There’s a lot of talk these days about self-driving cars and their place in our driving future. While we are likely to see autonomous vehicles plying our highways in the years ahead, in the meantime many of the advanced technologies integral to self-driving cars are available in vehicles you can buy today, making them smarter and safer. Focusing on accident prevention and driver convenience, their appearance is usually in higher-end vehicles first before they filter down to more affordable models, driven by popularity, major cost reductions, and government mandates. Fortunately, many new capabilities can be added easily by writing software that uses sensors, cameras, and other hardware already installed on a vehicle. Automakers can use the Internet of Things (IoT) to add this software over the air without requiring owners to take vehicles back to the dealer, just like Windows and Apple update your computer and smartphone. Yes, it’s a brave new world.
DRIVER DROWSINESS DETECTION helps prevent accidents. Fatigue can be measured by monitoring eye activity, changes in driving style determined by steering input, or a lane departure alert system showing a driver is often drifting from his lane. In more sophisticated systems drowsiness could be identified with sensors monitoring brain activity, heart rate, skin conductance, or muscle activity. A visual or audible warning may be issued or the driver’s seat may vibrate. More sophisticated monitoring techniques may also detect a medical emergency and call 911.
BLIND ZONE ALERT systems typically use radar or ultrasonic sensors on both sides of the vehicle to “look” for cars, trucks, and motorcycles in side blind zones. These systems alert a driver with a flashing light in the side view mirrors and often with an audible sound or vibration of the steering wheel. If the turn signal in not activated to indicate you’re planning to change lanes, the mirror warning light glows to show there’s a vehicle in your blind spot but does not flash.
ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL augments a vehicle’s standard cruise control system to enhance safety. Once selected, it automatically adjusts vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead. The system’s radar, laser sensors, and/or cameras detect if you will be overtaking a vehicle in the lane ahead and automatically slows your speed if necessary. Your set cruise control speed resumes when traffic ahead allows.
COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEMS can prevent or reduce the severity of a collision by using cameras, radar, and sometimes LIDAR to detect an imminent crash. Once detected, the system provides a warning if a collision is imminent and can autonomously activate braking or steering, or both. If a driver does not react to a warning, the system pre-charges brakes and increases brake assist sensitivity to maximize braking performance. Most manufacturers plan to include automatic emergency braking as standard equipment on cars in the U.S. by 2022.
LANE DEPARTURE ALERT uses a specialized camera to detect painted lane markings and alert a driver that inadvertently strays out of their lane. An audible warning and indicator light on the instrument panel is typically used to warn wayward drivers, and sometimes a steering wheel vibration. In more sophisticated systems, Steering Assist will initiate corrective steering to help keep the vehicle in its lane if a driver does not take corrective action.
OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE SYSTEMS scan the road ahead with radar, ultrasonic sensors, and/or cameras for pedestrians, motorcycles, large animals, or other objects that are stopped or moving slowly. Initially, visual and audio warnings are given when a potential collision is detected by the sensors. If necessary, automated steering and braking maneuvers the vehicle to avoid a collision.
ANTICIPATING THE ROAD AHEAD is possible with GPS navigation data integrated with on-board systems. For example, navigation data can be used to control a transmission or set up suspension for a winding road ahead, or adjust for sporty driving, fuel economy, or comfort. In plug-in vehicles data can be used to identify sections of a route best suited for electric drive or for charging the battery.
REAL TIME TRAFFIC INFORMATION supplied by a traffic information service identifies accidents and other traffic delays by presenting this information on a navigation screen. The navigation system can calculate and recommend alternate routes to a destination that bypass the location causing a delay.
PARKING ASSIST enables hands-off automated parallel and often also perpendicular parking by controlling throttle, steering, and braking. The system scans to assure there is sufficient space and often locates vacant parking spots. Advanced systems may work with a real-time traffic information system to predict the odds of finding an open parking spot in a particular area, since looking for a parking space is a major contributor to traffic congestion in urban areas.
