Here Come the Smart Cars
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2003-12-31 07:50:00-05:00
A new generation of technology is emerging that's going to change the driving experience for millions of motorists, young and old alike.
Instead of relying on your wits to maneuver through the chaos of traffic, you'll soon have an impressive array of high-tech gadgets to make driving a whole lot more fun—and, at least in theory, safer.
Drivers of certain luxury cars are now getting a glimpse of what the future holds for average motorists. They're tooling around in vehicles that instantly respond to voice commands—"Radio on," for example. Or that get navigation help from satellites. Or that display e-mails from home or offer shopping tips.
Safety-minded motorists soon will drive cars equipped with sensors, video cameras and other equipment that can "predict" accidents before they happen, giving the driver crucial seconds to take evasive action.
Already, some vehicles automatically manage your brakes should your car be in danger of skidding out of control. Others briefly take over steering when you're in a perilous situation.
Gadgetry even more exotic is on the way. Now being tested are headlights that see around corners and windshields that display warning information if a collision is imminent. "These systems will encourage good driving behavior," says Raymond Resendes, a U.S. Department of Transportation engineer who works on "intelligent vehicle" technology.
Moreover, the new technology will reduce crashes and save lives, he believes, by helping motorists control their cars better and, equally important, by enabling them to react faster when others drive badly. "They'll make driving more pleasurable for everyone," he says.
SOME BRAINY CARS ARE HERE
Surprisingly, most of these systems are already standard or options on some luxury vehicles in the $40,000 - $80,000 range. The steep price tag seems to put this "gee whiz" technology well outside the reach of average drivers.
But prices should fall. In five years, even medium-priced cars may have the same cruise control and crash-avoidance systems of today's pricey models, Resendes says. [See the sidebar High-Tech Vehicles—What's Coming, What's Already Here.]
"You'll see more route navigation systems with some level of e-mail built in," he adds. "You'll have access to a lot of information in mid-line cars."
How fast such systems start appearing in less expensive cars will depend, of course, on how popular they turn out to be with the public.
Some experts, though, worry that drivers will find the new technology intrusive, confusing and possibly distracting, ironically making driving more hazardous rather than less so.
Many motorists trying out smart cars like them. Howard Rowell, 74, of Columbia, S.C., praises the crash notification feature of his new Cadillac—which has an electronic system called OnStar. If the car's airbags deploy, a call center adviser contacts the driver and sends emergency help if needed. "I figure my life is worth a few [extra] bucks," Rowell says.
Nor is that all. Rowell uses the system to get directions, place calls to his wife and children, or locate the nearest gas station.
"It's hands-free. That's the beauty of it," says Rowell, a retired businessman. "You have a mike and a touch button on the rearview mirror, and the girl comes on and says, 'Hello, Mr. Rowell, how are things in Myrtle Beach? What can we do for you?' "
TARGETING 50-PLUS CONSUMERS
Market analysts believe that smart cars will do well with consumers over 50—now the fastest-growing segment of the car-buying public. Baby boomers, they speculate, will like the navigation systems, DVD players, satellite radio and other high-tech hardware.
And Art Spinella, an automotive market researcher in Bandon, Ore., thinks the advanced safety features will especially appeal to consumers age 65 and older.
Obviously, automakers do not design primarily for older buyers, but their needs are kept in mind. Cadillac, for example, has introduced a system that enables drivers to see better at night—a feature expected to be especially valued by older consumers.
Tapping technology developed by the U.S. military, Cadillac has fashioned a heat-detecting device that displays infrared images on the windshield to warn drivers of approaching obstacles such as a person, animal or another car.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AgeLab are testing advanced systems that could help older drivers compensate for hearing problems or diminished peripheral vision.
Technology now being developed at MIT will enable a car to flash warnings on the windshield that it may be moving into a trouble spot. The display—which can be easily read but doesn't obstruct the motorist's view—reports the vehicle's speed and may suggest appropriate action for the driver.
Nearby, a monitor on the dashboard records the driver's heart rate, blood pressure and other stress factors, information intended to let the driver know if his or her health might be worsening.
Useful as all this data might be, MIT researchers also see a downside: the risk drivers may be overwhelmed. "The bad news is engineers don't know how to design this stuff into the car for the untrained operator," says Joseph F. Coughlin, director of MIT's AgeLab. "And that's what all of us are."
Along with auto industry labs in the United States and abroad, MIT is now studying ways that cars can warn and inform without overloading the driver and inadvertently causing accidents.
Thomas Nieva, 67, of Foxboro, Mass., recently volunteered to test a blind-spot detection and collision-warning system using the MIT AgeLab's driving simulator.
Nieva "drove" the bright red Volkswagen Beetle wired to computers and highway simulation software that displays road scenes on a large screen. When a vehicle appeared in his blind spot, researchers rang a bell, alerting him to the potential dangers. (In real life the car would be equipped with sensors to activate the alarm.)
Did the clanging bell prove useful? Researchers aren't sure. But Nieva says he found the blind-spot detection warning a comfort. "You drive more relaxed when you know what's going to be there," he says.
TOO MANY BELLS AND WHISTLES
But the retired food broker thinks too much reliance on alarms could be a problem. He spends the winter in Florida where some drivers have back-up warning systems in the car bumper that emit a beeping sound if the car nears an obstacle.
"I almost got run over walking through the Wal-Mart parking lot," he says. "A lot of older folks think it's a license to back up without looking."
"The problem with even hands-free devices is that people are lost in thought," says the Transportation Department's Resendes. "Your eyes may be on the road, but your mind isn't."
The biggest problem with smart cars is that older drivers don't need all those bells and whistles, maintains John W. Eberhard, former research psychologist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and now a consultant on aging and transportation.
"Most older people don't drive at night or in unfamiliar areas, so they don't need navigational devices," Eberhard says.
Other automotive experts disagree. In the distant future, they say, safety features in the new smart cars may be sophisticated enough to prevent incidents such as last summer's Santa Monica, Calif., tragedy in which an 86-year-old driver lost control of his car and plunged into a produce market, killing 10 people.
"Smart car technologies could provide a 360-degree zone of protection around the driver," Resendes says, "and allow older people to drive later at night or on a busy freeway—conditions they might normally avoid."
Elizabeth Pope is a freelance writer in Portland, Maine.
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