Back in late 2020, The Blue Oval debuted what it calls Ford Exit Warning, a feature that provides visual and audible alerts to road users and vehicle occupants when it detects that opening the door of a parked car might cause a collision between the two. In early 2022, the automaker announced that it was working on audio systems that would capable of enhancing existing driver alerts, giving off audible tones or visual displays to warn drivers of the presence of pedestrians, and just last year, Exit Warning made its way into the 2024 Ford Mustang. Now, one of Ford’s rivals – GM – is rolling out the same exactly type of technology.
According to GM Authority, General Motors is adding what it calls Side Bicyclist Alert to a host of its models throughout the company’s portfolio, and it does precisely what its name might imply – alert the driver of those vehicles when a bicyclist is nearby. In this case, the system specifically works to identify when cyclists are either in a vehicle’s blind spot or approaching at higher speeds, which could certainly help prevent a collision.
Interestingly, Side Bicyclist Alert functions much like a regular blind-spot monitoring system that detects the presence of other vehicles when one may not be able to otherwise see them. A warning light illuminates in the side mirror if there’s a bike there, and the system utilizes an audible alert if one activates the turn signal in their direction, too. On top of that, the system even works when the vehicle is stopped, so the driver can avoid opening their door into an approaching cyclist.
In addition to this feature, GM’s Front Pedestrian and Bicyclist Braking works much like automatic emergency braking at speeds between five and 50 mph, displaying warnings and even applying the brakes if it deems that the driver is going to run into a pedestrian or bicyclist. Given the steady rise in these types of accidents in recent years, it isn’t terribly surprising that more than one automaker is working on this type of technology.
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