nicomachus.net

This summer, I had the chance to ride in a new BMW 7 series which was spec’d out with the latest high-tech interior. It had everything — from an incredibly rich sound system (refuting the old adage that a car stereo is an oxymoron) to a Bluetooth system that syncs a cell phone with the car’s audio system. The driver can place and answer calls through buttons on the steering wheel (or even through voice commands), carry on a conversation by speaking at a natural volume and looking straight ahead (the microphone is near the visor), all while leaving the phone in his or her pocket.

Cars like this one now have programmable seat positions and memorized ambient temperature settings, based on drivers’ preferences. Airbags, in the event of an emergency, deploy from the front and sides, enclosing the driver and passenger (in the front seat, anyway) in pillowy, life-saving envelopes. There are even prototypes of optical scans that can detect sleepy eyes.

Presumably, all of these high-tech interior features make the driver (and passengers) more comfortable and therefore more safe. That is, if you can afford to be inside one of these cars, you enjoy the benefits of these new safety devices.

But, as car manufacturers make unbelievable strides to increase safety for the people inside the car, what are they doing to increase safety for people outside the car?

Arguably, monitoring sleepiness and freeing drivers’ hands from cell phones help prevent crashes. Preventing crashes, no doubt, keeps safer those of us who are outside these entertainment-centers-on-four-wheels. Given the cost of a BMW 7 series sedan, however, I don’t see its technology-rich interior making a dent in crash statistics. Not enough people will be driving them. Sure, as the technology becomes cheaper to produce (and reproduce), it will become more widely available. That’s what happened with airbags. Although airbags were slow to catch on (they were invented in the 40s), in 1994 Ford made airbags standard features in their entire line of automobiles. But, how long will we have to wait for optical scanning devices to saturate the market?

For the sake of argument, let’s say that all of BMW’s or Lexus’ techno-rich interior features could trickle down to the common auto by the following year. It is still the case that the safety of the driver and other interior passengers is the auto manufacturer’s primary aim. Any improvements to safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers of other automobiles is purely a secondary benefit.

So, there is a technological arms race, it seems, to make cars more safe (or at least, more comfortable and that often means more safe) for their owners.

But while cars may be becoming safer for occupants, how could they become safer for the people outside the cars? What could auto manufacturers do (besides sell fewer cars) to enhance the safety of the people outside those cars? Bose, Bluetooth, and Blue Ray may each have a place in a BMW. But what could BMW do to make their cars safer for cyclists?

I’m open to ideas.