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This paper describes the Nissan ASV-2, an experimental advanced safety vehicle, and the technologies • • incorporated in this vehicle. The Nissan ASV-2 was developed during the second phase (FY 1996–2000) of the Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) program promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Newly developed technologies are incorporated into the vehicle specifically for reducing the number of traffic accidents overall. Overviews are given of the major individual systems that have been developed as Nissan ASV technologies, and several systems that are distinctive features of the ASV-2 are discussed in detail.

Car Periphery Supervision (CPS) systems comprise a family of automotive systems that are based on sensors installed around the vehicle to monitor its environment. The measurement and evaluation of sensor data enables the realization of several kinds of higher level applications such as parking assistance or blind spot detection. Although a lot of similarity can be identified among CPS applications, these systems are traditionally built separately. Usually, each single system is built with its own electronic control unit, and it is likely that the application software is bound to the controller's hardware. Current systems engineering therefore often leads to a large number of inflexible, dedicated systems in the automobile that together consume a large amount of power, weight, and installation space and produce high manufacturing and maintenance costs.

Recently, the direct yaw-moment control system, in which braking or driving torque is distributed appropriately to the tires on either side, has been put to practical use. Such systems are called VDC or VSC, and are available on the market. These systems aim to prevent the vehicle from falling into an unstable state, but cannot bring a destabilized vehicle back to a stable state. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that highly skilled drivers are capable of steering a destabilized vehicle back into control. In this paper, we propose a driver-assistance system that automatically steers the front wheels in order to recover a vehicle that is spinning out. When a vehicle enters a tailspin, the system takes over the steering. Once the vehicle recovers, control is given back to the driver. The issue of how to return control from automatic to manual is of particular interest.

In this paper, the invisible hand concept for the definition of Advanced Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS) Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) is introduced. The main idea is that these systems become a sort of "invisible hand'' able to support the driver and to increase driving safety if they are integrated with each other (i.e., longitudinal, lateral and rear control) and the most "persuasive'' and "efficient'' interaction between driver and ADA systems is developed. Here the analysis is conducted taking into consideration the technological evolution scenario and the identification of related user interaction aspects (including technical and communication analysis). Moreover, the ways to design the best interaction between drivers and ADAS interfaces from communication and HMI points of view has been included as well as an overview of the user centered approach adopted in the Centro Ricerche Fiat's design process.

Navigation quality map databases have evolved during the last 10 years in coverage, content and accuracy to the level today that they are being used (and considered) for applications beyond turn-by-turn navigation. For a number of advanced driver assistance systems in Europe and North America, the navigation maps are being included as an essential component for efficient and economical functionality. In addition, for dynamic route guidance, referencing incident location, extent of delay, traffic speed and on-the-move re-routing require the most sophistication in road network data and routing algorithms.

The car of the future will be very different from that which we know today - no longer just a mechanical transportation device, but a mobile communications and entertainment platform providing many new functions and services to the occupants. The use of cellular telephones whilst driving is already a source of major concern and further legislation regarding phone usage will undoubtedly be forthcoming. The future will also add display based navigation, internet access, e-commerce and other location dependent services which will increase the drivers cognitive load. We will also see driver assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance warnings and vision enhancement systems which will change the driving task and could potentially reduce cognitive load almost to the level of autopilot monitoring.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are beginning to be sold by vehicle manufacturers worldwide. The combination at looking at sensors and an enhanced map database give promise to even better products in the future.

Increased traffic; people spending more time driving; the human desire for more safety and convenience in vehicles - these are just several facts which have to be considered by today's vehicle manufacturer who would like to play a leading role now and in the years to come. One of the most important responsibilities of a vehicle operator is to maintain lateral control. With, for example, the growing number of SUV's and their increasing size, lateral control of the vehicle is becoming more difficult. Equipping vehicles with sensors, detecting the environment around the vehicle, could be an effective driver assistance system. Knowing the lane width, and vehicle position within it, are important parameters for the vehicle operator to be aware of at all times. Due to the fact that the driving environment is laid out for the human eyes, sensors have been developed which operate at or near the visible wavelength range that can play an important role in detecting the lane borders.

This paper will first describe the project FORFAHRT. The aim of FORFAHRT is the identification and analysis of improved low-emission drivetrain structures for integration into a driver assistance system. Part of the assessment during the project will be DI-spark-ignition engines, integrated starter alternator systems as well as different transmission concepts such as CVT-transmissions or automated manual transmissions. The analysis focuses on “conventional” drivetrain components, not on hybrid or electric propulsion. The analysis is done with the sub-microscopic traffic simulation program PELOPS [5], which was developed at the ‘Institut fuer Kraftfahrwesen Aachen’ in co-operation with the BMW AG. PELOPS models the fundamental elements of traffic -namely route, environment, driver and vehicle- with highest accuracy. The second part of the paper gives first results of the project work.

Advances in electronics technology have opened numerous opportunities for new automotive products. One emerging area is the use camera systems to replace traditional rear vision systems in automotive applications. This paper will discuss the advantages of such systems, what technical advancements have led to the feasibility of such systems, and an example implementation of an electronic rear vision system.

