In the past, automotive engineers focused on creating safety systems that protected drivers in car crashes. In the future, advances like the Google self-driving car on display this week, will likely remove motorists and their steering wheels from the driving equation. In the present, things are a little murkier.
The era of the self-driving car inched closer to reality this week when Google unveiled its autonomous prototype, but the truth is, in more subtle ways, drivers have already ceded some control to automated systems. Many vehicles are already equipped with new technology that offers drivers active assistance behind the wheel. Features like adaptive cruise control, active lane assist and automatic braking are more common.
“With advancements happening quicker than ever in the automotive space, not only is safety about what happens when you hit something in your car, but avoiding that scenario entirely,” said Akshay Anand, analyst at Kelley Blue Book. Sold under a variety of brand-specific names, these systems can at once be alluring, confusing or even repellent to consumers.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has developed a new method for assessing the effectiveness of safety systems that deliver automatic braking capability. On Thursday, the nonprofit organization released results from the testing of 24 luxury SUVs and sedans.
Four vehicles – the BMW 5 Series and X5, the Hyundai Genesis and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class – earned perfect scores when equipped with the crash-prevention features, which are often sold as optional add-ons. Overall, eight cars earned the highest rating of “Superior,” 13 were given “Advanced” rating and three earned a “Basic” rating.
This article originally appeared on Autoblog.
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