How smart is your car?

Imagine this: Your car has a computer system that not only knows your destination but automatically maintains a steady, gas-conserving pace that's perfectly timed with the moment you reach an intersection 48 km away, just when the light turns green.

Or, better yet, the car also has a comprehensive collision-avoidance system that detects and averts a crash even before you're aware of the impending danger, ensuring that you make it to that intersection.

This may all sound like fantasy technology, but they're just the types of ideas that participants at the 15th Annual World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems will discuss when they meet next week (Nov. 16-20) in New York. While collision-mitigation systems and "greenwave" traffic-monitoring technology are still being explored and tested, there are other cutting-edge technologies and conveniences available today that make cars smarter than ever many of them introduced at conferences such as ITS.

http://www.forbes.com" target="_blank">
[/CUSTOM]

• In Depth: How Smart Is Your Car?
• In Pictures: Car Recalls You Shouldn't Ignore
• In Pictures: Dirtiest Cars On America's Roads
• In Pictures: Cleanest Cars On America's Roads
• In Depth: World's Cheapest Cars

Toyota, for its part, is presenting findings on various systems it is developing, including a brake system that alerts the driver about an upcoming intersection with a stop sign. If the driver ignores the stop sign, the system kicks in and applies brake pressure to avert an accident. At ITS, auto industry figures "learn what new safety technology is on the horizon," says Brian R. Lyons, safety and quality communications manager at Toyota Motor Sales.

Some technology is relatively simple in terms of the convenience or experience it provides but can wind up having a much more positive effect. An example of this is integrated support for portable devices, which allows drivers to connect, say, an iPod to the car's audio system and operate it through the car's controls. Sure, a feature such as this provides a better listening experience, but the real benefit is that drivers spend less time fumbling with the iPod and more time focusing on the road.

ISuppli, a California-based electronic industry analysis firm, forecasts that in 2009 more than half of all passenger cars will offer optional iPod support (it was just barely one-third in 2008). In addition, one-third of all 2009 vehicles (only 16 per centin 2008) will offer USB interfaces for connections with portable devices like other types of MP3 players and flash drives.

Green Advantage

Smart cars also help motorists become environmentally friendly drivers.

Hybrid owners who want to push their fuel economy even further can do so through the EcoGuide coach from Ford,an in-car tutor that provides information on how efficiently the car is being driven. Leaves are displayed on the right LCD screen to indicate driver efficiency. The leaves drop off when driving is inefficient (braking suddenly instead of slowing gradually, for example), and they grow when driving is most efficient (maintaining a steady rate of speed).

Similarly, Nissan'sEco Pedal is slated for a 2011 appearance. It is designed to help drivers become more fuel-efficient no matter what make or model of car they're driving. When the Eco Pedal system is on, each time the driver steps on the accelerator, a counter push-back control mechanism is activated if the system detects excess pressure, helping to inform the driver that he may be using more pressure than is needed.

Who's in Control?

Perhaps what's most intriguing among new smart technologies are those designed to save lives. And the smarter these systems get, the more they raise the question as to who is actually in control of the vehicle, the car or the driver.

In the 2008 model year, Toyota's Lexus division became the first of all automakers in the U.S. to introduce a driver-monitoring system that, through a camera mounted on the steering column, follows the position of the driver's head to determine if he has identified a hazard ahead (vehicle or pedestrian) or is looking in a different direction. If it's the latter, an audio alarm sounds to warn the driver, and, as the car gets closer to the obstacle, the system will begin to apply the brakes on its own.

So far, the system is only on the LS 600 hybrid sedan ($105,885 US), and Lexus has not said when or if the technology will become available on other models.

Some automakers even want to take this type of system a step further. In the case of a technology called distance-control assist (available on the 2009 Infiniti FX), a distracted or drowsy driver who is approaching another vehicle or pedestrian but isn't slowing down will see a warning symbol flash on the instrument panel, hear an audio alarm and feel the accelerator pedal move up against his or her foot. If the throttle is not being applied, then the distance-control assist will gently apply the brakes to encourage deceleration.

The Power of Simplicity

And then there are the types of systems that are more complicated, yet provide simple warnings that make a driver wonder how he ever hit the road without it.

'We should not confuse artificial intelligence with smart features.' Mike Marshall, J.D. Power and Associates

Blind-spot monitoring is one of those. In this radar-based system, the car detects when another vehicle is in the driver's blind spot. All that happens is an icon illuminates on the side-view mirror, for as long as the other car is in that zone. If the other car leaves the blind spot, the light turns off. The system is available on 2009 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, as well as 2009 Chrysler minivans.

Building on that is a rear cross-traffic system (available on the same models above), which helps drivers confidently back out of a parking space even when there is traffic approaching from both sides.

Helpful as all these technologies may be, auto experts caution that there is no substitute for a driver with good driving habits no matter how smart cars are now, or may become in the future.

"The IQ of a car is matched to the IQ of the driver," says Mike Marshall, director of automotive emerging technologies at J.D. Power and Associates. "We should not confuse artificial intelligence with smart features."