Smarter Cars Mean Safer Roads

Driving speeds have largely stabilized, and nowadays, safety concerns are paramount and minimizing road fatalities is a must. So, automakers are focused on safety systems more than ever before. Given the emphasis on improving vehicular safety, it's possible that well-known phrases such as "live fast and die young" may lose their meaning as innovative new devices are built into cars and trucks and other things that go.

Many of the new safety systems that are being added to high-end vehicles as well as prototypes for the larger consumer market are computer-assisted technologies that transfer some of the vehicle's operations to the vehicle itself, rather than relying solely on the driver's decision-making skills and reflexes.  For example, predictive brake assist is an in-vehicle feature that prepares the vehicle for braking when its built-in proximity sensors detect a potential obstacle ahead. The predictive brake assist basically places the vehicle's braking system on alert, which primes the system to slow down the car in as little time and as short a distance as possible.

Other in-vehicle sensors will detect moving and static objects and will even differentiate the objects based on simple patterns, e.g., identifying other vehicles vs. a person vs. a guardrail. CCTV systems (infrared and normal vision cameras) and LIDAR (laser radar) sensors will detect objects as well as provide drivers with augmented night vision, which could lead to safer nighttime driving.

What's more, built-in, in-vehicle "active systems," i.e., predictive precollision systems, will provide drivers with advance detection of potential contact between vehicles.  These systems compute the relative movement of the objects and detect possible trajectory intersections.

Another amazing innovation toward the full automation of vehicles is platooning.  Fully automated vehicles form a "platoon chain," in which the first vehicle in the chain is manually maneuvered and the rest of the vehicles fall in behind the lead vehicle. The speed and following distance of the "chase" vehicles are maintained by the in-vehicle automation systems. To accommodate these future vehicles, special roadway lanes are prepared and reserved for their use.

What technological developments have enabled innovations like predictive precollision systems? Essentially, these so-called active systems are the result of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, which are actually being deployed around the globe. These communication links allow highways to provide a vehicle's occupants with services such as renting a movie during the trip, as well as reduce reaction delays when medical care is needed due to a crash or after a vehicle raises an emergency call automatically.  Thanks to these vehicle-to-infrastructure interactions, an "intelligent operation center" can give priority to police cars, ambulances and public transport when required and also establish traffic abatement policies.

Despite these new technologies, drivers cannot take safety for granted. Until all vehicles are fully automated, it is the drivers themselves who are responsible for operating their vehicles conscientiously and obeying traffic laws designed to keep roadways secure.  So, buckle up and keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the steering wheel.

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About this Week's Guest Blogger:

José Ignacio Herrero Zarzosa is an industrial engineer with GMV SISTEMAS, S.A., a privately-owned, technology solutions company based in Madrid, Spain. Visit the website for more information: www.gmv.com.

PHOTO: From the NextWorld series, DCL |

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