it still won't stop you from running into that tree by the side of the road at 200km/h

Without the battle-scarred chrome grill and Jolly Roger insignia on the hood, it just doesn't strike that same chord.

Anyway, having lots of fly-by-wire gizmos and sensors is dandy, but it won't help you survive the shenanigans of other drivers out there, unless the car has magically cartoonish scissor lifts in the axles that make it pop up over any obstacle it faces. While it may look funny on the outside, you're getting severe whiplash and compressed spinal discs on the inside.

Death proof from crappy driver within: Maybe. Death proof from Jackknife: Who you kidding?

I bet I could crash it. Not to brag but I'm a pretty good driver and can make cars go almost anywhere I want them to.

All this super-tech is always dependent on people buying into the system. It's great in theory, but it still won't protect you from the high school female driver on a cell phone in her 1982 Toyota. The only way to actually safen up roads is to remove drivers, either virtually or actually.

Everyone knows prevent defense never works...

They apply the same idea as Microsoft for safe computing. On a busy road hazards warns will be on every ms, the driver is so overwhelmed that he or she forgot to step on the gas.

@agent0064life: Actually, they should call this the anti-prevent. It will stop fender-benders and the average wreck, but can't do anything to stop a drastic situation that would total your car.

You could "prevent" cars from crashing into each other by making all cars emit a powerful negative magnetic field. As you go faster the field gets stronger forcing cars to obey the two-second rule. If you happen to be in the middle of an intersection when a car runs the red light you may bounce all over the freakin place and die, but you WON'T hit another car.

But what would happen if the computer CRASHES?

Just model all cars after Deadblow.

If we'd would pay as much attention to driving as would be required by the gizmos, we'd would be better off.

@Simpsons-Movie-ruled: Ha!

Someday, I envision driving to be exactly like that in iRobot. Where the cars drive themselves and you'll have to switch them into manual mode...

This seems like the preliminary steps to that happening.

So if I sit inside this thing I become immortal?

Will it protect me from horrible Tarantino films?

Hell, why not just make the car drive itself? Take the human equation out, and your a lot closer to a crash-free environment.

I find this quite interesting. I love driving fast, and I participate in motorsport events quite often.

I only wonder..., with all these systems screaming and shouting at you (or even slowing or stopping for you), what will racing end up to be?

If you can turn these systems off, then it's pointless, since someone can easily forget that they turned it off, and then drive straight into a crash, expecting the system to warn them but it doesn't.

@ripfire4:

Then the world will be a much more boring place. Half the fun in a journey is the drive itself!

Seriously though, I don't think improving the safety of the car is going to help much. The source of the bad drivers comes from the DMV. I don't know if it's just me or their exams have becoming a lot more lenient than they used to. I remember when I tried to get my license, I was required to take a course. When I took the DMV exam, I had to go through a cone course (with parallel parking) before going to the road and freeway. Nowadays when my nephew took the exam, they just go a couple blocks down the street and that's it!

What the hell?

@dothackRAVE: "Then the world will be a much more boring place. Half the fun in a journey is the drive itself!"

Do you ever have to commute through a traffic jam everyday, morning and afternoon? You call that fun?

@ripfire4:

Oh wow, I've been living in this backwater town for so long I've forgotten about traffic jams! I used to live in Kuala Lumpur..., traffic jam central.

Now I'm in Indiana. All we have is corn and long empty roads.

Most of time I'm just out there cruising and playing with twisty roads.

It's better than safe.

what if it gets hacked?

The new Acuras have a feature that will brake for you if it senses something comming in front real fast like. So this is pretty lame as its not that much more than what is already out.
I suppose the vehicle trajectory thing would be useful......... for people with 1 eye and/or no depth perception.

@aseriesoftubes:
may you rot in hell good sir

A death-proof car? Darwincat is not amused.

It'll go well with the world's first "unsinkable" ship oh so many years ago.

Accepting that Volvo drivers are crap because they think they are safe in their tanks, how bad would the drivers of these things be?

Lets get rid of all modern crash protection features, reduce the weight and size of cars, improve fuel efficiency and let Darwin's principles rule the road!

@deadatbirth:

aseriesoftubes lives in a hell all his/her own and its called (DOES NOT GET IT) all they do is watch reality tv or Mystery Theatre.

the best thing to do is not give eye contact and walk away.

as for the car until the system drives for you, there will always be accidents

In the event this project runs on Windows Vista, well might as well not even try...give up now.

Let's see there's warning/notification time, human processing time (wtf is going on?), and reaction time.

Even with a "fool/death proof" alert system, you can't cut down on reaction time. Plus, a driver has to be familiar with how the alert works and know its limitations. Who knows, by the time the alert has finished alerting, a driver could be dead.

Color me skeptical. Drilling defensive driving tactics would be better time spent. Otherwise, its just a market gimmick to sell tech features on a "premium" vehicle.

As per the comment on Volvo drivers, this is a classic example of learned helplessness. Drivers could over-passively allow the vehicle's safety features to dictate the outcome of an incident, even though they could intervene at any moment and rescue themselves.

I wonder if even though Volvo has a "perceived" reputation for safety, what happens when insurance companies cross-reference the accident history or safety habits of Volvo drivers before they've driven a Volvo.

Instead of coming up with technology that will help us drive better, why don't they just put all the money into technology so I don't HAVE to drive at all! Just make automated vehicles a thing of the present already! I'd love to interact w/ my children on trips to Grandpa's house instead of trying to focus on the road and getting irritated because we're not paying attention to them. Make self-driving an option.

if it uses Asimov's three laws of robotics the car may never leave the driveway.

What I want on my car right now is a RUBBER bumper. Even just a thin layer of rubber would prevent scratches and dints from minor fender-benders, which can cost anywhere from 200-2000$.

None of those warnings will help if you're texting with one hand and changing the radio station with the other. They need to make an idiot-proof car before they make a death-proof one.