Apr 22nd, 2008 by Liz Opsitnik
Prevent, a European company, is trying to build the first “uncrashable” car. Even if someone is the safest driver ever, how can a car be “uncrashable”, considering all the bad drivers out there? Prevent is trying to manufacture the car to be as deathproof as physics will let it. Their goal is to use “an integrated computer system that can warn drivers about road hazards, upcoming rough terrain, watch the car’s blind spots, and analyze not only the car’s speed and distance from other cars, but also monitor the speed and trajectories of other vehicles”.
A few of these high-tech safety options are already being used by drivers, such as the blind spot detector. But the other safety features they are trying to implement could be seen in as early as five to 10 years. With a budget of more than $50 million, Prevent has started the largest research initiative into road safety ever undertaken in Europe. I’m curious to see how the “uncrashable car” will affect auto insurance rates in the future.