Modern cars are very safe. But luxury cars had pre-tensioners in the 80’s already.

What do they have now that the rest of us will get in 2050?

Starting in 2019, you get backup cameras...

Luxury brands can actually stop you from going into a lane when a vehicle is there or minimizing the damage if you push it. Kinda like Tesla Autopilot but only when you're about to do something stupid.

In my experience thus far that feature is rife with false positives, so it ends up being more of an annoyance than anything. Or even potentially dangerous in itself, as it can be disconcerting when the steering wheel shifts unexpectedly—it can feel like a loss of traction, which could cause the driver to react in a detrimental fashion.

We just got a new car; a Hyundai i30, kinda the opposite end of the market from the luxury brands. We had to pay a little extra for the safety pack (~$2k), but we have

- backup camera

- radar-guided "smart" cruise control (this is amazing!)

- lane-departure warning and active steering

- emergency braking

Our particular model doesn't have the blind-spot detection (as per parent post) or rear cross-traffic warning, even though the version just below it does (different factories, weird), but we preferred the better interior.

The lane keepong assistant was part of the base package when I bought mine. Hyundai added a lot of safety features to the base package or comparatively cheap extra packs to differentiate the car.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the advanced cruise control because I ordered mine with manual transmission. And the emergency braking feature acts weird on my car. It emits a warning signal if it detects a car in front lomg before it brakes but I find that to be pretty hit or miss.