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CNN Live At Daybreak

Concept Cars Built for Safety

Aired June 20, 2002 - 05:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM And MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you're into gizmos and gadgets, this next story is definitely for you. The car of the future will be fully loaded with some really cool stuff.

And as CNN's Ann Kellan reports, there's a payoff, safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most, if not all, car manufacturers create concept cars you won't find in a showroom but are used to help develop technologies for future cars. This one focuses on safety.

From a see through pillar that reduces a driver's blind spots to sensors and computers that adjust the seats based on the location of the driver's eyes, the goal, to reduce accidents and improve comfort and security on the road.

Ford, by the way, owns Volvo. Funny looking key, this personal communicator is your keyless entry into the car. It stores information like your seat setting, even medical records in case you're in an accident and protects the information with a fingerprint lock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think problem today is parents don't take their booster seat from car to car so this has it built right in.

KELLAN: And the entire seat rises to give kids a better view of the road ahead.

(on camera): Let's take it for a test drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can tell when there's a car coming up on you, when you're changing lanes.

KELLAN: OK, here he comes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) flashing. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) no you shouldn't go over. We are over that line here. We should hear other warning signals. Yes, that was the one that picks up...

KELLAN: Over the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lights change depending on whether you're on a highway or in the city. They also...

KELLAN: So they actually move when the steering wheel moves, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They move when you're turning, right, to illuminate where you're going rather than the road in front. There are around eight different cameras inside looking at the rear seat for children, looking out the back to make sure you don't run over a child behind the car.

KELLAN (voice-over): Could all these safety features create unsafe distractions?

DANIEL JOHNSTON, VOLVO: We want to be able to put people in the car and see what kind of situations they're in where they can become distracted by too much technology and then we start looking at that. Is there a benefit to that or is it a distraction and then take it out.

KELLAN (on camera): Now don't expect to see a car like this on the road anytime soon, this is a prototype, but a lot of the safety features in this car will be on the road over the next five years.

Ann Kellan, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Doesn't even look like any fun.

COSTELLO: Why, with all that stuff in the car?

MYERS: Well you can't go over the line, it beeps at you. I mean...

COSTELLO: Be like your mother driving with you constantly. Don't do that.

MYERS: Or my father.

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