Many hearts are broken every day as car crashes claim lives and cause severe injuries every other day. However, car manufacturers spend sleepless nights coming up with car advancement technologies aimed at reducing car crashes. Despite these continuous efforts, statistics show that an average of 117 people were involved in car accidents in the United States daily in the past year. These statistics indicate that there is a need to keep working on technological aspects of our cars so to minimize the number of accidents. It is undeniable that a lot has been done so far; this article outlines some of the technological advancements applied to our vehicles and has reduced car crashes by a big margin.
For a car safety system to be effective, it should measure accurately different key objects on the road such as the road size, size of objects on the road like the width of the road, cars/pedestrians/carts/bicycles ahead and behind your car and the speed they are traveling at. This information could be provided by camera sensors on the road but they are not very accurate since their reach is limited at times hence prone to error.
With effective car safety systems, it is always better and more accurate to measure directly than relying on on-road technology. Technology mainly helps reduce human error. Next Generation Technology Advancements and more recent computer processing tools have helped in filling the gaps left by road technology. Here are some of the tools that have helped reduced car crashes on the road:
Computer Processors
Computer processors use new technologies to generate large amounts of data per second for each vehicle on the road. AI computer data chips are fitted to help process trillions of data operations per second which serve as vehicle intelligence centers. The computer chips fuse the data from each sensor that is used to predict the motion of the cars. This way, the car can maneuver safely hence preventing car crashes.
Radar
Radars have been incorporated in car manufacturers since the 1990s providing features like monitoring of blind spots and adaptive cruise control. Radars work by detecting the velocity and the distance the car covers in a given time in form of mileage. However, radars cannot deliver the required resolution in automated sophisticated driving. For effectiveness, new-generation radar imaging is in development and will be introduced in the next few years.
Backup Camera
This is a type of camera also known as rearview video which prevents car crashes by turning it on anytime a driver is in reverse gear. The crashes which may occur without this camera would involve a cyclist or a pedestrian who may be hit as a driver is pulling out of a car park. The driver can see the rear view directly which will help prevent a potential crash. This technology had reduced car crashes and it is now mandatory for every car to have a rearview camera for all cars manufactured as of 2018.
Automatic Emergency Braking Systems (AEB)
This braking technology has been designed such that it prevents injuries as a result of accidents to the car’s rear end which previously accounted for a third of car accidents reported in a year. This technology entails a Crash Imminent Braking System which detects an imminent crash with an on-coming vehicle. It does so by slowing and eventually stopping a car in case the driver had not sensed the on-coming danger. A dynamic Brake Support kicks in forcing the driver to stop the car though it may not work 100% at avoiding the crash it will help in stopping it if there is sufficient space and time. If you are the nevertheless involved in a car crash we would suggest you visit a law firm’s website for information about the claim’s process.
Forward Collision Systems
This technology works by reducing the impact of the collision. It comes in to save a driver who is looking sideways or down on their phone and may not notice an oncoming car in time. Forward collision systems technology allows the vehicle to calculate the distance between them and an on-coming vehicle, and slow down to minimize the impact of the crash if it eventually happens.
Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
ESC technology works excellently to keep a vehicle from sliding from the road even in wet weather conditions. ESC reduced the engine power of the car by applying brakes to the wheels just when it is about to have a run-off accident. This technology has proven to be effective since it is known to prevent 50% of total rollover accidents.
Adaptive Headlight
This is a very impressive new technology; the car headlights turn on when the steering wheel is turned. It avoids accidents by helping the driver see all the parts of the road when driving at night. If for instance, a wild animal jumps into the road suddenly, the driver will have to turn the steering wheel to evade it. Adaptive headlights turn on in all directions and help the driver see every part of the road and maneuver without losing control of the car.
Vehicle Communication (V2V)
V2V communication is useful in self-driving vehicles whereby there is constant communication between such vehicles on the road to prevent a collision. This communication is facilitated by GPS coordinates as well as other new-age sensors still in development. This technology not only ensures constant communication between self-driving vehicles but also helps the vehicles sense other road users like cyclists and prevents collisions with them.
Final Words
It is agreeable that technology has more good than evil and so it should be appreciated. However, despite availability of technologies for our cars, drivers should remember that accidents still occur even with the most sophisticated cars. This is because technology can fail when errors occur hence a driver should always be alert on the road and avoid car crashes caused by human error. An insurance company will file a claim against the car manufacturer if the technology failed and the car owner will have a very high chance of compensation. Always remember to keep safe on the roads since technology may fail at times.
