ZF, an automotive industry supplier, recently told Wired magazine that it could have an “external side airbag” on production cars in two years, even though the idea right now is still a concept.
In the article, ZF said an external side airbag could reduce the intrusion of one vehicle into another by a little more than an inch and thus could greatly improve the chances of passengers avoiding serious death or injury.
“This is now possible,” Norbert Kagerer, ZF’s engineering chief for passive safety systems, told Wired. The reason? Because of the recent proliferation of sensors like cameras, radars, ultrasonics and lidars, which detect vehicles and objects in the environment. If they see something coming for them at a given speed, the car’s computer can determine if a crash is imminent and unavoidable.
To read the full story in Wired, click here.
