Hm. My point was that I cannot see that the people most likely to use this system are also the people most likely to pay for it. I don't deny that inexperienced careful drivers may be interested - but the majority of careful, inexperienced drivers do not drive brand new Volvo V40 cars, and the addition of a pedestrian safety system won't make them do so!

Let's say I'm a rich Dad who has two children, ages 15 and 16 who will begin driving soon. I want them to be less neurotic when they're driving and minimize the chance that they'll have to experience the traumatic event of seriously injuring or killing a pedestrian. Then this car/option might be very appealing to me.

But on top of that, the reason this is on the frontpage of HN isn't because the system is installed in a Volvo V40. It's that this system is now a reality and might soon become part of standard safety systems. I personally had never heard of this system and think it's a fantastic idea. And news coverage and consumer interest/awareness could result in this system being installed in more and more cars.

> Let's say I'm a rich Dad...

And if we don't want to limit this option to a tiny segment of the population, how do we encourage its uptake for the millions of vehicles that are marketed on the basis of economy and not on protecting the psyches of teenage drivers who are being given, and not choosing, their own cars?

Many many product features start out on the high end models and gradually trickle down to the other, economy units if the feature is popular enough. Look at I-Pod/External media jacks in cars. At first only the expensive cars had them. Now many new vehicles have them. There are countless examples of this. But it often starts with the high-end model, and if there is interest, then more production/installations are done and in the process cheaper production methods are often discovered/engineered.

Yes, but the vast majority of these benefit the purchaser immediately. This system doesn't. It seems (to me) to have limited potential for crossing over in the same way as audio jacks, heated seats, HUDs, parking sensors, active lighting, sat navs, etc. All of those systems can be demonstrated by the salesman to benefit the purchaser. This system doesn't have that. To sell it, you need to talk about protecting strangers - which strikes me as difficult. So how else can you encourage its uptake?

As others have said, I think you're selling peace of mind to the purchaser. Buying a Hybrid doesn't actually help you personally (the gas savings numbers tend to be iffy at most), but it does help the environment an ever so slight amount. But what you're selling really is a sense that you're helping the world (which in includes other people) in some way. And I think the relative success of hybrids shows that there is a market for that type of selling.

That really depends on why you think Priuses (Priusi?) sell. Certainly some sold because they 'help the planet', but I would wager that a lot sold because a Prius was an external statement about a fashionable cause. Brad Pitt drove one! Look how responsible I am! Etc.

A hybrid is immediately obvious from the outside: a Prius is obviously recognisable. This feature is completely concealed, which takes a lot of the social cachet and signalling away from it.

Musk recognised that, to really sell electric cars, you can't rely on the altruistic goodwill of a purchaser who wants to help reduce dependence on oil and reduce emissions. You have to make the absolute best car. So, how do you sell this without relying on altruism (which some do have, but not all)? I think reduced car tax and reduced insurance rates may be good guesses.