The technological advances we already enjoy on our vehicles are numerous and allow us to have the experience from behind the wheel that we desire. Many vehicles are now offered with ways to avoid crashes, lane departure warnings, blind spot monitoring and much more automation than we had ten and twenty years ago. Many automakers have already announced they plan to have cars on the road in the next few years that can do the driving for you and allow you to sit back and relax while your vehicle does all the work, but this will take some time and several steps.

It seems Ford has taken the next step and is working on a system that will help with emergency steering to go along with emergency braking. The need for this system comes into effect when the vehicle detects a potential collision that can’t be avoided by just applying the brakes. The way this system is potentially to be set up, the braking system would be implemented first and warnings would sound to let the driver know they need to steer around the obstacle to avoid a collision and when the driver begins to steer the system helps by making the correct adjustment for the driver to avoid the collision.

The benefit to this Evasive Steering Assist is the ability for the system to plan a clear path around an obstacle so that you can keep from being in a collision. While automatic emergency braking is already being put on many cars and will be a standard feature in a few years, this Evasive Steering Assist may be next on the docket to become a standard item. This system is certainly the next step in the progression from where we are now to being able to have a great way to drive and know you can be safe on the road.

This system will work by using a front mounted camera and radar detector to monitor the surrounding traffic at speeds and determine if you will be in a crash. This is much the same way the emergency braking system works now. While making this determination, if a crash is imminent, the system will warn you so that you can apply the brakes and then the car will apply the brakes for you to help slow down and avoid the collision.

In order to keep the ESA system from jarring you quickly and making you uncomfortable with the system, the automatic steering won’t take over unless you as the driver already make an evasive driving move by attempting to steer around an obstacle. This makes for a system that works with you rather than fighting against you to change the course you’ve already chosen. The next step for Ford is to create a way for the system to give you the path of least resistance around an obstacle that you’re about to crash into. This video can help give you an idea of how they visualize this system working for you.