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WHEN DRIVERS ARE PASSENGERS

Before long, your car could be driving you. Paul Markillie gets a foretaste ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Summer 2009

In an emergency we react instinctively. So it is hard not to slam on the brakes of a big and expensive Mercedes-Benz when the stop lights on the big and expensive Mercedes-Benz I am following suddenly glare alarmingly red and loom closer. But I have no intention of even touching the brake pedal. Instead, I grip the steering wheel in nervous anticipation and hope that the radar is working.

It is. Quickly the car comes to a halt a safe distance from the one in front. This is spooky; the car knew what to do and I did nothing. Then we try it again, but this time the preceding car keeps to one side, as if in an adjacent motorway lane, before suddenly swerving in front of me. Again, it is devilishly hard not to hit the brakes. But the Merc’s computer has got there before me and is automatically slowing the car to avoid colliding with the idiot in front.

Even if I had stabbed at the brakes the car would have ensured I did so hard enough to avoid the vehicle in front. It would also prevent the wheels from locking up in a skid and keep the vehicle stable. To prove this I drive as fast as I can into a skid pan being sprayed with water, lift my hands from the steering wheel and brake violently. The seat-belts quickly tighten and the seat-cushions pump up to hold me firm, just like a jet-fighter does in a high-g turn. There is a judder from the traction control, but amazingly the car stops in a perfectly straight line.

This is not the sort of thing to try on the open road. I did so accompanied by experts on the test track at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey. You cannot yet buy a production car that is capable of driving itself, but as cars get smarter and bossier the elements that will make this possible are coming together. For now, at least, a vehicle like the Mercedes-Benz S320 CDI is probably the closest thing to it. It costs around £60,000 and will need to be equipped with some optional extras, the most interesting of which (at £1,443) is called Distronic Plus.

Many cars now have ultrasonic sensors, which help parking by bleeping alarmingly if you get too close to an obstacle. Some also use radar sensors which can “see” much farther. The S320 uses radar to measure the distance to the vehicle in front and, if the closing speed is worrying, it at first warns the driver, helps him brake at the optimal level or, if there is no response from the driver, applies the brakes automatically. Distronic Plus uses the radar and braking system for a sort of intelligent cruise-control. The driver can set the system to remain not just at a certain speed but also at a certain distance from the car ahead. So, apart from the bother of steering, the S320 will just about drive itself along a fairly busy motorway.

The same sensors on the S320 can also measure the size of a parking place and combine that information with the view from a camera mounted in the boot that is activated when reverse gear is selected. By super-imposing a series of coloured lines on the picture, it shows the driver how best to steer into the space.

Some cars will even turn the steering wheel for you. One of these is the Skoda Superb. It may not be as flash as a Merc, but when the £345 option of Park Assist is added to a Superb Elegance (priced from £21,105) you can fold your arms as the car parks itself. All you need to do is accelerate and brake when instructed to do so. Companies are working on versions that will brake and accelerate too. And BMW has an experimental 7 Series that automatically parks itself in your garage when you get out and press a button on the key fob. Press the button again and the car starts up and reverses out.   

What makes such automation possible, and for relatively modest additional cost, is the fact that cars are becoming more electronics-based. So linking all the bits up may require only a handful of extra parts and some control software. Steering, for instance, is often electrically assisted, which makes it easier for computers to operate when parking. Forward-facing cameras that warn you if you stray from a motorway lane are being taught to read speed-limit signs too, and could slow the car down if it is exceeding them.

At present these systems are designed to provide assistance but leave the driver ultimately in charge. Yet the cleverer they get, the less clear that distinction will become. It is already possible to wire up a car so that it will drive itself. That was demonstrated in the Urban Challenge held in 2007 in a mocked-up town in California that is used for military training. Teams competed with robotised vehicles capable of coping with traffic, crossing junctions and parking. The event was sponsored by America’s defence department, which hopes to send unmanned convoys through war zones.

Similar technologies will make the cars we buy increasingly autonomous. It is hard to argue against this if it makes driving safer. But I have a niggling worry that it could make some drivers lazy and less attentive. If your car can park itself, why bother becoming familiar with its dimensions and learning how to manoeuvre it correctly? Why bother braking when the car will do it for you? These are questions the car industry, insurance companies and motoring organisations will have to face. Accidents will happen, and inevitably it will lead to more drivers blaming the car itself.

Soon after playing with the clever Mercs, I am behind the wheel of a 40-year-old Triumph Spitfire. You have to put up with rattles, noise and a bone-jarring ride while thinking as far ahead as possible about  braking and how to position the car to ensure you get around fast corners. By demanding your attention the Spitfire makes you concentrate on the road and respect the limits of its handling. If it had automated systems taking care of these things it would be more relaxing to drive. But I don’t think it would make you a better driver.
 

AUTO-MATED

Volvo XC70 D5  from £29,675. Adaptive cruise control, collision warning and auto brake: £1,300 extra.

Skoda Superb Elegancee  from £21,105. Park assist to locate and steer into parking places: £345 extra.

BMW 730d  from £53,730. Night vision with pedestrian recognition, £1,470 extra.

Jaguar XF 3.0  from £34,634. Adaptive cruise control and emergency brake assist £974 extra.

Lexus LS 600h  from £79,730. Monitoring system to warn driver if looking away when hazards lie ahead: standard fitting.

Picture Credit, top: Delcio G.P. Filho (via Flickr)

(Paul Markillie is innovations editor of The Economist. In past columns he has written about renting the car of your dreams and buying a car at auction.)