Gabi Breuel of DaimlerChrysler describes some experimental safety features

Ten years ago, in one of the first stories Alan reported for Frontiers, he sat behind the wheel of a van while the van — full of computers — drove itself along a German autobahn. In this episode, Alan returns to Germany to find out what happened to the research program originally intended to develop cars that would drive themselves. He finds the goal changed; DaimlerChrysler engineers now working on technology that will help the human driver by alerting him or her to potentially dangerous situations.

Equipped with stereo cameras, the research cars are now able to recognize hazards that the driver may have overlooked — like bouncing balls or wayward pedestrians. Alan himself drives in a car that is able to recognize stop signs and warns the driver — by briefly braking — that the driver has failed to slow in time. He also rides in a car that is able to spot traffic lights, and by swiveling its cameras is able to check that they are still green even as the car is almost upon them.