The first element is adaptive cruise control, so the car “knows” what is ahead. The second is a lane departure warning system. This is available on the Citroën C4 and Citroën C5 and warns the driver if the car drifts across a white line on a motorway.

However, the 2006 Honda Accord, due out in February at an expected cost of £20,000, will take the system to another level. It uses a camera to scan the road ahead and determine where and by how much the road curves. It then instructs the electronic power steering to move accordingly.

The clever bit is that it does not provide all the steering effort required. It moves the car 80% of the required distance, but relies on the driver manually adding the other 20% — so the driver cannot simply ignore the road ahead.

In addition the system detects whether the driver’s hands are off the wheel and emits a warning beep (as it does even if the driver’s hands are just resting on the wheel). If the driver remains passive, the system shuts down. The system will be restricted to dual carriageways or motorways because it can only cope with gentle curves and needs two sets of white lines to get its bearings.

NIGHT VISION
This is already offered on the Mercedes S-class and newly available as a £1,385 option on BMW’s 7-series. It uses infrared thermal imaging to project an image onto the satellite navigation screen showing people, animals or crashed cars up to 300 yards away. That is roughly double the distance of headlights and, because it works on heat rather than light, it can “see” through fog.

DIRECTIONAL HEADLIGHTS
Not a new idea but now a commercially viable one. Citroën had swivelling headlights in the 1970s on the DS and SM models, but the system was expensive. Top-end cars such as the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Mercedes CLS 55 AMG have directional headlights as standard and they will trickle down to the mainstream over the next few years.

ELECTRONIC HANDBRAKES
Conventional handbrakes are being replaced by electronic buttons that release the brakes. They are already featured on the Renault Laguna, Scénic and Espace. All but the cheapest Renaults come with electronic key cards that allow you to unlock the car and drive without taking the key from your pocket.

SATELLITE NAVIGATION AND AUDIO
Functions are becoming increasingly integrated. Microsoft recently announced a deal with Fiat to supply complete systems for all Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia models that will use wireless technology. You will not have to plug in your MP3 player when you get into the car — it will connect automatically and play through the car stereo.

If you are worried about button overload (and the new Mercedes S-class has more than 100 buttons to play with), cars will soon have functions operated by voice command, though not the ones that could affect road safety.

SELF-PARKING
Citroën has shown a C3 that can park itself. It measures available spaces, finds a suitable one and operates the steering without human intervention. It could go into production within 12 months were Citroën to give the go-ahead. However, taking control from the driver presents huge legal issues should anything go wrong.

All this technology may seem less exciting than the promises of jet cars of the 1950s. But those creations were there to disguise the fact that US car engineering was virtually stagnant. Today we have lots of incremental improvements that are combining to create radical progress.

::NOBREAK::

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