To help drivers understand the question ‘My car does what?’, the National Safety Council and the University of Iowa have developed a virtual reality mobile phone app, CarTech VR360.

The app gives drivers a 360-degree tour of some of the safety systems so drivers have a better understanding of how the technologies work. It is part of the MyCarDoesWhat initiative, which the National Safety Council and the University of Iowa launched in 2015 to explain new vehicle technologies.

“Virtual reality is more engaging than any owner’s manual; we hope that people use the technology to discover all of the advanced driver assistance systems their vehicles have to offer,” said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council.

“MyCarDoesWhat has endeavored to address all drivers—virtual reality is a novel medium sure to excite a new generation of road users,” said Daniel McGehee, the principal investigator of the MyCarDoesWhat project and a professor in the University of Iowa’s college of engineering and director of the National Advanced Driving Simulator.

The CarTech VR360 app – designed for both iOS and Android operating systems – is free to download and explains six features:

  • Automatic emergency braking
  • Blind spot monitoring
  • Back-up camera
  • Lane departure warning
  • Adaptive cruise control
  • Drowsiness alert

Instructions for free download can be found here.