Imagine a world without Whiplash – well for starters, we’d all
be out of a job! But there’d also be a whole lot less pain
suffered and hospitals could save millions of pounds each year.
The truth is, a world without whiplash injury claims is actually
a lot closer than you think, due indirectly to the potential for
self driving cars. Research is being done in the US to further
develop autonomous braking technology, which uses radar
positioned in the bumpers to sense when other vehicles or
obstacles get too close and applies the brakes. Work is also
being carried out on the development of ‘lane-keeping support’
which applies a correcting force through the steering if the
driver drifts out of their lane. The autonomous braking
technology has already been in use on high-end vehicles for some
years and has recently made it into more reasonably priced
family vehicles. Manufacturers of the system are working on
developing adaptive cruise control and intelligent speed
adaptation, which can prevent a driver exceeding