The Vegas Voice 12-19

The Future is Now!
By: Jim Valkenburg / Insurance Insight
You may not believe all the high-tech car
features. Some of us will need our grandkids
to help us figure out all the new “techy” things
that are already in some of the new vehicles and
some that will be available soon.
But the cars will also be smarter than the grandkids! Can a car read
a street sign? Can our vehicles react faster than we can to a sudden
traffic change?
These are just a couple questions that the automakers say “yes”
to. Below is a list of just a few of the driver assisted systems we will
eventually have or already have in our new cars. Let’s hope all these
safety features will be factored into our insurance rates!
1. Adaptive cruise control will automatically adjust the speed of your
car to maintain a safe following distance. These can be set manually
from 1-2 to 3-4 car lengths.
2. Automatic high beams will switch between high and low beams as
other vehicles approach or in changing light conditions.
3. Forward collision warning will alert the driver to an imminent
forward collision with audible beeps and flashing lights.
4. Automatic emergency steering will help us steer our car out of the
way of an oncoming object in order to avoid a collision.
5. Automatic emergency braking applies the car’s brakes without
driver input if a collision is impending. Some of these systems can detect
pedestrians and
some of these
systems will
work when the
car is in reverse.
6. Rear crosstraffic
alert
will warn us
of oncoming
perpendicular
traffic from
behind the car
when backing up.
7. Semi-autonomous driving systems are offered by some automakers.
These systems combine adaptive cruise control and lane centering to
allow the car to just about drive on its own.
Many automakers are combining some of these features in a safety
package and have their own “name” for that package such as Toyota’s
Safety Sense, Subaru’s Eyesight or Nissan’s Safety Shield 360. When you
are ready to buy a new car, be prepared for some “nifty” features to help
protect you.
Jim Valkenburg is a retired military officer and insurance executive.
He and his wife owned and operated their own insurance agency for
over 16 years. His primary purpose is to give out real information
that can be used to make intelligent insurance decisions.
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