Riding a bike along a row of parked cars often puts the bicyclist into what is known as the "door zone", i.e. within the reach of car doors suddenly swung open by drivers or passengers. This can of course lead to fatal results and countermeasures include "taking the lane" i.e. riding in the car lane, as well as educating people to always look for cyclists before opening doors.
In Copenhagen I snapped this picture a while ago, the text on the door says "Catch the cyclists with your eyes, not with the door" Now an ingenious method for reducing these types of accidents is being proposed by researchers from BMW and the University of Munich. It is based on using ultrasonic sensors and a haptic feedback device in the car door to increase the force required to open the door if there is an obstacle near it. This includes cyclists but also other types of objects, no more dinging doors against parking meters or light poles.
ICT Results showcases some of the results from the European APROSYS project that deals with Advanced Protection Systems in a recent article:
From the article:
"The researchers also demonstrated a sensing system to determine when a crash is imminent, and an actuator that shoots out against the inside of a car door to make it more resistant to crumpling in on occupants. They also developed a model of a truck with a special front designed to prevent pedestrians who are hit from going under the vehicle. Crash victims are instead warded off to the truck’s side, where they are more likely to survive.
As part of their contribution to testing methods and standards, the APROSYS consortium also worked on some aspects of human biomechanics. For example, the researchers studied how different bumper heights can affect damage to a leg on impact. The data and the leg model will add to the information available to testers assessing the front sections of cars, including the types of injuries sustained."
Even if an accident cannot be avoided with, say, car-to-car communication valuable information could be provided to enhance passive safety measures. I imagine knowing the mass, velocity, heading and type of vehicle that you are colliding with could be useful when deciding for example which airbags to fire and when.
When car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication is mentioned it is most often radio-based, and technologies for receiving and interpreting the signals are required in order for warnings and recommendations to be passed on to the driver. However if we move up on the electromagnetic frequency scale we eventually reach visible light. Using visible light as a means of inter-vehicle communication is not new, but what will the next generation of brake-lights and turn indicators look like?
At the International Motor Show in Geneva the EDAG Group showed the "Light Car - Open Source" concept vehicle which utilizes Organic LED (OLED) embedded in the body of the car to provide a customizable "skin" and also the possibility of displaying messages.
"With the aid of state-of-the-art (O)LED technology, EDAG uses the transparent tailgate as a projection screen, making car-to-car communication visible and usable to all motorists. For instance, the braking force can be communicated to the next vehicle by means of an illuminated scale on the back of the car. Other information, such as a distance reading or if there is the tail end of a traffic jam ahead, can be clearly displayed on the back of the car, even if the vehicle behind does not have a car-to-car communication system of its own. Further, the driver of the car behind can see the information straight away, without needing to take his eyes off the road!"
I think that inter-vehicle communication using also the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum is a clear complement to traditional radio spectrum communication. Although limited by line-of-sight conditions the ability to transfer information directly to other road users provides an interface between radio-equipped and non-radio-equipped vehicles. Besides, being able to change the look of your car on the fly would be really cool!
The EU-funded project "Dynamically Self-Configuring Automotive Systems" (DySCAS) is coming to an end this month according to the project website. The project started in 2006 and has focused on life-cycle management of in-vehicle software. As the evolutionary cycle of in-vehicle technologies rapidly exceeds that of the vehicles themselves, upgrading and reconfiguring the software part of the system becomes more important.
An article over at just-auto.com gives a good overview of the project:
"Much as the software on a personal computer connects to the internet to download and install updates, the DySCAS architecture allows automotive software to automatically download patches and improvements whenever the vehicle is in range of an accessible wireless hotspot - in the owner's garage, for example, or even in a public parking lot. It could then download new maps for the navigation system, update the entertainment system to play new music formats, or even adjust engine timing based on more fuel efficient settings supplied by the manufacturer."
Continental Corporation introduced "Ice Spy" in a recent press release. From the press release:
"Hanover, February 2009 – In the cold months of the year, black ice surprises motorists time and again. This is clearly reflected in the accident statistics. According to the Federal Office of Statistics, black ice and snow or ice were at the root of 5,230 accidents involving personal injury in 2007. To prevent drivers from being caught unawares by the danger, the international automotive supplier Continental is working on bringing an intelligent early-warning system to production readiness. The system will warn drivers following behind a vehicle so equipped of icy road conditions up ahead"
Although a bit vague on the details, the system utilizes temperature sensors to detect ice when the vehicle passes over it. Black ice is especially tricky for motorists as it is highly transparent which makes it hard to detect as this video illustrates.
The press release mentions that slippery conditions can already today be detected by analyzing the vehicle dynamics, I assume for example wheel slip. Coincidentally, today I also read a paper from the Finnish technical research center VTT on the topic of ice and water detection:
Kutila, M. "Road State Monitoring for Cooperative Traffic Safety System." Scientific activities in transport telematics 2008, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. p. 24-27. Download report
Their approach is based on the fact that light reflected off of ice or water has less horizontal polarization. Using near-infrared cameras and image analysis they show that ice and water can be detected in front of the vehicle.
Detecting slippery conditions before passing over them is of course preferable to detecting it when you're on top of it, Continental's sensors does not provide this by themselves. However this is where car-to-car communication comes in:
"In the future, car-to-car (C2C) systems will provide valuable service in enabling vehicles to communicate with other vehicles and with the traffic infrastructure. It will make it possible for a vehicle detecting black ice to inform the vehicle behind it of this danger.”
Both Continental and VTT are part of the SAFESPOT project that investigates cooperative safety services.
The European Integrated Project (IP) Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems (CVIS) is arranging a competition to stir up some interest in their software and hardware architecture.
From the announcement:
"The purpose of this contest is to make the ITS community aware of the CVIS concept and demonstrate its possibilities by selecting the most promising applications and support the contest-winning teams to develop and demonstrate their applications in a cooperative systems test bed in Germany, France, Italy, UK, Sweden, Netherlands and Belgium."
Competitors will have to make it through three stages and winners will be announced at the ITS World Congress in Stockholm this year.
We, the VAS project team at HH will of course participate!
