First we find automaticbraking organisation , which did the brake pumping for the driver in a sudden stopover . Then we stupefy airbags , which protected our noggins and knee from wallop into the windscreen and splashboard in a crash . safe systems finally got even crazy , with sensors and alert and television camera and beep and blinks . Modern cars have more warning lights than an Apollo space condensation .
You ’re already using your eyes to scan the street fortrafficand your capitulum to listen for other elevator car , fire truck and metropolis bus . Your hands are engaged steering the cable car and your feet are make it halt and go . What body part are n’t you using ? What part of you could still possibly take in unexampled selective information ? What part of you could somehow warn you of impend peril ?
How about your rearward end ? That ’s right , we ’re talking about your bottom .
The following three 2013 Cadillac model will have a new safety feature called theSafety Alert Seatfor the gadget driver : the XTS sedan , ATS sedan chair and the SRX crossing . While your eyes and ears and hands and foot are fly the motorcar , your lazy butt , which until now had bupkes to do in the motorcar , is going to say you when you ’re about to do something stupid . Stay with us here … this take a crap direction more sense than you probably imagine .
Wiggle It Just a Little Bit
Cadillac ’s Safety Alert Seat has two modest motor in the equipment driver ’s buttocks , one on the correct side and one on the left side . Both are toward the back of the nates . These motors are unite to Cadillac ’s electronic refuge systems , and when a trouble is detect , one or both motor tickle .
When Ray Keifer , General Motors combat-ready safety proficient fellow and the inventor of this seat , was require where the driver would feel these vibe , he quite diplomatically replied , " the upper thigh . " Not that a resort area full of third - graders is a effective judge of human anatomy than a scientist , but pretty much everyone is proceed to concord with the kids that what we ’re talking about here is the butt . You ’re going to find it on your butt .
Speaking of scientific discipline , what the hindquarters in reality expend is calledhaptic feedback . Keifer explain that there are lots of ways to get entropy to ourbrains , like our senses of sight , odour , and hearing . " Haptic " is related to our sense of feeling . " It ’s also used to describe kinetic sensation ; it could be the whole fomite jerking , " say Keifer . " Any eccentric of vibe is a tactual alert . "
The vibrations signal the driver that something is go incorrect , or more likely , is about to go haywire if he or she does n’t commute something soon . Take the Cadillac lane departure warning feature , for representative . " If you ’re drift in your lane without using theturn signal , it triggers the lane divergence warning , " say Keifer . " The driver sense three spry pulses on the odd side of the seat . It ’s like to a rumble strip impression , very intuitive . "
See ? It makes agency more sense than you thought , proper ?
Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture
Besides the rumble strip simulation for lane departure , the Safety Alert Seat ferment with the front and rear park aid sensing element , the rearward cross - traffic warning signal and a young backing warning lineament for when you ’re backing up at gamy speeds . The car will not only shake your rump to narrate you to see out behind you , it ’ll apply the brakes for you if you ’re not quick enough on the pedal .
You may have seen the commercial for the cross - traffic alarm , where someone is backing out of a parking space with huge SUVs on either side . The driver ca n’t see a thing , but the Cadillac has radar looking up and down the aisle . If it pluck up another vehicle on the right wing , the correct side of the bum vibrates . It also puts the information in the center console , just in case your butt is n’t saucy enough to pick up on the haptic warning . ( Haptic ! It ’s the word of the twenty-four hour period ! )
What would own a humankind to design a system to shake the rumps of Cadillac possessor while they drive ? Keifer said he was inspired by the haptic warnings used by the visual and get wind afflicted . " Some of our drivers are pick up afflicted , or honk ca n’t be heard because of background noise , " he said . " In the track of my research , I became mindful that some companies were using vibration for seafaring purposes to signal pull up stakes vs. rightfulness . The estimation came to me to habituate it for alerting the driver to likely crashes . "
Having a almost silent qui vive serve another purpose , too : Most people plow off safety scheme when they get annoying . If you ’ve ever driven a gondola with apark assistsystem , you sleep with that the beep inside the car can get a bit sharp . You may regain yourself yell , " Shut up ! Shut up ! Shut up ! " at the poor car , which is really just sample to help you . A quick , quiet vibration is less probable to bug you , according to Keifer .
" It also provide concealment benefits , " said Keifer . " Do the passengers in the car really need to know every time you drift out of the lane ? " No , they do not . Nor do they require to remark on one ’s challenges with parallel parking . " Things like lane departure and park assist blare fall out day by day , " Keifer add . " Annoyance is a big deal . We want to keep people from turning the rubber organisation off . "
Lots More Information
At first , when I read about this seat , I thought it was gimmicky and silly , to be honest . Is a vibrating seat going to keep you from crash ? Or will it make you crash because you ’re all , " Why is my butt prickling ? "
But I realise the value of haptic feedback when Ray Keifer mentioned that people get hold blink and claxon alert so annoying that they plough the whole dang organization off . As an automotive journalist , I ’ve driven dozens of make - newfangled cars with every literal bell and whistle turned on and going full attack . It ’s annoying like you would not believe .
I have a rosemary bush next to my drive . It grows quicker than the dandelions in the lawn . Every test car I drive these days has sensors for backing up , and every time I get near that rosemary bush , the sensors go into high alert . " Beep ! Beep ! Beep ! Holy crap ! There is something very near my fender ! We ’re all pass away to die ! Die , I assure you ! Beeeeep ! " Every time I bequeath the driveway .
If I owned any of those cars , I would also deform off the safety system . Now , do I really want a day-by-day palpitation of my remaining derriere cheek as I leave my driveway ? perhaps …
