In-vehicle safety technologies – picking future winners!

In recent years, there has been an explosion of new technologies for incorporation within vehicles that are currently on the market or under development by suppliers to the automotive industry. A number of these technologies are aimed at improving safety either by reducing the risk of a crash occurring or by improving the protection offered by a vehicle in the event of a crash. But which technologies are worth backing? Which provide a strong business case to government and to the industry itself for active development, incorporation and marketing to the Australian consumer? This paper describes an analysis conducted on behalf of the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in which a range of current and emerging in-vehicle safety technologies are assessed in accordance with a set of criteria including safety impact, cost, level of community acceptability, need for legislative or infrastructure support and the model for market penetration. Key technologies will be highlighted that score highly across these criteria as a basis for agreeing a core of technologies for subsequent support and promotion