It’s early on Monday morning as you begin your commute to work. Traffic is heavy on the interstate, turning a normally smooth ride into a series of “stop and gos.” You reach down to grab a coffee mug and just as your attention returns to the traffic in front of you, a car from a neighboring lane decides to pull over to yours…and then slam on his brakes. A collision seems unavoidable, and you’re wondering how much its going to hurt as you try to react in time.
Fear not. Your car has detected the impending collision long before you did. An audible alarm is going off, and there is a red light reflected in the windshield. Front radar has already gauged the distance and speed to the car in front of you and determined how much braking force will be needed to avoid the impact. The braking system already is pressurized, waiting for you to apply the brake to deliver maximum force to the wheels. And if you’re too slow to respond, the car will do it for you.
Of course, the mandatory electronic stability control program will prevent any loss of control or rollover. Seatbelts are locked and pretensioned, airbags are armed and ready, even the seats have moved to restore them to a position most likely to minimize injury to you and the other occupants.
If, after all this, a collision still occurs, the car automatically turns on the hazard lamps and illuminates the interior. It then notifies the authorities of the accident, providing them with not only the location and vehicle involved, but the extent of injuries to expect.
These systems, and more, exist today thanks to the progress made in automotive electronics.
“New technologies such as radar, cameras, lasers and GPS may enable us to offer more safety and convenience features in the future”, says Jeff Rupp, manager of Active Safety for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. “A key is identifying the kinds of warnings that drivers will find both more effective and easier to understand.”
Here’s a description of some of the systems you’ll see in your bays today.
Collision Avoidance
Rear end collisions account for up to 40 percent of the traffic accidents reported to the police. And in roughly half of those, the driver involved never touched the brakes prior to the impact!
Many manufacturers have developed systems designed to minimize the risk of rear-ending the car in front of you. Volvo was one of the first to debut such a system, called City Safety®, included as standard equipment on the XC60. This system is active at speeds below roughly 20 mph. It uses a camera and radar to monitor any vehicles in front, both stationary and moving, and calculates the braking speed that would be needed to avoid an impact. When the calculated value exceeds a programmed threshold, the system alerts the driver of the impending collision. If the driver fails to act, the system will apply the brakes for him.
PAGE 2Ford has made a similar system available on several of its 2010 models. It’s called Collision Warning With Brake Support and takes advantage of many of the same inputs used by its Active Cruise Control system. Using front mounted, wide band radar sensors, the Ford system also monitors traffic in front of the car.
When the control unit deems a collision is likely, a red warning light is projected on the windshield, just above the instrument panel, and an audible alarm is sounded. The brake system is pressurized and a brake assist feature is activated, so any pressure applied to the brake pedal will result in maximum braking being applied to the wheels.
The system also is adjustable by the driver, with three alert times between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds being available.
“It depends on the user’s preference, because one person’s false alarm is another person’s near miss, and it’s important that drivers are comfortable with the system,” says Tom Pilutti, technical expert with Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. “Our research shows that most drivers will prefer and feel more comfortable with the longer default setting.”
These systems also either are being developed or already are offered by several other manufacturers. The ability of the system to monitor events in front of the car is being expanded upon by engineers to include pedestrians. BMW, for one, has added its Night Vision system to make pedestrians even more visible to the driver in low light conditions. The system makes it able to detect pedestrians nearly 1,000 feet in front of the car while displaying the image on a screen mounted in the center of the dash.
Combating Driver Distraction
According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, sleepy drivers cause nearly 100,000 accidents a year. These accidents result in more than 70,000 injures and 1,500 fatalities. Driver alert systems monitor how the vehicle is being driven and warn the driver if the system detects the vehicle is being driven erratically.
“We do not monitor human behavior…but instead the effect that fatigue or decreased concentration has on driving behavior,” Daniel Levin, project manager for Driver Alert Control, Volvo, says. “Our technology is based on the car’s progress on the road.”
The Volvo system uses a camera mounted between the rear view mirror and the windshield as the primary sensor for the control unit. The camera constantly monitors the vehicle’s position in relation to the lane markings. If the vehicle begins to stray without reason (no lane change signal made by the driver, for example), the system sets off an audible alarm and a little coffee cup symbol appears on the Driver’s Information Center, reminding the driver it might be time to take a break.
Driver distractions caused by other things, like cell phones and screaming kids, also can cause the alarm to sound. “This is a positive side effect of our concept,” Levin adds.
Akin to the Driver Alert Control system is the Lane Departure Warning system. Single vehicle road departures account for nearly 25 percent of all U.S. traffic accidents and 33 percent of all fatalities. Using the same camera and sensors, this system must be activated by the driver by turning on the switch on the center console.
It is only active at speeds over 37 miles per hour, and it monitors the vehicle’s position in relation to the lane markers, sounding an alarm if the vehicle begins to wander. Because the system is dependent on a clear, constant view of the lane markings, low light, bad weather and missing/poor lane markers can cause the system to go off line. Still, Volvo engineers believe the system can reduce the risk of accident for its owners by over 40 percent.
What’s In The Blind Spot?
Another common cause of accident is the vehicle’s blind spots — those areas to the rear of any car that the mirrors can’t reflect and driver can’t see. Have you ever been behind a big truck that has a sign on the rear of the trailer that says, “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.”
Ford’s answer is BLIS, short for Blind Spot Information System. This system uses two multiple beam radars, one mounted in each rear quarter panel. When another vehicle enters the zone covered by the radar, a warning icon is illuminated in the side mirror on that side of the car.
Chrysler calls its service BSM, which stands for Blind Spot Monitoring. It uses radar as well, and warns the driver with an illuminated symbol in the side view mirror and an optional audible tone that can be selected by the driver. BMW’s Lane Change Warning system uses visual and vibratory alerts to warn the driver when another vehicle is in the blind spot.
These systems also make another possible. Ford calls it Cross Traffic Alert, but the effect is the same on all systems. Using the same radar, approaching vehicle traffic can be detected when backing up in a parking lot. Vehicles moving over 5 miles per hour can be detected up to 45 feet away at nearly a 90-degree angle, warning you of impending disaster when trying to back out of your parking space in a busy shopping mall.
Yes, we techs may complain of the increasing complexity of the modern automobile, but none of us can deny that this same technology is making vehicles safer.
And that’s a good thing for us in a few ways. One, it’s sure to keep us busy as our profession becomes more demanding. And two, those we love are traveling in those cars.
