1 of the 10 Best Car Features Introduced in 2007
Lane Departure Prevention
Iteris, Inc. has been has nearly doubled in value this past year. In large part because of their vehicle safety products. The company came onto my radar after I realized that I wasn't driving my Benz anymore and the primary reason was that it doesn't have a backup camera and my Lexus does. Truth be told I prefer to drive my wife's mini-van (lic. I CAVED 2) as it has a cam plus the backup sensors. It just feels more dangerous to be in reverse without these safety features. Not unlike HD-TV once you have it you don't want to go back to life without it. A bit of research led me to Iteris a small, debt laden highway safety company that was transitioning its focus towards higher margin safety products. Below is an excerpt from a recent press release and part of the reason I'm thinking about buying more of this stock in 2008:
"....systems use a small camera installed behind the windshield to detect lane markings in front of the vehicle, calculate its position relative to the lane markings and warn the driver of lane drift (leaving the lane without the use of turn signal) with a visual display and audible warning. Iteris has upgraded the technology by improving overall system performance and expanding the environmental conditions under which the system will perform. These enhancements to the technology enable the system to interface with the vehicle’s braking system to offer more active support for the driver. In addition to alerting the driver of unintentional vehicle movement outside the designated lane using an audible/visual warning system, the LDP system uses the vehicle’s Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) system to help the driver maintain lane position if the vehicle inadvertently starts to drift outside the lane."