PRE-SENSE SYSTEMS detect potentially unavoidable crashes with sensors from electronic stability and collision avoidance systems, blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control, and rear cameras. A pre-sense event occurs in phases with a visual and/or audible warning so the driver can take evasive action, then brief automatic braking tells a driver to apply braking with brake assist enhancing deceleration. If a collision can’t be avoided maximum braking is applied, seat belts are pre-tensioned, hazard lights are activated, windows are closed, and airbags deployed to mitigate injuries.
REMOTE PARK ASSIST allows your car to autonomously park in a tight spot or a narrow garage. With this system, driver and passengers exit the vehicle once it is aligned with a parking spot. The vehicle is then slowly and autonomously moved forward using a remote control fob or smartphone. This capability is made possible by surround-view sensors that enable precise movement and positioning of the vehicle amid other cars or objects, using the same sensors and controls as those used by more familiar parallel and perpendicular park assist systems. Once parked, the car can also be turned off and locked remotely. The process is reversed to fetch the car when you want to leave.
VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COMMUNICATION allows vehicles to “talk” with one another to exchange information like speed and GPS-derived location. The main benefit is accident avoidance, but once implemented this sophisticated network could also reduce traffic congestion. Vehicles share safety data 10 times per second to identify risks and provide warnings to avoid crashes. This kind of information can inform a driver in advance whether it is safe to pass on a two-lane road, make a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic, or if a vehicle is approaching at a blind intersection. Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication enables the transfer of data between vehicles and elements of the roadway infrastructure including speed limits and traffic lights. With advanced V2V and V2I systems, vehicles could autonomously take necessary actions to avoid a potentially serious incident or collision.
The Department of Transportation’s year-long Safety Pilot ‘model deployment’ in Ann Arbor, Michigan is over but the learning curve has just begun. Representing the largest-ever road test of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology with nearly 3,000 vehicles, the demonstration explored V2V’s many benefits in real-world situations as vehicles communicated with one another, exchanging real-time information like speed and GPS-derived location. While the main benefit is accident avoidance, the technology is also ‘green’ since it can reduce traffic congestion and save fuel.
This large scale demonstration was successful in showing interoperability of V2V technology among products from different vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. Thus, from this and years of DOT testing of V2V technologies, DOT and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) say they will begin taking steps to encourage V2V communication technology in future light vehicles.
With V2V, vehicles share basic safety data 10 times a second. DOT research indicates that safety applications using V2V technology can address a large majority of crashes involving two or more vehicles. With safety data such as speed and location from nearby vehicles, vehicles can identify risks and provide drivers with warnings to avoid rear-end, lane change, and intersection crashes
Vehicle-to-vehicle communications can provide 360-degree situational awareness to avoid crash situations. For example, those nagging questions – is it safe to pass on a two-lane road, make a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic, or are vehicles approaching a blind intersection – are answered for you, consistently and automatically. In these situations, V2V communications can warn of potential threats hundreds of yards from other vehicles that cannot be seen, often when on-board sensors alone cannot detect the threat. Early indications show real potential to avoid 70 to 80 percent of crashes involving unimpaired drivers.
One challenge comes from the fact that V2V technology uses the 5.9-GHz frequency band also used by Wi-Fi devices. This could potentially cause interference and affect the integrity of V2V safety communications. That’s an important consideration since communication delays of even thousandths of a single second matter when dealing with auto and highway safety. Experts are working with the Wi-Fi industry to see how this spectrum can be safely shared.
This current pronouncement doesn't address autonomous cars or application in large vehicles like trucks and buses. The demonstration didn't include any V2V interaction with vehicle controls but rather only warnings to prevent collisions, not involving robotically operated systems like automatic braking or steering as part of an anti-collision strategy. That said, NHTSA is also considering future safety technologies that rely on on-board sensors. Those technologies are eventually expected to blend with V2V technology.
For those concerned with privacy, V2V technology does not involve exchanging or recording personal information or tracking vehicles. The information sent between vehicles does not identify a specific vehicle, just basic safety data. The contemplated system also contains several layers of security and privacy protection.
NHTSA will now begin working on proposed regulatory actions that would require V2V devices in new vehicles. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage development of V2V technology and pave the way for market penetration of V2V tech that will represent the next generation of life-saving achievements, enhancing the well-documented protection already seen with safety belts and air bags.