META ONE concept bristles with new technology

Ford-owned Mercury will be showing an interesting concept vehicle at the Detroit (NAIS) show next week. The Meta One Concept showcases an array of new technologies: the world's first Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle diesel powertrain, Lane Departure Warning and Collision Mitigation by Braking - technologies that could help prevent or lessen the severity of many accidents. Meta One illustrates what a future Mercury crossover vehicle might look like.

Mercury Meta One is an advanced research vehicle concept from Ford Motor Company displaying the evolution of automotive design, research and engineering with emerging safety features, personal electronics and the world's first PZEV diesel hybrid.

"Meta One is a valuable test-bed for advanced technologies allowing us to demonstrate future safety and powertrain technologies that exist only in theory and in laboratories today," said Gerhard Schmidt, Ford Motor Company vice president, Research and Advanced Engineering.

Mercury Meta One's name is derived from the Greek word "meta," meaning "transcends" or "goes beyond." In the case of the Mercury Meta One concept, the name connotes the concept's personality, which transcends the expected in a passenger vehicle.

Meta One's interior provides a "Zen-like" personal experience for its occupants with interior themes that can be customized to individual preferences.

Mercury will build a new production crossover vehicle in 2007. Meta One explores adaptation of the Mercury design DNA to a crossover and gives a hint of what such a product could represent for the brand. Advanced Safety Technologies

With a focus on accident prevention, Ford Motor Company is developing safety technologies that warn the driver when a vehicle wanders from its travel lane and even applies the brakes if an accident is imminent. These technologies are featured on the Mercury Meta One, Ford's most advanced scientific research concept vehicle.

Much of the science of automobile safety has focused on passive systems, like airbags, safety belts and vehicle structure that protect occupants during a crash. Ford is researching and applying active safety measures in production vehicles and concepts designed to help prevent or lessen the severity of many accidents. Lane Departure Warning

Ford's Lane Departure Warning is a mechanised vision system designed to recognise lane markings and a vehicle's lateral position relative to those markings. It can provide a visual, audible and/or haptic (vibrating) warning to the driver if the vehicle departs from a distinguishable lane without activation of the appropriate turn signal. A right lane departure triggers a vibration to the right side of the driver's seat; a left lane departure spurs vibration of the left side of the driver's seat.

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