This paper is concerned with the description of a vision system designed for use within future driver assistance systems. The system comprises a high dynamic range CMOS camera, dedicated evaluation hardware based on commercial available PC technology as well as algorithms for the interpretation of video scenes in video real time. The sensor is employed for vehicle environment sensing. Tasks include lane boundary detection, object detection and road sign recognition.

The assignment of vehicles detected by distance sensors to lanes relative to the own vehicle is an important and necessary task for future driver assistance systems like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). The collective motion of objects driving in front of the vehicle allows a prediction of the vehicle's own driving course. The method uses not only data of the host vehicle to determine its own trajectory but as well data from a distance sensor supplying distances and angles of objects ahead of the vehicle to determine the trajectories of these objects. Algorithms were developed using an off-line simulation, which was fed with recorded data obtained from a real ACC vehicle. The results show a significant improvement in the quality of the predicted driving course compared to other methods solely based on data of the host vehicle. Particularly in situations of changing curvature, e.g. the beginning of a bend, the algorithm helps to improve the overall system performance of ACC.

Actual research results in the automotive field show that there is a big potential in increasing active and passive safety by implementing intelligent driver assisting systems. Realizing such safety related system functions requires an electronic system without mechanical or hydraulic backup to de-couple the human interface from the vehicle functions, e.g., steering and braking. Safety critical functions without mechanical backup enforce new requirements in system design. Any faulty behavior of a component within the system must not lead to a malfunction of the overall system. Consequently in the system design fault-tolerance mechanisms in real time must be introduced. Active replication of a functional node is a proper solution to guarantee this real time fault-tolerance. Redundancy management of the functional nodes can be implemented by fail-silent replicas, i.e. a node behaves correctly or does not produce any output at all.

The concept of driver assistance systems has been a major focal point of the research at BMW and comprises among other things Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), a concept for assistance in longitudinal control; Adaptive Light Control (ALC), a concept for headlight adaptation to different driving situations; and Situation Adaptive drivetrain Management (SAM), a concept for recommending drivetrain related handling strategies to the driver in order to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Advanced vehicle navigation based on the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) will play a major role in future BMW driver assistance systems. The integration of precision navigation in vehicle control systems enables automatic adaptation of the vehicle (its states as well as its parameters) depending upon the future geometry of the roadway and memorized attributes/events using a GPS positioning system in combination with a digital road database.

A new approach to improve the driver's safety is to actively support the driving task and prevent possibly dangerous situations. This paper is about the family of driver assistance systems which will combine three steps of information processing: Automatic collection of data by scanning the environment of the vehicle; Automatic processing of data according to the need of the driver and his driving task; Appropriate presentation of valuable information to the driver. Electronic sensor systems will enlarge the driver's knowledge about what is actually going on around his vehicle. These systems expand the human sensor systems eye and ear for the special purpose "safe driving."

The development from passive safety systems to driver assistance systems is discussed in this paper. One example of a driver assistance system is the so-called autonomous cruise control system. In this paper, the Automatic Distance contRol system (ADR) will be described in detail. Both the benefits for the customer as well as the technical aspects of the system are discussed. Basically, a five beam laser sensor is used to detect objects. Electric throttle control and electric brake control is ensuring that the safety distance between vehicles is kept up to a specific level.

To be an assistance for the driver and make his journeys more comfortable are the aims of the first “ACC” (Adaptive Cruise Control). It is the first step of a new area for the automotive future. ODIN is the name of the ACC-sensor made by ADC GmbH Switzerland, which based on infrared light (IR). There are full of parameters to describe the situation in front of a vehicle. Developing an ACC-sensor, needs to define this parameters exactly. What are the requirements? This will be discussed in the first section of the lecture. The near IR is out from research and already a cheap and reliable technology. Due to the close relation between the visible light the IR technology is predestinated for an forward looking sensor. The differences between other technologies will be illustrated. ODIN has been quite a success for many ACC application at the automotive industry. ADC still improve their knowledge and wants to present how we come up to the requirements of ACC.

Eaton VORAD has developed and marketed a collision warning system for heavy trucks since mid-year 1994. Integrating this headway detection device to other vehicle components achieves benefits to the operator that are greater than that of the individual parts. Eaton has previously developed and reported upon SmartCruise Intelligent Cruise Control System that integrates electronically-controlled engines to the standard collision warning system to provide an unusual level of driver convenience and safety. This paper describes the latest research at Eaton Research and Development Center regarding integration with the foundation brakes to create an assisted braking system for collision avoidance. The operational intent for this latest integration is to use it as a panic brake assistant.

This paper is based on the experiences with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems at BOSCH. Necessary components (especially range sensor, curve sensors, actuators and display) are described, roughly specified, and their respective strength and weaknesses are addressed. The system overview contains the basic structure, the main control strategy and the concept for driver-ACC interaction. Afterwards the principal as well as the current technical limits of ACC systems are discussed. The consequences on traffic flow, safety and driver behavior are emphasized. As an outlook, development trends for extended functionality are given for the next generation of driver assistance systems.

The development of a robust, unified systems architecture is an important problem in IVHS technology. This paper presents a sketch of a general architectural framework within which IVHS systems can carry out a wide range of management and control functions. The most important aspect of the work reported here is the definition of two parallel and compatible architectures suitable in the first case for ATMS and ATIS functions, where the driver controls the vehicle, and in the second case for AVCS functions, where the vehicle is under automatic control.