car. There is a lightsensing element inside the mirror which is also heat sensitive. Warmer objects, such as people or animals, appear white, while cooler objects, like buildings or trees, appear as various shades of gray or black. The mirrors are also programmed to automatically darken to reduce the glare of oncoming cars. On a clear night, some systems have been able to detect objects more than 1500 feet away which is almost four times as far as a driver can normally see. The only problem with the program is that it isn't as reliable during precipitation. The images aren't as detailed as they normally are. Collision Radar Researchers from Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, a partnershipd between the U.S. Department of Transportation and automobile industries are making advances on systems which, if successful, can tell you if you're about to run off the road or hit another car. The system is a pretty complicated construction of lasers which are set all over the vehicle. Since there are always blindspots, the idea is that the lasers compare the path of your car to the paths and speeds of the vehicles around you. If something is your car's path, collision radar systems can warn you and calculate the distance you have to stop. A camera is even programmed to look for painted lines on the road to determind if you are off center or drifting into another lane. Some advanced systems will even be able to detect lines when snow is covering the ground.