Skip to main content

Drivers want semi-autonomous safety features

Blind spot detection and rear-view cameras with park assist were the two features that tied for consumers' most-wanted car safety technology in a recent Edmunds.com survey. Edmunds polled more than 2,000 active site visitors to explore the vehicle safety technologies that most appealed to them for their next car purchase. “The most wanted features, like the blind spot detection, act more like co-pilots for your car,” said Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury, “providing drivers with 360 degrees of informati
November 7, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Blind spot detection and rear-view cameras with park assist were the two features that tied for consumers' most-wanted car safety technology in a recent 6843 Edmunds.com survey. Edmunds polled more than 2,000 active site visitors to explore the vehicle safety technologies that most appealed to them for their next car purchase.

“The most wanted features, like the blind spot detection, act more like co-pilots for your car,” said Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury, “providing drivers with 360 degrees of information they wouldn't otherwise have.”

In the survey, 89 per cent of people said they wanted their next car to have rear-view cameras with park assist, which is another term for rear back-up sensors. Among those respondents, 61 per cent were willing to pay US$100 to US$500 for the camera and sensors.

Those unwilling to pay for back-up camera technology now only have to wait a couple years. By law, rear-view monitoring technology will be standard on all vehicles by the 2018 model year.

“Safety technology has evolved from features that mitigate the severity of an accident to features that can prevent an accident, bringing us closer to fully autonomous driving,” Drury said.

Blind spot detection tied for the most-wanted feature: 89 per cent want it and 56 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to pay US$100 to US$500 for it.

Automatic high beams were the least-valued technology, with 65 per cent of respondents expressing interest in the technology, but not a willingness to pay extra for it.

Adaptive headlights were a popular feature, with 80 per cent of respondents wanting the technology on their next vehicle, but 95 per cent of them unwilling to pay more than US$500 for it.

Front crash prevention technology, which includes forward collision warning and autonomous braking systems, took third place among the most wanted features in the survey, with 79 per cent of people wanting it in their next vehicle. Among those who wanted front crash prevention, 55 per cent were willing to pay up to US$500 and an additional 16 per cent would pay up to US$1,000.

“Consumers told us they both wanted and were willing to pay for front crash prevention, which leads us to believe that drivers are receptive to some self-driving elements of the latest safety technologies,” said Drury.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • France targets speeding drivers
    February 28, 2013
    The first of three hundred cars carrying speed camera systems are due to start operations on France’s roads on 15 March in around twenty regions. Installed in an ordinary-looking Renault Megane is a new-generation speed camera built into the dashboard with a vehicle detector radar behind the licence plate. Each is capable of detecting speeding vehicles and photographing them, without flash, while on the move at motorway speeds. Although unmarked cars are used, the officers driving them will still be in uni
  • NHTSA opens investigation into fatal Tesla crash
    July 1, 2016
    The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla autonomous car in Florida. According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, the 40-year-old driver was killed when his 2015 Model S drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel truck. In a blog post on the crash, which happened in early May, Tesla said “the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to t
  • US DOTs introduce measures to stop wrong-way driving
    March 28, 2018
    Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a remarkably innocuous term for incidents that all too often cause some of the worst accidents that emergency services have to deal with. Several US states are now taking steps to minimise the problem, as Alan Dron finds out. You’re driving down a highway at night when you see approaching headlights. You initially assume they are merely those of an oncoming car on the opposite carriageway. It’s only when they are within 200 yards or so that you realise that the other driver is in
  • Driver error cited in 117,000+ road accident casualties
    October 12, 2015
    Analysis by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has found that human factors continue to significantly outweigh other reasons for crashes on British roads, and have called again for drivers to look on improving driving skills as part of their lifelong personal development. The figures from the Department of Transport show that in 2014 driver/rider error or reaction were cited as contributory factors in 74 per cent of accidents, involving more than 117,000 casualties. Some 20,830 of these were in Lo