By Steven Symes 
Getting rear ended while you’re just sitting at a light is an unfortunate risk of driving, but Hyundai wants to change that. The auto giant, through its Hyundai Mobis parts and service division, has revealed a new safety technology that not only warns of rear end collisions but also acts to prevent them.
Watch a minivan driver cause a multi-vehicle accident for a dumb reason.
When sensors in the rear of your car, which newer vehicles already have, detect an imminent collision, the driver receives a warning. That’s nice, but the system from Hyundai goes one step further, applying the accelerator to maneuver out of the way of the other vehicle.
Apparently, the technology is only designed for highway use right now, but we think it’s needed far more in city driving like the scenario we described. But Hyundai says it will only work when Smart Cruise Control is turned on, something drivers won’t use on surface streets.
While you’re cruising along on the highway, if another driver gets within 10 meters (that’s about 32 feet) of your car’s rear bumper, the system will beep and a visual warning will flash on the dash.
Then if you as the driver fail to act, plus the other driver keeps getting closer, the system will increase your car’s speed so the other vehicle isn’t following too closely. Have fun explaining to a cop that you were speeding because the guy behind you was making your Hyundai do it.
This innovation also means if you want a newer Hyundai, Kia, or Genesis that’s equipped with this technology to drive faster on the highway, all you have to do is tailgate it. Rewarding that kind of behavior seems like a bad idea to us.
Further down the road, Hyundai will incorporate autonomous lane changes into these dangerous situations, instead of just having the vehicle accelerate to avoid the threat. This is another step in the direction of full self-driving cars.
Image via Hyundai