[GrandArt]

This is news to me, but the new VW Arteon comes standard with a reactive hood to improve pedestrian safety. I've only ever seen this once before, but the exact model escapes me. Anywho, sensors in the front will detect a pedestrian if an impact does occur and raise the rear of the hood by about 2 inches. But it only works between 15 and 35 mph. This way, the person hit won't make contact with the engine.

 

[Lucien]

While a reactive hood sounds cool, wouldn't it make more sense to build technology into the car that prevents you from hitting people altogether? I've seen that Google has filed for a patent for car to pedestrian communication, which I'm assuming will provide autonomous cars with the gps positioning of peoples phones.