6 Futuristic Car Safety Features on the Road Today—And One We Can't Have

Brake assist, lane departure warnings, and smart cruise control are making our roads safer. But forget about getting those automatic headlights.

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2015 Acura TLX

Road Departure Mitigation

The next step beyond lane-keeping steering, this Acura system combines a camera and radar to recognize when you're about to run off a curve—and applies steering to try to keep you on the pavement.

2015 Hyundai Genesis

Stop/Start Cruise Control

The Genesis will brake all the way down to a stop and then inch forward to keep moving with congested traffic. Paired with the Lane Keep Assist system, which steers to keep you in your lane, the Genesis shoulders a lot of the driving burden during the worst part of your commute.

2015 Ford Edge

Active Glovebox Knee Airbag

The Edge's glovebox door is hollow and contains a plastic bladder. In an impact that bladder inflates and the glovebox's outer door panel pops out to cushion the passenger's legs. What's next, inflatable airbag seat belts? It has those, too, in back.

2015 Audi A3

Secondary-Collision Brake Assist

If you actually got in an accident, you'd probably want the car to stop afterward, right? The A3 does that, with its secondary-collision assist braking the car to a halt—ideally before you crash into anything else.

2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS

Camera-Controlled LED Headlights

Swiveling headlights are nothing new. But the CLS takes them to the next level by connecting its 24 LEDs to a camera that can see what's out there beyond the lights, signaling the car to proactively point the beams into a curve before you even turn the wheel.

2015 Cadillac Escalade

Rear Automatic Braking

If your are backing up and about to run over something —or simply ram the bumper into a nearby car or tree—the Escalade will hit its brakes and stop automatically. Caveat: It only works if you're not stepping on the brake pedal already; if you are, the car assumes you want to run over your mailbox.

Great Safety Technology We Can't Have

Audi's new Matrix LED headlights each use 25 diodes that work separately, allowing a car to illuminate the lane ahead with high beams without blinding oncoming traffic. They can also illuminate pedestrians and aim the beams around corners. The system is smart, fully automatic—and totally unavailable in America. The reason: NHTSA Standard 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment." Essentially our lighting regulations are tightly defined and completely out of date, excluding the U.S. from having the latest equipment, which also includes laser headlights and brake lights that strobe during panic braking.

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