Automation Is Being Driven Forward By In-Car Safety Tech
Driving can be an inherently dangerous mode of transport depending on where on the planet you live. According to the latest WHO statistics, over 1.3 million road users lose their life every 12 months, with a fatality every 22 seconds on average. Interestingly, the coronavirus epidemic has done nothing to stop the proportional fatality rate on the road, indicating that road safety problems are more deep seated than simply being related to the number of people on the road. As a result, the latest innovations in vehicle tech are being geared towards making all vehicles safer on the road.
Creating safety today
Much of the most exciting technology is tied up in the cars of the future. Self-driving and other automated modes of transportation will, by design, be extremely safety conscious, but what about vehicular travel today? What can be changed? According to UK-based newspaper The Daily Telegraph, much tech is being focused around augmenting the current drive to provide an immersive, safety-first experience. Digital helpers, HUD and advanced sensors can help to bring both new and used vehicles, especially those with inbuilt smart systems such as hybrid vehicles, into the new and digitized era of motoring. With the vast majority of people unable or unwilling to access a brand new vehicle, this will of crucial importance in making the roads as a whole safer for motorists today and in the future.
Addressing new concerns
Along with this technolog y addressing on-road concerns comes the very real issue of physical health safety within vehicles. Coronavirus has brought with it an entirely new range of considerations for tech companies, with the potential for frequent outbreaks or the rise of entirely new diseases an issue with potential to change long-term thinking. Already, ride-sharing firms like Uber have installed social distancing equipment in vehicles, and now a UK firm have developed technology to provide futuristic scrubbing to vehicles on every entrance and exit. Using an ozone mixture, it will effectively starve bacteria and viruses of their fuel and ensure every surface of a car is clean; while it currently needs to be used while the vehicle is empty, there are prospects for miniaturization.
All-in changes
Nvidia, more commonly associated with GPU and some CPU work, have recently waded into the automation battle with a new chipset that is promising to power cars of the future. Given their expertise in computation and processing technology, this isn’t a bad fit, though they haven’t had a role to play in the auto sector before. Their new architecture claims to be able to handle everything through to ‘Grade 5’ completely automated driving, with a focus on safety lending credibility to their efforts against an increasingly nervy auto industry that has seen the appetite for automation decrease in the face of costly trials. Whether this will be the foothold remains to be seen, but for some manufacturers, the future is clearly in ultra-safe, completely automated driving.
In-car gadgetry is taking on a health and safety edge. Keen to ensure that drivers are happy in their automated cars, manufacturers are making technology to keep the drive safer. In many ways, this is of benefit to drivers everywhere.
