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Due to the cramped out space in cities resulting from increasing population and rising No. of vehicles, driving is becoming tougher with each passing day. Hence the need for driver assist technology. The driver assist technologies are meant not only for safer driving but also to help you reach at your destination in time. Here we’re putting 5 driver assist technologies that will not only make driving fun but safe at the same time.

1. GO 950 LIVE Satellite Navigation System

Description:

Finding the shortest route while traveling is going to become easy with the Tom Tom GO 950 LIVE. This device will offer you precise and the latest travel information through a new user interface.

2. Wake-Up Angle Vibrating Anti-Sleep Device

Description:

Feel drained after a long day at work and now have to drive back home. A sleepy state can prove to be dangerous specially while driving. To make sure that you don’t catch up on your forty winks while driving, a device named Wake-Up Angle has was designed by The Design Town in the year 2007. Resembling a hearing-aid, the device is positioned behind the ear. Whenever the driver’s head bends forward, below the safe angel, the Wake-Up Angle starts vibrating which in turn stirs up the person behind the wheel.

3. BMW develops automatic parking system

Description:

So, you love your Beemer but every time you have to park it in your tight garage your heart stops beating. How can you see your beauty on wheels get wounded, that too while parking? Well, to kill all such woes BMW has developed a robotic parking system. All you have to do is press a remote-control button and see the parking-assist technology place your car wherever you want. Just relax and see your car maneuver through the parking lot or your garage. A demo of this technology was shown at Munich headquarters recently.

4. Satellite Navigation System

Description:

Garmin Nuvi 265W Satellite Navigation System is here to become your best buddy while driving. It will not only guide you which route to take but will also guide you at every step and turn. Nuvi 265W will make sure you stay safe on the road as it comes wedged with an advanced safety camera warning system. This uncomplicated and harmless device will guide you through rough traffic as it comes filled with maps for Europe and millions of points of interest (POIs). So grab this handy and reasonably priced piece of equipment and always take the right route.

5. Volvo’s Pedestrian Detection with automatic brakes

Description:

The reaction time goes for a toss while driving when someone suddenly emerges in front of the car. This can prove to be quite a disaster, throwing you behind bars and the pedestrian in a hospital. Just to avoid any such situation a “Pedestrian Detection” technology along with automatic brakes has been embedded in Volvo’s S60 sedan. It will intelligently sense anyone who gets in the way and if the driver fails to respond will apply brakes and make the vehicle freeze. But if you are driving above 22mph, speed of the vehicle will be reduced to desirable levels avoiding any serious crashes.

After six years of intensive effort, scientists are reporting development of the first commercially viable Nano generator, a flexible chip that can use body movements — a finger pinch now en route to a pulse beat in the future — to generate electricity.

This development represents a milestone toward producing portable electronics that can be powered by body movements without the use of batteries or electrical outlets.

The latest improvements have resulted in a Nano generator powerful enough to drive commercial liquid-crystal displays, light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. By storing the generated charges using a capacitor, the output power is capable to periodically drive a sensor and transmit the signal wirelessly.

If we can sustain the rate of improvement, the Nano generator may find a broad range of other applications that require more power.

Example:

Personal electronic devices powered by footsteps activating Nano generators inside the sole of a shoe;
Implanted insulin pumps powered by a heart beat; and
Environmental sensors powered by Nano generators flapping in the breeze.

Preparation:

The key to the technology is zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. ZnO nanowires are piezoelectric — they can generate an electric current when strained or flexed. That movement can be virtually any body movement, such as walking, a heartbeat, or blood flowing through the body. The nanowires can also generate electricity in response to wind, rolling tires, or many other kinds of movement.

The diameter of a ZnO nanowire is so small that 500 of the wires can fit inside the width of a single human hair. Scientist found a way to capture and combine the electrical charges from millions of the Nano scale zinc oxide wires. They also developed an efficient way to deposit the nanowires onto flexible polymer chips, each about a quarter the size of a postage stamp. Five Nano generators stacked together produce about 1 micro Ampere output current at 3 volts — about the same voltage generated by two regular AA batteries (about 1.5 volts each).

While a few volts may not seem like much, it has grown by leaps and bounds over previous versions of the Nano generator. "Additional nanowires and more Nano generators, stacked together, could produce enough energy for powering larger electronics, such as an iPod or charging a cell phone."

The Scientists said the next step is to further improve the output power of the Nano generator and find a company to produce the Nano generator. The device’s first application is likely to be as a power source for tiny environmental sensors and sensors for infrastructure monitoring.