Researchers at UK-based Cranfield University have developed an experimental system for cars that detects that it’s about to hit a pedestrian and automatically releases a giant airbag in front of the windscreen.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology in Austria found in simulations that a truck front using a smooth sloping surface with central bulge reduces the likelihood of a pedestrian involved in a front-end accident being run over by 80 to 90 per cent.