The iOnRoad driving assistance app — which already has nearly 200,000 users in Europe — transforms a cell phone from a sometimes illegal distraction into a collision-warning system that even includes lane-departure alerts. So much for existing laws and calls to ban cell phone use while driving. iOnRoad offers the first smartphone app that actually turns your mobile phone into an Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS).

Just shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, iOnRoad announced the addition of two new important features that improve driving safety for users: Lane Departure Warning and the photo-based Car Locator.

iOnRoad is an app that uses the smartphone’s native camera and sensors to detect vehicles to the front and will alert drivers when they’re too close. The app constantly maps the range of the objects in front of the driver in real-time, considering the user’s current speed. With the phone in a dash mount, users can set the iOnRoad app in either real-time mode or ‘background’ mode, where the application can run behind another app but warn the driver of danger.

Unlike OEM versions of ADAS, iOnRoad does not cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. The app is currently free on the Android Market and there will be an Apple iOS version in the next few months.

Check out this video.