Periscope: GM’s New Safety Brand

Introducing Periscope: GM safety brand emphasizes safety for everyone on the road

As part of its goal of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, General Motors has created a safety brand called Periscope.

Periscope will focus on three areas of vehicle safety: vehicle technology, research, and advocacy.

“Periscope is how we develop safety through a human lens – it’s the intersection of our research, advocacy, and vehicle technologies and an articulation of the work our engineering team is doing to help everyone on the road – including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and more,” said Maryann Combs, GM vice president of Global Vehicle Safety.

Based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94% of serious crashes are caused by human error, so GM is committed to developing and implementing new technologies like Buckle to Drive and Teen Driver that can help further reduce driver error.

OnStar Guardian, a new mobile app, extends the power of OnStar to smartphones to enable customers to bring key OnStar safety services anywhere they are – in any vehicle, at home, or even while out walking.

GM has partnered with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to identify which technologies have the biggest impact on reducing crashes in real-world scenarios. Here are some key findings so far:

• Automatic Emergency Braking (or Forward Automatic Braking) with Forward Collision Alert reduced rear-end striking crashes by 40% and reduced rear-end striking crashes with reported injuries or possible injuries by 55%.

• The Reverse Automatic Braking feature, combined with Rear Vision Camera, Rear Park Assist, and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, reduced backing crashes by 82%

• Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert reduced lane change crashes by 16%

• Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning reduced lane departure-related crashes by 12% and reduced lane-departure related crashes with reported injuries or possible injuries by 17%.

Also under the Periscope umbrella, GM is also working with advocacy groups like Safe Kids Worldwide and DoSomething.org to educate consumers on vehicle safety and safe driving practices. 

Learn more about Periscope here.

Check out our Runde Auto Group Guide to Safety Features here.