The Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has been passing out cash for the better part of a decade to support research in high-tech safety measures and other applications of information technology where "the rubber meets the road."
While a well-armed, smart-mouthed, jet-black hot rod named K.I.T.T. may not be in your future, safer digital vehicles and roads are just beyond the horizon and are coming up fast.
Eyes like a cat
Automakers are looking to high-tech video systems to augment drivers' eyes. Cadillac began offering Night Vision on its Deville DHS and DTS automobiles last year. Infrared sensors in the front of the car can pick up the heat energy of objects (a hot engine or a deer in the road, for instance) that are out beyond the range of the headlights. The image is then projected near the bottom of the windshield. Earlier this year, General Motors showed a Hummer concept truck with a 360-degree night-vision system. More fun than functional, this is not planned as a release technology. Cadillac, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford and numerous third-party developers are playing with various side- and rear-vision video cameras as well.
Lightning-fast reflexes
Collision warning systems (CWS) alert a driver to slower moving traffic ahead, and adaptive cruise control (ACC) goes a step further, by actually slowing a car down as the traffic ahead reduces its speed. CWS has already found a home in long-haul trucking and urban buses. Companies such as Eaton VORAD offer radar-based systems that signal drivers if they're following a vehicle too closely or if a car is in the blind spot when they are changing lanes.
Adaptive cruise control is emerging as a fancy feature for luxury sedans. Jaguar started offering it as an option a couple of years ago. Lexus and Mercedes-Benz currently offer ACC systems as options in their 2001 LS 430 and 2001 S-Class cars, respectively. The Lexus uses laser-based sensors, while Mercedes-Benz uses radar to detect vehicles ahead.
If the system determines that you're following the driver in front of you too closely or are moving too fast for the distance, the ACC kicks in. First, the system eases up on the throttle to reduce the speed of your vehicle. If that's not enough, it will downshift your car. If necessary, it will even engage the antilock brake system to slow the car. The driver must still step on the brakes to come to a full stop.
