NHTSA: The Safety Pilot planned in Ann Arbor, Mich. staring from Aug. 2012

According to an article from Wired, a field trial involving 3000 vehicles equipped with V2V communication system is planned in Aug. 2012. The trial will take about one year in Ann Arbor, Mich. to collect sufficient data for V2V standardization and to evaluate the safety applications using V2V wireless technologies.

The original article is available at Feds To Begin Testing Connected Vehicles.

IEEE 802.11p is turning cars into trains

It could be true that when you are "driving" on the highway and reading the newspaper at the same time. See how Volvo and her partners are turning cars into an autonomously formed train on the highway.


The first demonstration from the EU Framework 7 project SARTRE. (Curtsy to Newscientist )

Man can guess what are driving behind the car-train are wireless radios, sensors and positioning sensors. By putting the chaotic traffic into neatly organized platoons, the technologies are saving energy and protecting us.

It's quite interesting to see the well ordered traffic bring efficiency. Think about the chaotic wireless data packets exchanged among the vehicles. There must be better ways to coordinate the "traffic over the air" than the RANDOM IEEE 802.11p, or?

About the SARTRE project: http://www.sartre-project.eu/en/Sidor/default.aspx

Overview on U.S. IntelliDrive Project

Just today, I found a very nice overview article from Shelley J. Row about the U.S. IntelliDrive project: (So far, I have no permission granted from the U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration’s “Public Roads”, where the article was originally published. But you can fine the full text through the following link):

IntelliDrive: Safer. Smarter. Greener.

AKTIV - Final Project Presentation 2010-06-23

June 23rd, 2010, the four-year German research project "AKTIV" came to the end with the final project presentation on 23rd and 24th of June 2010 in the testfield of TüV Rheinland, Mendig.

Being considered as the most important project at the moment in this aera, this German national project got most of the EU car manufacturers involoved and contributed to the topics from automotive safety to environment friendly traffic management.

Following are some facts of the project:
AKTIV is the acronym used for the research initiative "Adaptive and cooperative technologies for intelligent transport". AKTIV has an overall budget of €60 million, the majority of which is provided by the research partners. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is contributing €25 million, while the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is providing €2.1 million. The research initiative itself is divided into two main projects in which Volkswagen is heavily involved: "Assistance Systems / Active Safety" ("AS") and "Traffic Management" ("VM"). In addition to these main areas, the initiative also includes the project "Cooperative Cars" ("CoCar").

With an investment volume of €37.5 million, "AS" is the largest project within this research initiative. Besides "Integrated Lateral Assistance" ("IQF"), this project also investigates the four topics of "Active Hazard Braking" ("AGB"), "Intersection Assistance" ("KAS"), "Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety" ("SFR") and "Driver Awareness and Safety" ("FSA").

About €18 million are available in the "Traffic Management" project. In addition to other topics, Situation-Responsive Driving ("STAF") is the focus of intensive research in this project.

"The partners of AKTIV are as follows: Adam Opel GmbH, AUDI AG, AZT Automotive GmbH, BMW Group, Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), Continental, Daimler AG, Ericsson, Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen GmbH, Hessian Road and Traffic Authority (HLSV), Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes - University of Applied Sciences, IBEO, ifak e.V. Magdeburg, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, PTV AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens AG, Technische Universität Braunschweig (Braunschweig University of Technology), Technische Universität München (University of Technology, Munich), Tele Atlas Deutschland GmbH, Transver GmbH, Universität Kassel (University of Kassel), Vodafone Group R&D Germany and Volkswagen AG. Many university and research institutes as well as small and medium-sized businesses have also been subcontracted to work on the projects."

For more information about the event, please see the press release from AKTIV official web site, Ford, VW, AUDI and BMW:

Press from AKTIV;
Press from European Ford Research Center;
Press from VW;
Press from Audi;
Press from BMW.

An AMULETT for Pedestrian Safety with C2X Communication

The research project AMULETT funded by Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs focuses on the personal safety of pedestrian using C2X communication. That is realized through the cooperative sensor system between the car and the transponder carried by the pedestrian.

This three year research project was led by BMW Research and Technology in together with Continental Safety Engineering International GmBH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, TUM and ZENTEC GmbH. On 6th of May 2009, AMULETT will presentes the results to the public.

Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/04/22/bmw-car-2-x-communication-improves-pedestrian-safety/

Car-2-Car Communication System from University of Sourth Australia

Sydney, 13 Feb. 2009 -- A active safety system using Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology has been developed by a team from University of South Australia. The system use DSRC combining GPS for car communication aiming at safety applications like danger warning. The field trails of this system developed by Cohda Wireless and University of SA have been conducted in the US and Europe, and a large-scale trial is planned for Adelaide, according to the news.

News sources:
- Talking cars alert to danger and may avert crashes at www.news.com.au
- Soon, cars will talk to each other to avert accidents at sindhtoday
- University Of South Australia Says Inter-Car Communication Could Be A Reality By 2012 at www.themotorreport.com.au
- Getting cars talking to reduce accidents at www.australianit.news.com.au
- Cars to become wireless nodes with DSRC radio tech at www.geek.com
- The Next Node on the Net: Your Car! at www.readwriteweb.com

Electronic Nervous System for the Modern Vehicle

Driver assistance system using cameras and sensors is about to have dramatic effect on the automobile. The article by Christoph Hammerschmidt from EETimes Europe provided a glance on the state of the art on CMOS image sensors and DSP technologies applied in driver assistance systems. As an outlook, the article also revealed that driver assistance systems are evolving to a kind of electronic nervous system for the modern car, which is able to perform lane maintaining, traffic sign recognition, pedestrian recognition and even virtual situation imaging using car-to-car communication.

The article is available at: The thinking car sees a clear road ahead @ EETimes Dec. 2008

"Active Safety Car" Project in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany

09, Jan. 2009 -- A consortium of six companies led by Delphi Deutschland has launched the research project, namely Active Safety Car, working towards the automotive-based system that utilizes on-board cameras and sensors, as well as car-to-car communication to improve the traffic safety. The project is partly founded by the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state government.

The aim of the project is to develop a system that uses cameras, radars and sensors not only to recognize, but also share and exchange the information with other vehicles about hazards. Therefore, the focuses of research will be real-time image processing, pattern recognition, on-board real-time information processing, and car-to-car communication.

* Figure from allesueberautotechnik.de

* Figure from allesueberautotechnik.de

The consortium consists of Delphi Deutschland, Wuppertal University, Ceteq GmbH & Co KG,
Riedel Communications, and Volkswagen AG. The research tasks cover the following ares:
* Pedestrian safety through pedestrian detection and warning
* Vehicle detection and warning,
* Accident prediction and warning of critical situations,
* Prototype implementation
* Camera based pedestrian and vehicle recognition
* Car-to-Car or Car-to-Infrastructure communication

Source and figure courtesy:
allesueberautotechnik: Active Safety Car
EEtimes: Cars share cameras, radar sensors
www.elektroniknet.de: Projekt »Active Safety Car« gestartet

Test Center for "Connected Vehicle" Technology in Detroit

Detroit - Jan. 26, 2009. -- The vehicle communication technology is there, and now requires to be implemented and tested and put into production.

The Michigan International Speedway offered its track, which is know for NASCAR events, to the "Connacted Vehicles"initiative as a neutral testing ground for active safety applications using vehicular communication technology. It is said by MDOT's Krueger that the U.S. Department of Transportation pledged $100 million to this effort for a five-year period starting from 2005.

Source: The Detroit News

21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles

The 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) is scheduled on June 15-18, 2009, in Stuttgart, Germany.
http://www.esv2009.com/

OKI's World's First DSRC Inter-Vehicle Communication Attachment to Mobile Phone for Pedestrain Safety

TOKYO, Jan. 8, 2009 OKI announced the development of the world's first Dedicate Short Range Communication (DSRC) inter-vehicle communication attachment for mobile phones to connect the pedestrian and vehicles for road safety.


* Picture from OKI

The so named SPAN (Safety Personal Area Network) System utilizing the DSRC inter-vehicle communication with support of cellular system is aiming at improving road safety for the vulnerable road users, e.g. pedestrian and bicycle riders.

* Picture from OKI

* Picture from OKI

Althrough it is the penetration rate of DSRC equippment on market for both automotive users and cellular phone users that determines the performance of the SPAN system, it is a very promissing technology by exploring the way to combine communication sysetm and transportation system, as well as reveal the potential of wireless communication in inter-connecting machines instead of only people.

The original press from OKI can be found at:
http://www.oki.com/en/press/2009/01/z08113e.html

GM & Opel Develop Vehicles with a Sixth Sense

On the second international forum of CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, GM and Opel demonstrated their vehicular communication systems.

