The rise of robot cars! Which technologies can save lives?

It seems inevitable that cars will be self-driving in the future. Whether it takes five, ten or twenty years, no matter which you believe, there is no denying that all car manufacturers are moving towards the goal of self-driving cars that will not make the same mistakes that humans make.

In fact, today's high-tech cars already have some advanced technologies that lay the foundation for robot cars. You can choose some technologies to try out in advance. Modern advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS, can help drivers by letting them know when trouble is about to occur and helping them avoid danger.

Today we’re going to take a look at the ADAS technologies that are already appearing in consumer cars so you can know what to look for the next time you buy a new car. I’ll be taking a deeper look at these technologies and others in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Blind Spot Monitoring

Blind spot monitoring is one of the most common ADAS technologies, and it is available in many mid-level or entry-level cars. This technology is referred to as "BSM", which is the abbreviation of "blind-spot warning". I personally like to call it blind-spot information system (BLIS), which is also what Volvo calls it. This technology was first introduced by Volvo in 2007 and used in Volvo's own cars and Ford cars.

The technology installs ultrasonic sensors on both sides of the car, and the system detects when other cars appear in the blind spot, such as appearing in the rear left corner, which cannot be seen by the rearview mirror or is blocked by thick window pillars. If a car is found in the blind spot, most BLIS systems will light up the indicator light, which will appear in the rearview mirror or A-pillar - the A-pillar on one side of the car, depending on the situation. If you turn on the turn signal, BLIS will start at this time, and the system will also emit a beep or voice to remind you to be more careful before changing lanes.

Generally speaking, blind spot monitoring systems will only activate when the car is going above 20-35 mph (roughly). Why is this set up this way? Because it prevents false alarms when driving on city streets and makes the technology more useful when the car is driving at higher speeds (freeway speeds). Please note that the blind spot monitoring system does not replace the old method of looking over the shoulder before determining whether to change lanes. Also note that I just said that the audible alert is only enabled when you turn on the turn signal.

The ultrasonic sensors used in the BLIS system can also be repurposed and used by the so-called "Rear Cross Traffic Alert System", which sounds an audible alarm if another car is approaching when the car is backing out of a parking spot or private driveway. BLIS and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are becoming more and more popular, and they are gradually becoming "must-have" technologies in large SUVs and cars with poor rear visibility.

We'll soon publish a separate article discussing more advanced active blind spot monitoring systems and other alternative technologies, such as Honda's LaneWatch system.

Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keeping Assist

Lane departure alert systems (LDA), also known as lane departure warnings (LDW), use one or more cameras mounted on the front of the car, often above the center of the windshield, to detect the boundaries of the highway lanes to see if the car is driving in the lane. The best systems can also recognize reflections caused by color markings, Botts tiles (used to divide lanes on the road), or cat's eyes.

If LDA finds that the car has left the lane but the driver has not used the turn signal, the system will issue a visual or audible warning, and it will think that the driver is not paying attention, causing the car to deviate. Because of this, you will be more careful and turn on the turn signal every time you change lanes.

This technology evolved into lane-keeping assisted steering (LKAS or LKS). The system can steer the car back into its lane, using electric power steering or offset braking. The so-called offset braking is that the car directs the braking force to one wheel to force the car to turn to the other side. In the cars I tested, the LKAS system easily took over the car, turning the steering wheel just like we usually drive a car; once the system detected that the driver began to steer the car or his attention returned, it would give up control.

We'll cover lane departure systems, like Honda's road-departure mitigation, and some weird systems, like Crosswind Assist, installed on the Smart ForTwo, and advanced driver assistance technologies, such as Volvo's Pilot Assist, in separate articles.

Collision warning system and emergency braking system

The collision warning system is like an eye, except it's an incredible eye that stares at the road without blinking. If the technology sees you approaching an obstacle fast enough that a collision is imminent, it warns you with lights or sounds. If the car in front of you brakes suddenly and you turn your head to look back at your child, the system reminds you to turn around and apply the brakes. The great advantage of technology is that computers never blink, and they are more sensitive than even the most attentive driver.

Most systems use forward-facing radar to estimate the distance to the vehicle ahead, while some cars, like Subaru's EyeSight system, use stereo cameras. The best systems combine the two sensors: cameras are good at detecting small objects, such as pedestrians, cyclists, or animals running at low speeds, while radar systems can accurately detect cars traveling at higher speeds, even in fog or rain.

When a collision is imminent, the car can brake itself. This automatic emergency braking feature (sometimes called collision mitigation braking) allows the car's computer to intervene and automatically apply the brakes if the driver may not react quickly enough or lose the ability to apply the brakes. If the car is traveling at a low speed (usually less than 25mph-30mph), the automatic emergency braking system will bring the car to a complete stop and actually avoid the accident. If the speed is higher, the system can reduce the severity of the collision and reduce the damage.

Collision warning systems are becoming more and more popular in modern cars. For example, Volvo has City Safety installed in all new 90 and 60 series cars, but I'm not just talking about luxury cars. Another example is the Toyota Yaris iA, which is just a $16,000 car, and it also has forward collision warning and low-speed automatic emergency braking.

We will further introduce more advanced automatic braking and collision avoidance systems, such as Audi's steering assist system and Woguangwo's Oncoming Lane Detection system.

Low speed safety

Most of the systems we see only improve the safety of passengers at higher speeds, but modern cars also have a lot of technology that can make people outside the car safer when the car is traveling at very low speeds.

The simplest technology is that the camera system provides the driver with a clearer view of the surrounding situation, especially the situation behind the car. Generally speaking, the rear camera will be activated when the car is reversed. With such technology, the probability of bumper collision accidents will be reduced. It can cooperate with the rear cross traffic warning system (introduced earlier) to avoid accidents; not only that, the technology can also ensure the safety of children and pets. Sometimes if you drive an SUV with a high rear door or a sports car, the rear visibility is not good, which is prone to accidents.

In future articles, we will further discuss other low-speed safety technologies and other camera systems, such as GM's camera mirror and semi-automatic parking system.

The driverless future and driverless highways

The cars of the future will be built with these technologies in mind, and they will continue to improve and integrate them tightly with autonomous driving systems. Look at lane keeping assistance systems and adaptive cruise control systems, which are already part of Volvo Pilot Assist, Tesla Autopilot, and GM Super Cruise, and will eventually become part of autonomous vehicles.