It is a recognised fact in the motor industry that most drivers are incompetent. Car design is focused on making life easier, so we can sell more cars to muppets.
In recent years we have seen ESP (electronic stability program) become common place; put crudely this system detects under or over steer and corrects it by applying the brakes on one side of the car. A bit like steering a tank.
Well, crap drivers still managed to crash, so the next ‘improvement’ is in the steering system. Audi have released ‘dynamic steering’ on the A4 and A5. This uses an aircraft servo system to replace the power steering valve block. The motor controlled gear system connects the steering wheel to the rack, giving a variable ratio; slow and stable on the motorway and quick and nimble for parking. There is no slack in the system, so the traditional vagueness of power steering systems has gone and it feels like a manual rack.
But the system can also move the steering itself, so when over steer is detected it will automatically correct it without the driver knowing anything about it.
However, this is just a stepping stone for the technology; intelligent cruise control linked to active steering would allow the car drive itself, avoiding driver error completely. Linked into the sat nav it would effectively be like having a chauffeur built in. But this needs a change in law, currently the driver has to be in control of the vehicle.
An international group looking at the future of road transport has found that fully automated car systems would save a huge amount of fuel, cut journey times and save thousands of lives.
How long before only robots are allowed to drive?