Today, the car is an integral part of our lives. It serves as a means of moving and can also be used for business needs. Even on a journey where it’s impossible to drive your own car, people benefit from 14CARS.COM to rent a 4-wheeled vehicle.
Equipment of modern cars is becoming more technological and rich. Various electronic systems of active protection and intelligent assistants are designed to protect the driver and passengers, as well as to help in various situations – and not only on the road but also in the parking lot.
Time goes faster and faster, and now the autopilot is not a fantasy, but a very real option of some cars. We tried to choose not the most perfect, but the most useful and accessible electronic assistants, which make a life of the ordinary driver easier…
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Active Cruise Control
This technology is no longer innovative, but most drivers still haven’t used this system at least once. The thing is that it’s installed mainly on the model of the premium segment and allows the driver to independently maintain a certain speed on the highway.
You simply choose how fast you want to drive and activate the cruise control by pressing a special button. Then, with the help of the built-in radar, the car will see the road ahead of itself and will slow down if any road obstacle appears. For example, such systems are used by Mercedes-Benz or Volvo, and they completely free the driver’s feet from boring pedals. Unfortunately, this system is not yet adapted to work correctly on most cars.
Downhill Assist Control
This is another type of cruise control, which also allows you to forget about the pedals and takes on the smooth movement of the car on a steep slope. This system is particularly relevant for off-road vehicles, whose owners may not have the necessary skills to keep a heavy car on slippery surfaces or when driving uphill.
When approaching to the descent, the driver also activates the assistant with a button and simply removes the legs from the pedals. Then the system itself with the help of brakes, low gears of the automatic transmission and anti-slip systems maintains the safe speed of the car within 5-15 km/h. Thus, the risk of skidding and rash actions from fear, including a possible coup of a car, is completely eliminated. Similar systems provided by BMW, Land Rover and Nissan are also available to help when driving up the hill.
HUD Display
You don’t even need to talk about the usefulness of this gadget – this system allows the driver to always keep his eyes on the road. You won’t be distracted by the navigator, radio or dashboard – all this data is literally before the driver’s eyes. In most of the premium cars from BMW, Mercedes, and Audi, projection displays are already installed.
All the necessary parameters including the engine speed and prompts about the highway exit are projected directly onto the windshield. In this case, the image doesn’t interfere to see the road – the driver can focus the eyes through it. This technology turned out to be so convenient that many companies have already released kits for installing a projection display in almost any car. This can be done even with your own smartphone and a special application!
Cylinder deactivation system
The first to come up with this technology were American manufacturers who produce cars with powerful engines. In most situations, in particular, for driving around the city, you absolutely don’t need a huge V8 power unit – it will simply work at half strength.
In order not to burn excess fuel, the system can turn off half of the cylinders, without putting petrol in it, but simply pumping air through them. Thus, your gluttonous Chevrolet Tahoe with 6.0-liter V8 will turn into a compact car with a very economical 4-cylinder engine. However, the system will work only with a very quiet ride and low engine speeds – if the driver presses the pedal a little sharper, the power unit will come to life with all its cylinders again.
Automatic parking system
The first experiments with this system started about 10 years ago by Volkswagen AG Company. Since then, similar electronics have been installed into many Toyota, Opel, Ford and Kia models. The fact is that the system with the help of radars built into the car body can estimate the place needed for parking your car.
It can be both an entering a garage and parallel parking – this is exactly the most difficult part of the driving process. Thanks to the use of electronic gas pedals and brakes, as well as an electric motor built into the steering wheel, the driver only needs to select the place he likes and press the autopilot button. Then the car itself will steer and press the gas and brake – you should only switch the transmission in Drive mode
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