This smart dashboard camera can reduce car accidents by an incredible amount

From auto-braking to self-driving features, new cars are increasingly being decked out with sensors and other technology to improve their safety.

But not everybody can afford to buy a brand new vehicle, which is why the auto tech company Mobileye has created a system that can integrate into any vehicle's dashboard to offer advanced safety features.

Mobileye is the company behind the technology that powers many of the safety systems in new cars today. It builds the chip that companies like Tesla, BMW, Ford, Chrysler, GM, and Audi use in their vehicles to enable functions like auto-braking.

However, the company also uses its technology to make a camera-based collision avoidance system that can be installed in any vehicle to alert the driver to all kinds of hazards.

For example, the system will make a sound when the driver is veering out of their lane, tailgating, or if it detects that the vehicle might be on a collision course with a pedestrian or another object. The camera can also detect lane markings, traffic signs, and read speed limits, so that it can alert the driver by beeping when they are speeding.

The system begins its warning sound up to about three seconds before it detects a potential threat so that the driver can have time to correct their driving.

Mobileye has two versions of its dashboard system, one built for consumers cars called the Mobileye 5 Series and one built for larger commercial vehicles, like trucks and buses, called the Mobileye Shield Plus. Both work pretty much the same, except the Shield system can have up to four cameras attached to the commercial vehicle and three alert displays inside, while the only has one camera and one display.

While the technology helps people avoid collisions across the board, it has been particularly useful for commercial fleets, said Michael Backman, a general manager at Mobileye.

According to company data, Shield customers have seen a 39% reduction in overall collisions, a 40% reduction in forward collisions, and a 15% potential fuel reduction savings.

During a pilot, Coca-Cola Hellenic - which is the second-largest bottler for Coke - saw its forward collisions cut by 50 percent and lane departure incidents go down 80 percent, according to Mobileye's website.

"This is just one example of technology that will one day be ubiquitous and every car will have it. But we are at the early stage adoption," Backman said. "We are at the early edge of widespread adoption, but it's inevitable because the facts are there."