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 [...]

Let’s talk vehicle safety features! It seems like new technology is released daily to aid in keeping drivers and passengers safe on the road, so the wide variety of options can be confusing. While each brand has slightly different names for their safety features, most are comparable across vehicle makes. In early 2020, the Department of Transportation endorsed a list of standardized names in an effort to promote standard language and reduce consumer confusion of safety features between brands. Active Park Assist This option will automatically steer your vehicle to assist with parallel or reverse perpendicular parking. How much it controls depends upon the specific brand and model you have, but some will also handle the gear shifts, braking, and accelerating. Adaptive Cruise Control Using radar and camera technology, this feature lets you set a cruising speed and a distance from the vehicle ahead of you. When it slows down, you automatically do too. When [...]