Subaru has a stellar safety reputation. Thanks to its advanced safety tech and standard curve-adapted LED headlights, the 2021 Subaru Ascent earned the Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. For the 2021 model year, the Subaru Forester, Legacy, Outback, and Ascent come equipped with the Japanese automaker's EyeSight safety suite, which uses two cameras to scan the road ahead to identify potential hazards such as traffic cars and pedestrians.

Subaru's EyeSight package currently includes pre-collision braking, pre-collision throttle management, adaptive cruise control, lane sway departure warning, lane keep assist, and lead vehicle start alert driver assists.

Taking this a stage further, Subaru is planning to integrate advanced "AI judgement capabilities" into its EyeSight assist system to make its next-generation models much harder to crash.

Subaru hasn't announced when the new AI technology will be integrated, but the Japanese automaker claims it will help achieve a target of zero fatal road accidents in 2030. To research and develop the technology, Subaru is opening a new AI development base called "Subaru Lab" next month in Shibuya, Japan, where a team of engineers will develop AI, image processing, cameras, sensors, and vehicle control.

Leading the team will be Subaru Lab Director Eiji Shibata, who helped develop the first generation of Subaru's EyeSight technology that launched back in 2008.

Subaru says its new AI technology will pave the way for "autonomous driving that anyone can buy" by combining a stereo camera that has been refined for over 30 years, object recognition specializing in collision avoidance, and two unique technologies "with cutting-edge AI."

Subaru's next-generation EyeSight X was also recently introduced in the new Levorg wagon, adding a new 360-degree camera and four front and rear radars to detect hazards more accurately. The EyeSight X package also uses GPS data that enables hands-free semi-autonomous driving in traffic jams and on highways.