Ford is launching a new electronic driver safety aid, which basically marries up lane-keeping steering with a blind-spot monitor. The new Blind Spot Assist system will be rolled out first on the new Kuga SUV.
Steering stops you pulling out
What does it do? Well, essentially it adds a function to the blind-spot monitor that warns you, and even actively tugs at the steering, if you're about to pull out and collide with a car hovering in your blind-spot when you're driving on a dual carriageway or motorway.
"Many drivers will at some point have been caught by surprise when another vehicle seemingly 'appears out of nowhere'," said Glen Goold, Kuga chief programme engineer. "Lane-Keeping System with Blind Spot Assist is like having an extra pair of eyes in the back of your head, helping prevent just a second's lapse in judgement from escalating into something more serious."
Works at up to 200km/h
The Kuga's Blind Spot Assist radar sensors scan parallel lanes for vehicles up to 28 metres behind, 20 times per second, while driving at speeds from 65km/h to 200km/h. An intervention can be automatically activated if the control system senses a lane-change by monitoring road markings using the forward-facing camera, and the technology calculates that the two vehicles are on a collision course. Lane-Keeping System with Blind Spot Assist can intervene to help prevent collisions with vehicles approaching with a closing speed of up to approximately 29km/h.
Crossing junction assistance
The Kuga will also get another new safety system called Intersection Assist technology. This uses the vehicle's forward-facing camera, combined with radar, and can automatically apply the brakes when travelling at up to 29km/h to help prevent, or at least to mitigate, the effects of accidents where a driver is turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle, such as commonly encountered at crossroads or mini-roundabouts.
According to Ford, one study found that more than one in ten severe accidents at junctions in Europe involved cars colliding with other cars, vans buses or trucks at crossroads. Ford says that this system can also intervene in carparks, worksites or other locations without clear markings or traffic priorities.