Good Electrons: Audi Side Assist Better than Mirrors?

Whenever we drive along the highway, especially on the four lane monsters that circulatea modern metropolis, we all face a common problem – that is changing lanes, uh, safely. Problems normally begin when a driver is in the outside lane – the one closest to the oncoming traffic – and for some reason, the highway builders put the exits on the other side of the road – time to merge!

All too often, I see drivers wait until the last second to change lanes; it's normally just a millisecond after they realized, "oh, there's my exit." On goes the turn signal; and I love the drivers who think that their signal is an 'order' to other drivers, rather than a 'signal of intention'. “Hey, I got my signal on, it's my right of way,” is what most of them seem to think.

Then they scamper across three or four lanes, which causes brake lights everywhere from those following them, and it normally generates a few index fingers pointed in their general direction. "Boy, just made the exit that time .. " nice going.

Don't even get me started on when they really can't make it over and they slow down to a crawl waiting for an opening in the next lane& .. ahh, the things you see when you don't have a gun.

All cars have mirrors, they all work. Some have two mirrors, one regular, one convex,so you can see everything – providing they are adjusted properly. They also have that cute warning, “Things are stupi& .. Things are closer than they appear.”

So, we have mirrors which show us stuff that is actually closer than it looks. Do you think that factors into our decision process on when to change lanes? I bet it does.

Luckily for us, Audi, on the new Q7 I was driving for a week, has one of the coolest deals around. Introducing Audi Side Assist, developed by the Audi Accident Research Center, and here's how it works.

On the inside of each mirror there are a set of LED lights. These lights – and I'm not kidding here – light up when the Q7 (which is smarter than most of us) feels it's not safe for it (never mind you) to change lanes, as in, there's something there.

If, however, you still feel you're smarter than the Q7, you can put on your turn signal. This is met with the LED lights now flashing, brightly, offering you the opportunity to reconsider the upcoming lane change.

Audi's Side Assist uses the parking sensors in the rear bumper to look out the back of the SUV. When it detects something within 50 meters, it turns the light on in the mirror for that side.

Cool eh

This alone would be a neat thing, but here's the difference between Audi and some other manufacturers. It's called research and development.

This system could be programmed to work no matter what, and while about 70 percent of the time it would be great, it would be very frustrating the rest of the time, and (just like the boy who cried wolf - Ed.) people would stop paying attention to it.

So, what Audi did is test this system in realsituations, not just relying on what you'd simulate on a computer. For instance, sometimes we blaze past the car in the lane next to us on the highway (hey, I was testing remember).

When this happens, the light doesn't even blink – perfect. Can you imagine how annoying it would be if it only came on for a split second every time you blew someone's doors off? Um, I mean every time you pass a slow moving vehicle in the middle lane.

If I was pulling a trailer, chances are both mirrors would be lit up all the time, so Audi incorporated an 'off' button, just for that reason. In addition, the brightness of the LEDs are controllable from the MMI interface, which means anyone can adjust the system to their liking, and it also means drivers will be more inclined to use it.

The bottom line on this system is that it works. Actually it works really, really well. Part of that is due to the original idea, which is quite simple, given how it works. The other part is Audi taking the time to research anddevelop the system so that it's actually user friendly and doesn't give off false alarms.

So what's my complaint? I don't think that the Audi Side Assist system has been given the recognition it deserves.