Driver Assistance

We've already seen systems that detect driver fatigue via steering wheel movements, but engineering firm Hoffman and Krippner has developed what its designers believe is a better alternative – a fatigue-sensing steering wheel add-on that tracks the driver's grip.

Ford is debuting a new split-view camera mounted on the front and rear bumpers that gives drivers a 180-degree view from the bits of the car that poke into traffic first, effectively giving you the ability to see around corners.

We keep hearing about systems designed to let drivers know when they've made mistakes. Brain4Cars, however, takes yet another approach. It monitors drivers to determine when they're about to do something wrong, so it can warn them not to.

While there certainly are drivers who knowingly exceed the speed limit, many others aren't even aware that they're doing so. Given that using cruise control isn't all that practical when driving around town, Ford has instead introduced the Intelligent Speed Limiter.

While you may or may not be a fan of GM vehicles, the automaker's OnStar service certainly looks like it could be useful at times. Well, consumers with other makes of cars should soon be able to take advantage of a similar setup, when the just-announced Verizon Vehicle system launches.

The emergence of adaptive cruise control in cars has certainly been a welcome development, and now Honda is promising to take things a step further. It says its Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (i-ACC) can of predict the chances of a car cutting into your lane up to five seconds before it occurs.

As technology in cars becomes increasingly complex, the need for making it simple to use becomes more pressing. This is the principle on which Volkswagen has based its Golf R Touch concept car. The vehicle's infotainment system is controlled by driver gestures and three large touchscreen interfaces.

Mechanic Advisors’ new product is designed to make the appearance of the dreaded check engine light that little bit less disheartening, by giving car owners a portal into the health of their vehicle.

Volvo's project 360° is developing technology the Swedish automaker says has the potential to eliminate deaths and injuries by a Volvo car or truck by 2020. The system acts as a virtual co-driver, using a suite of sensors to provide comprehensive 360° coverage of the immediate area around the car.

Early this year, the US Department of Transportation’s (DoT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it would begin steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology, in a bid to prevent accidents. Now, the NHTSA has come one step closer to making V2V a reality.

It seems like hardly a week goes by without our hearing about another automated safety feature for cars. Now, in order to help foster the development of more such concepts, a new Swedish test-track facility has begun operations.

General Motors has announced that the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette will get a new Valet Mode for its Performance Data Recorder, which will allow owners to disable the infotainment system, lock any interior storage and record vehicle data – giving drivers peace of mind when their car is with a valet.