The electronics and security packages coming on line in today’s vehicles work hard to prevent the need for ever needing to call for emergency auto assistance, and thought they can’t create a tow truck out of thin air, they will certainly go far to help today’s driver from ever needing to call for one.

If your car senses an imminent accident, there are a number of steps that it will perform to maximize passenger safety. One anti-collision system will,in no particular order, warn the driver,adjust seat positions to improve air bag deployment safety,close windows,activate seat belt pretensioners as well as fully charging up the air bags and brakes.

Cars will chat amongst each other, shouting out warnings and hooting and hollering about hazards ahead – I wonder if they will have handles?

“Intelligent networks. Tomorrow’s cars will have high-speed data networks that allow communication between various automotive systems and other vehicles. Vehicles will be able to send warnings about hazards or potential accidents on the road. For example, if a driver loses control, the systems needed to stabilize the car will be activated and the nearby cars will be warned. In turn, these cars might activate their pre-collision systems or apply braking to avoid an accident.”

There will be warnings for rear-enders,active head restraints,and chimes will sound off if you are detected straying from your lane.

Lane-departure warning. Cameras that detect the stripes between lanes can determine if a sleepy or inattentive driver has let the vehicle wander off its intended path. The driver is then alerted with a chime and warning light. We tested a system on the Infiniti M35x and found that the chime went off constantly on minor roads. Many of our drivers found it so annoying they turned it off. It was more useful on the freeway.

The blind spot detection and rollover mitigation features both provide obvious safety gains, given how often lane changes and loss of control can precipitaite a freeway pile up.

The technology is impressive and can be read about in full at CosumerReports.org