The Mercury Meta One concept may not interest UK readers massively on its own - it is just another "crossover" car, mixing SUV with estate (and we don't get the Ford-owned Mercury brand either). In an attempt to appease the environmentalists amongst us, it will be equipped with "an experimental powertrain", for which we read hybrid with fuel cell technology.
Closer to production though will be the Lane Departure Warning system, alerting drivers to their wanderings, and the snappily named Collision Mitigation by Braking. We first heard that Honda was working on the latter technology a couple of years ago. In simple terms, proximity and speed sensors relay enough information for the central control unit to calculate that a collision is inevitable. The brakes and safety systems are then deployed in readiness. It may not sound like much, but a few extra milliseconds of braking could mean the difference between life and death. We would like to see this technology implemented across all vehicles in the way ABS and airbags have been.
Shane O' Donoghue - 30 Nov 2004