Sunday, November 7, 2010

Good health effects from robocar driving

Ford offers parallel parking assist and obstacle avoidance. Does it reduce stress?

Ford, which uses the technology in many models, was curious to see how it helps drivers. It embarked on a nine-month research project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology New England University Transportation Center to find out. Together the brainiacs tested 42 Boston-area drivers equally distributed by age and sex. They got behind the wheel of a tricked out Lincoln MKS straight out of Knight Rider with a research assistant riding shotgun to record the data.
The study found the average heart rate of drivers dropped by 12 beats per minute while using Ford’s Active Park Assist technology when parallel parking. Drivers also reported lower levels of stress using the technology, which handles the steering while drivers work the brake and gas. When pulling into traffic, every driver using cross-traffic detection tech hit the brakes when appropriate, compared to 71 percent of drivers who weren’t using the tech.


This is the second report, well third if you count accident reduction, in wich e cars helped keep us healthy. Remember when we saw that electronic tolling kept the traffic moving and reduced low birth weight of surrounding families?

No comments: