The constantly evolving technology of our time has helped to make automobiles much safer. While Fayetteville is certainly not immune from car accidents that cause serious injury or even death, newer technological safety features have helped to make motorists safer on the roads.
These safety features can be a double-edged sword, though. If the car manufacturer does not adequately test safety features, they could put a driver in unnecessary danger.
Toyota Motor Corp. is now in the process of testing one safety system that apparently allows their vehicles to communicate with other cars and the road in order to avoid and prevent accidents. The Intelligent Transport System uses a series of sensors and transmitters embedded on Toyota vehicles and the road to identify possible hazards.
In one test for instance, when the vehicle sensed a dummy pedestrian while driving on a training course in Japan, the car produced a beeping sound to alert the driver. The sensors and transmitters were also able to alert the driver to oncoming cars at an intersection and even red lights. Toyota said that it plans to test the cars out on public roads in Japan in 2014. They also plan to run similar tests on roads in the United States.
Toyota is not alone in this race to introduce these intuitive and high-tech safety features, though. Nissan Motor Co. has already developed technology that will allow a car to park itself, stop on its own and swerve out of the way of a pedestrian or other object on the road.
The question is: How practical are these safety features? Have manufacturers explored whether these features will make men and women complacent and inattentive when behind the wheel? Officials should explore these concerns so they can produce features that keep drivers safe instead of adding yet another distraction for motorists.
Source: Associated Press, “Toyota tests cars that communicate with each other,” Nov. 12, 2012
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