In theory, a world of fully autonomous cars means no more crashes. Expand on that thought and it's possible to envision a time when seatbelts, airbags and other passive-safety devices – features that protect you in a crash, as opposed to 'active' devices designed to stop you from crashing – might no longer be needed.
However, while self-driving cars are predicted to deliver big safety benefits – KPMG research suggests road-traffic accidents will decline by 80 per cent by 2040 due to the technology – millions of pre-autonomous cars are destined to remain on the world's roads for decades to come.
That means accidents will still happen, so passive-safety devices will be fitted to our cars for some time yet.
Just ask Volvo. Its recent 360c concept car envisages a fully autonomous driving future and has no steering wheel, pedals or traditional dashboard, allowing occupants to work, recline or even sleep while being transported. But those safety-conscious Swedes aren't giving up on traditional passive-safety devices. Rather, they are reimagining how they might protect occupants who might not be seated in 'traditional' positions.
For a world of reclining and lying down, they have come up with what they call the 'safety blanket'. Similar to a seatbelt, this complex 'blanket' is designed to secure the occupant during hard braking or a collision by tightening around the shoulders and hips.
Safety-systems company Autoliv is also betting on more complex passive-safety in coming years, exploring a host of concepts to protect tomorrow's more free-roaming passengers, including a 'life cell' airbag that wraps around the seat to fully cocoon the occupant.
German components and safety-systems supplier ZF is going down a similar route with 'dual-contour' airbags designed to protect an occupant regardless of their seating position, as well as 'far-side' airbags that are designed to stop collisions between occupants by deploying between their seats.
The company is also working on external 'pre-crash' airbags to reduce the severity of the forces in collisions. Unlike current airbag systems, which inflate after they sense a collision (i.e. they react), these airbags are predictive – when the car senses an imminent collision, it fires the bags milliseconds before the impact occurs.
All of this points to more passive-safety devices in the future, not less, so maybe don't sell your shares in airbag companies just yet.
