Enhancing Traffic Safety by Active Safety Innovations 2004-21-0056

Active safety systems are designed to help the driver to avoid accidents or, if an accident is unavoidable, to mitigate accident severity. This paper describes the activities in the field of active safety pursued at the Mercedes Car Group. An accident causation analysis reveals four major types of accidents that account for the majority of fatal accidents and accidents with injuries. It is shown, how current driver assistance systems contribute to reducing these types of accidents and what future developments can be expected in this field.