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Electronics Make Driving Easier

New cars increasingly use connected technology, and incremental improvements in automotive electronics are making cars safer and smarter.

Electronics Make Driving Easier1

Some new models are flashy and others are fuel efficient, and embedded technology is at the heart of all of them.

The new Ford Escape has a radar-enabled adaptive cruise control to avoid collisions, with sensors on the front and side of the car. Ford's Mark Schirmer says the electronic system can be accessed through the dashboard or a smartphone.

"Where I am from, in Michigan, if it is a cold morning, I can have it start up right before I am scheduled to leave to go to the airport or go to work. You can find your car or if one of your family members, a kid, borrowed the car, it will show you exactly where it is," said Schirmer.

Third-party products now in development, like this emergency warning system, help drivers who fail to hear an approaching siren. A near-miss with an ambulance inspired the product from the Chicago start-up HAAS, co-founded by Cory Hohs.

"It scared me enough that I started looking for a product that would alert me when they are coming," said Hohs.

A sobriety detector from a Canadian company called Sober Steering is sold to companies with fleets of vehicles, such as buses. Chief Operating Officer Catherine Carroll says a sensor on the steering wheel can detect alcohol vapors emitted from the skin.