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The
image on the top shows how conventional headlights illuminate
what's in front of the car. Adaptive forward lighting shows
the driver more of her surroundings when turning.
Courtesy: General Motors.
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We
make our way off the highway. On the surface roads it seems much
darker, and I flip on the LED headlights. The adaptive
forward lighting system is quite helpful on these winding roads.
Yes, I know that light doesn't bend, but it almost seems like it
as the beams move their pattern in conjunction with the direction
of the vehicle.
Finally
we have arrived at my husband's office. He offers to take the wheel,
but I turn him down. Driving just isn't as stressful now that cars
do so much of the thinking for you, so I don't feel as wiped out
as I might have back then. "And don't forget," I remind him, "The
seat is calibrated for me." The car company designed my driver's
seat specifications just for my dimensions — measuring my seated
height, my hip width, the distance from my knee to the pedal, my
arm length, and so on — so that it really is a custom fit.
Even the stiffness matches my personal preference.
We're
on the home stretch now of our commute. I flip on the infrared-laser
night vision to improve my visibility on our unlit country road.
The laser headlights are invisible to my eyes, but a video image
of what's reflected back shows up on the windshield display, right
in front of my field of vision. Oftentimes the system picks up raccoons
crossing the street or other night dwellers I might otherwise miss
— but tonight the coast is clear.
I swing
into our driveway. Everyone unclasps seatbelts, grabs bags, climbs
out. All the doors slam and I press the remote locks. As we all
walk up the dark sidewalk to the house, the car emits a warning
beep. We left the baby in the car! Of course we would have noticed
in another moment, but I am ashamed to tell you how many times the
Interior Occupant Sensing System has gone off. The low-energy
radar senses the combination of motion and rising temperature inside
the locked car, and alerts the surroundings that there's a child
or pet in the vehicle. I hurry back down the walk and extract the
baby from her car seat.
Another
successful family commute — we all made it home in one piece,
with no small help from the car itself. Honestly sometimes I think
our car is smarter than we are!
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