(News from: Infibeam. The original article can be found at http://news.infibeam.com/blog/news/2008/11/03/gm_opel_develop_vehicles_with_a_sixth_sense.html)

"In its second international forum, the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium (C2C-CC) is demonstrating for the first time worldwide vehicle-to-X communication independent of manufacturer or vehicle-type. Opel is hosting the event at the GM Dudenhofen Test Center in Germany. 

Preventing accidents by warning drivers about potential danger from other vehicles was a major goal during the development of the new General Motors/Opel C2C (car-to-car or vehicle-to-vehicle) communication systems. Vehicles equipped with this technology can communicate with each other and exchange information such as location and speed. Drivers can then be warned in advance if another vehicle is stopped in an area that is difficult or impossible to see, or about to enter the same intersection as they are.

“Driving is a very complex task. Knowing where the other guy is and where he’s headed can be as critical as being in control of your own vehicle,” said Hans-Georg Frischkorn, Executive Director, Global Electrical Systems, Controls and Software. “With C2C technology, we intensify the driver’s awareness of his environment to improve road safety, without any distraction to him and certainly without reducing his level of control. This sixth sense lets drivers know what’s going on around them to help avoid accidents and improve traffic flow.”

For these systems, GM/Opel uses proven, reliable components that are part of everyday life. The hardware consists of a microprocessor, GPS receivers (Global Positioning System) and Wireless LAN modules. The vehicles establish communication within a few hundred meters of one another and exchange information such as location, speed, acceleration and direction of travel.

Today, vehicles can be equipped with multiple safety sensors, including radar-based sensors connected with speed control devices, lane change assistance systems or sensors to detect objects in a car’s blind spot. GM/Opel can increase the operating range and coverage of individual sensors significantly with its comprehensive technology - a more effective and affordable way to provide extensive observation and assessment of the surrounding traffic conditions.

Demonstration with typical driving situations
GM/Opel engineers demonstrate the new technology’s advantages with a range of practical exercises. Several functions help prevent the rear-end collisions that occur on a daily basis due to poor visibility, twisty roads or short lapses in driver concentration. For example, the system warns of a stationary vehicle on the road even before the driver behind can see it, for example around a corner. Depending on the situation, the system transmits these warnings visually, acoustically or through vibrations in the driver’s seat.

In another scenario, a collision warning system improves safety while approaching intersections. Even if there is no visual contact between the drivers of two vehicles, the system detects any collision danger in advance and alerts both drivers if they need to intervene, for example by braking. Work zones or emergency vehicles can also transmit signals to drivers if a lane is closed or a path needs to be cleared.

Goal: Wide availability for as many vehicles as possible
GM/Opel has deliberately based this technology on inexpensive, proven components, giving it the potential to become standard equipment in many vehicles. The alternative would be to offer extremely expensive high-tech systems for just a few cars, but as Hans-Georg Frischkorn says: “GM/Opel has always been committed to democratizing innovations. Our C2C systems are affordable and could potentially be used in every vehicle class. That’s especially important because cooperative systems like these become more effective when many vehicles are equipped with them.”

Courtesy: General Motors"

Honda demonstrates V2V communication system for motorcyclists

Honda's C2C solution covers also motorcycles ...

The original article
"
Honda demonstrates V2V communication system for motorcyclists

October 23, 2008 No matter what your skill level, being aware of what's going on around you is THE most critical safety factor for all road users - if you don't see it coming, you are in big trouble. For motorcyclists, who are simply less visible on the roads and face a much greater risk of death or serious injury in the event that an accident does occur, this factor becomes even more important. In the past, the technology dedicated to inter-vehicle communication has been limited to blowing the horn or perhaps catching a radio report of an accident up ahead, but things are changing fast. This brings us to Honda's latest innovation in the field. The company has debuted a new Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication (V2V) system aimed at reducing road casualties of both motorcyclists and car drivers which links vehicles within a defined radio range via a wireless LAN network to provide immediate access to data on vehicle location, accidents, congestion or other potential threats that lie ahead.

The system monitors the position, speed, distance and direction of surrounding road users and the collected data is centralized before being sent to drivers and motorcyclists. For the latter, the information can be accessed on their navigation system display or relayed by means of an in-helmet audio system.

