First up is the proactive safety system that has undeniably gotten the most attention lately, City Safety by Volvo. Its very interesting because of it's "active and automatic" nature. Of course a lot of car magazines and online sites has already covered this, but I've also seen it getting the spotlight in places like the tech blog Engadget.
There is numerous videos and documents out there that all explain how the system works pretty well. Thus, only a brief explanation will be provided here.
The system is able to break automatically and hopefully stop your car before impact, at relatively low speeds. It operates by "seeing" in front of the car with a laser sensor mounted behind the mount of the rear view mirror. If a collision is deemed inevitable, the car automatically breaks and tries to stop, or at least lessen the impact consequences.
Reliability: 7/10
There might be issues with heavy snowfall if the laser detection is sensitive to particles on the windshield.
Awesomeness: 7/10
Its awesome how the car does stuff by itself! Yes, you know it is! Automation is cool!
Total grade: 7/10
Good links if you want to read more:
http://www.thecarthatstopsitself.com/
https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/enhanced/en-gb/Media/Preview.aspx?mediaid=14564
http://blogs.motortrend.com/1005082/car-news/volvo-city-safe-system/index.html
