2010 Best New Technology

PETER BLEAKNEY FOR THE TORONTO STAR

2010 Volvo XC60 3.2

Jim Kenzie

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

In the Best New Technology category at the Car of the Year Testfest event organized by the Automobile Journalists' Assocation of Canada, here is how I would order the innovation entries:

Volvo XC60 "City Safety"

(Five points)

This system employs a laser beam scanner at the front of the car that determines if a collision with another vehicle is unavoidable, and applies the brakes up to 50 per cent of full braking power to avoid or at least mitigate the collision.

A live, in-car demonstration is really required to get a sense of how violent a stop of this nature is, and how close the car actually comes to turning a near hit into a near miss.

There are quite a few conditions that must be met for the system to function. The XC60's speed must be below 30 km/h and the driver must take no action, such as steering or braking. The objective is not to drive the car on behalf of the driver, but to avoid collisions caused by near-total driver distraction. If he or she takes some sort of avoidance action (braking or steering), the system defers to the driver.

A laser reacts more quickly than radar, but is also more affected by fog, rain or snow.

These caveats caused some of the jury to downgrade this concept. But Volvo pointed out that about 70 per cent of all collisions occur at speeds below 30 km/h – mostly fender-benders. And have you priced a fender recently?

And in 50 per cent of those collisions, the driver takes no action whatsoever.

Audi Drive Select

(Four points)

Any car is a compromise among a wide array of attributes. Do you want a soft ride, or sharp handling? Smooth shifts, or fast, performance-oriented shifts?

Drive Select provides the driver with the opportunity to adjust some of these compromises by modifying the behaviour of up to six different mechanical systems at the touch of a single button.

Engine throttle response, transmission shift speed and quality, steering assist level, steering ratio, damper settings and the reaction of the rear-axle differential can each be adjusted to one of a variety of settings, grouped under the headings Comfort, Automatic or Dynamic.

Or the driver can select his own combination of parameters and store it for future reference.

It allows the car to be a comfortable cruiser one day, an apex-strafing sports car the next.

Ain't computers wonderful?

Mercedes-Benz Attention

Assist (Three points)

Several carmakers have tried for years, decades even, to come up with a solution to the drowsy driver.

(Having a rubber hand pop out of the airbag module in the steering-wheel hub and give the driver a smack upside the head has yet to be perfected.)

Mercedes-Benz's answer: Attention Assist.

Whether it will actually help, I'm not sure, but the science and engineering behind the idea is intriguing.

Essentially, the car monitors your driving behaviour, largely the inputs you make to the steering wheel. It takes the first 20 minutes of your trip to "learn" what is natural and normal for you. If it subsequently determines via algorithms (which must be extremely complicated) that your driving behaviour is indicating the onset of sleep (or the dreaded "microsleeps"), audible and visual warnings are deployed. (The icon on the instrument panel is a steaming cup of coffee.)

I have tried a couple of times to trick the system into thinking I was tired, but to no avail. As a result I can't tell for sure that it would work.

I'll take Mercedes-Benz's word on it – and be impressed with the concept and execution anyway.

Lexus RX 450h Remote Touch

(Two points)

One of the problems with the iDrive-style systems pioneered by BMW is how difficult it is to move the cursor around to select the desired choice.

Despite the capability of voice-activated functions, it appears that many, if not most, customers would rather work a physical control.

The Lexus RX 450h introduces a new mouse-like device on the centre console that acts like a computer mouse. A palm-shaped joystick-like controller allows you to guide the cursor around the screen until it reaches the desired choice. So-called "haptic" technology senses that the cursor is approaching a valid option, and "draws" the cursor to that spot. Think of it as a ball bearing rolling across a steel plate; when it reaches a detent it rolls in and stays put unless forced out.

Drivers can adjust the degree of, er, "hapticity" that suits their preferences.

Ford MyKey

(One point)

Well, it isn't so much "my" key as it is "my kid's key.''. Assuming you're going to let your kids (or anyone for that matter) drive your new Ford, you may be concerned about how careful they might be behind the wheel.

This system enables you to select certain attributes and program them into a specific ignition key so they come into effect only when that key is present.

You can set up a control to limit speed to 130 km/h, or sound an alarm if speed exceeds your choice of 75, 90 or 105 km/h, depending on the destination.

Radio volume can be limited to 44 per cent of maximum. If the seatbelts aren't properly fastened, a Beltminder chime can be programmed to operate continuously and – this really hits the kids where they live – the audio system is muted altogether.

``No tunes??!! Call 911!''

The low-fuel light will come on at 120 km to empty instead of 80, and Electronic Stability Control and similar safety systems cannot be overridden.

Seems like an abdication of parental responsibility to me.

Toyota Prius Touch Tracer

(Zero points)

On the new Prius, two steering wheel spoke controls are circular in shape, and have soft-touch areas around the periphery.

What's unique here is that when you lightly touch one of the buttons' soft-touch areas, a representation of the control appears in the instrument panel (which in the Prius is in the middle of the dash rather than in front of the driver where it belongs) and the portion of the soft-touch surface the driver is touching is highlighted further.

Putting a replication of the steering wheel spoke controls in the instrument panel makes some sense, because it keeps everything closer to your line of sight looking down the road. But I think after driving the car for a few days, you'd be pretty used to the steering wheel controls already.

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