The HMI (Human Machine Interface) concept developed by Honda provides both a visual and an audible warning in safety critical situations. The visual element is located close to the rider's lin-of-sight on the upper edge of the motorcycle dashboard and uses changes in color and intensity to intuitively communicate the nature of the threat. This is backed by an audible warning delivered through a Bluetooth link to an in-helmet speaker.

Developed within the ASV (Advanced Safety Vehicle) program in Japan, Honda demonstrated the system for the first time at the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium event at the Opel Test Track in Dudenhofen, Germany. The consortium brings together a number of vehicle manufacturers with the goal of bringing greater awareness and therefore safety to our roads.

Although there is no room to doubt the premise that greater awareness equals greater safety, the statistics cited by Honda to underpin their commitment to developing this technology make interesting reading.

EU funded research project (Motorcycle Accident In-Depth Study or MAIDS) collected in 1999 looked at data from 921 motorcycle accidents in 5 European countries. It was found that 88% of the accidents were mainly caused by human error, while 8% were due to external environmental factors such as weather conditions or road infrastructure. In 37 per cent of cases the motorcyclist was the cause of the accident, while in 50 per cent of cases the driver of the other vehicle was responsible. Of this 50 per cent, 72 per cent were so-called 'perception' failures, where the driver failed to see the motorcycle, three per cent were 'comprehension' failures (they saw the motorcycle but the brain did not recognize it as such), and 20 per cent were 'decision' failures (they saw the motorcycle but decided to continue with the intended manoeuvre anyway)... i.e. drivers tend not to see motorcyclists.

It's hoped systems like V2V will have an impact in particular problem areas such as accidents at an intersections and left-turn accidents (right-turn in the UK, Ireland, Australia etc) where a other vehicle cuts across the path of an oncoming motorcycle. Work is continuing into extending the scope of the system to assist more difficult situations. This includes identifying when are motorcyclists hidden in "blind-spots" or pinpointing the location of emergency services vehicles when a siren is sounding.

The Car 2 Car Consortium’s research and work, coupled with Honda’s latest safety innovation will result in a new era of road safety for all road users, where vehicle communication systems share vital information with the aim of helping to reduce the number of casualties on the roads," said General Manager of Honda (UK) Motorcycles, Steve Martindale. "Honda fully supports the EU targets for traffic fatality reduction and we’re pleased to be able to further our commitment under the European Road Safety Charter with this latest vehicle communication safety system.”

"

More readings:

Honda Demonstrates Life Saving Motorcycle Technology

HONDA’S BIKE THAT TALKS TO CARS

Car to car communication the safety device of the future

Car-2-Car communications demonstrated by BMW, VW, Nissan and GM

Considered as the following up activities from the spectrum regulation of 30MHz ITS frequency band at 5.9GHz in EU, BMW, VW, Nissan, and GM have demonstrated their active safety systems based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies:

BMW announces Car-2-Car communications development

*Picture from motorauthority

The Car-2-Car Communication Consortium (C2C-CC) consisting of various European manufacturers, including BMW, Daimler, Renault, Fiat, VW, Honda, Opel, Volvo and Audi has been working on the European Car-2-Car (C2C) communication system that has standard interface agreed by all carmakers and a uniform frequency radio frequency enable the cars to communication effectively.

The recently approved the 5.9 GHz frequency band specifically for C2C communications in Europe marked a key milestone in the standardiyation process for C2C industry.

BMW's C2C system enables vehicles to communicate with other vehicles in the vicinity for the purpose of danger warning, and traffic information exchange. The communication is performed using the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology, which organizes vehicles into ad-hoc wireless network on the road.

Similar system has been developed not only by the partners from C2C-CC, e.g. VW, but also by carmakers outside of the initiative, such as Nissan and General Motors. The systems have to be compatible with each other for being truely effective.

Source and picture courtesy: motorauthority

Volkswagen's Car-2-Car system begins testing


Volkswagen performed a test of its Car-2-Car communication system with a Passat and a Golf, which both use the WLAN technology for information exchange between the cars. Each vehicle can access to the car bus throught the "Car Gate" and get a abstract of car data, such as speed, wheel speeds or status of the hazard flashers, and exchange the information with adjacent vehicles in order to help drivers to aviod adverse situations.

For more information and photo courtesy: motorauthority

Related readings:
Nissan to pilot pedestrian collision avoidance system
GM develops second-generation car-to-car communications system