Walking the floor of the Chicago Auto Show last week, it was hard to ignore the role of technology in marketing new vehicles.

What do you look for in a vehicle? Appealing design? Comfortable interior? Powerful engine? Smooth ride? What about safety features, or info-tainment? Technological advances in the 2008 vehicles featured at the Chicago Auto Show have significantly enhanced these two areas.

Safety Technologies:

When I visited Continental Automotive Systems, the preeminent manufacturer of automotive safety systems, they pointed out that nearly 43,000 people die on our highways each year.

For many years we’ve relied on passive safety systems, like seat belts and airbags, which help protect vehicle occupants after a crash occurs.

Continental has come up with active technologies that automatically intervene to help the driver maintain control before the crash occurs. Continental refers to these as “Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems.”

You are probably familiar with anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control, examples of active technologies that can help to prevent an accident from occurring. You might even know about active rollover protection systems that are designed to help prevent SUVs from rolling over when making quick evasive maneuvers.

Other active safety systems found on some of today’s vehicles include adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning. These systems will appear on more vehicles each year, with the majority premiering on luxury brands but slowly trickling down to the mainstream vehicles.

Adaptive cruise control automatically detects vehicles ahead and slows your vehicle down if necessary. Lane departure warning alerts you when you inadvertently leave your lane. This could be when you are distracted or tired.

If you would like to learn more about these systems and what vehicles feature these systems, visit SafelyThere.com.

Info-tainment: Ford, Microsoft produce Sync

The world of digital music and digital photos has all ready merged with digital clarity on the basic cell phone. The integration of the cell phone into automotive function has been in transition for several years, but this year’s Auto Show does feature an exciting new media bundle that promises convenience and voice activation.

How would you like to integrate your cell phone and iPod with your car and command them with voice prompts? If you’re the type of person who would appreciate this technological advancement, then Sync is for you.

Sync is a fully integrated, voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system for your mobile phone and digital media player. Sync, developed by Ford and Microsoft, will be available this fall on select 2008 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles.

In the future, Sync will be available on all Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury products. The Ford-exclusive technology, based on Microsoft Auto software, provides consumers the convenience and flexibility to bring into their vehicle nearly any mobile phone or digital media player and operate it using voice commands or the vehicle’s steering wheel or radio controls.

Sync will offer two methods of integrating electronic devices: The first, Bluetooth, for wireless connection of phones and phones that play music; secondly, a USB 2.0 port will be provided for command and control and charging of digital media players – including the Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune. The USB port also allows for the use of media storage devices. To learn more about Sync, visit SyncMyRide.com.