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Ford has announced it is expanding its driver assist technology, with a range of next-generation features to make avoiding crashes, parking and detecting objects in the road easier.

New features it is developing at its research and development centre in Aachen, Germany, include a cross-traffic alert system, with braking technology designed to detect people and objects about to pass behind the car, warning the driver and then automatically breaking if they don’t respond.

A rear wide-view camera, on the in-car display, will give a wide-angle view of the back of the car and a feature called enhanced active park assist will help drivers parallel or perpendicular park the car at the push of a button. controlling steering, gear selection and forward and reverse movement.

Other features include evasive steering assist, a new tech that can help drivers steer around stopped or slower cars to avoid collisions, designed to run at motorway and city speeds.

This uses radar and a camera to detect slower moving and stationary vehicles ahead, providing steering support to enable drivers to avoid a vehicle if they’re going to crash into something.

The system is activated if there isn’t enough space to avoid a collision by braking and the driver decides to take evasive action.

Wrong way alert, and more 

Another feature is wrong way alert, which uses a windshield mounted camera and information from a car’s navigation system to offer customers visual and audio warnings if they start driving the wrong way against traffic.

Additional tech being developed by Ford includes spot lighting technology, using an infrared camera to help detect pedestrians, cyclists and animals; a camera-based front lighting system to widen the headlight beam at crossroads and roundabouts to help you read signs and traffic jam assist, which helps drivers keep the vehicle centred in a lane, as well as braking and accelerating to keep pace with the car in front.

The new tech is expected to be available in Ford cars within two years and is all part of the company’s decision to triple investment in developing driver-assist features.