Unlike Passive Safety Systems, LaneFX is an Active Blind Spot Mirror Technology That Shows the Driver What's Lurking in his Blind Spot Zone

Combination of active and passive safety systems – CAPS

Future assistance functions require a close network of active and passive safety systems with predictive driver assistance systems, as is being developed by Drivaware with the CAPS program (Combined Active and Passive Safety).

Functions for safety improvement can now be achieved on the basis of cross linking ESP, hydraulic brake assist and the airbag control unit. In many cases, accident prone situations are indicated early on by either excessive oversteering or understeering or by the onset of panic braking. ESP or hydraulic brake assist detect the dynamically critical driving situation and initialize passive safety systems. For example, seat belts will be tightened to position driver and passengers optimally in their seats and minimize the risk of injury.

Preventing accidents and reducing injuries with CAPS

In combination with the sensors detecting the vehicle environment, CAPS opens up further potential for the prevention of accidents and reducing injuries.

Drivaware upgrades Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) as a part of CAPS to become a "Predictive Safety System". Once ACC identifies a critical traffic situation, it applies the brake pads imperceptibly to the brake discs and prepares the hydraulic brake assist for possible panic braking. When the driver hits the brakes, valuable fractions of a second may be gained until the full deceleration effect takes place. Further upgrading stages of the Predictive Safety Systems will include alerting the driver to an impending collision or even automatically braking the car in case of emergency.

For example in longitudinal traffic: collisions with cars moving ahead or overtaking vehicles account for a significant proportion of traffic accidents in Australia. They might be detected early on by scanning the vehicle environment with a radar sensor. The time to potential crash could be used by the Predictive Safety System to alert the driver and to assist him in preventing the accident. Additionally, during this stage, reversible safety systems for the protection of the passengers are already initialized. This includes protection of the passengers by reversible seat belt tensioning and automatic seat adjustment for passengers in the front and back seats, during this phase of accident prevention.

Once an accident has become inevitable or unavoidable, the system activates measures to minimize the severity of the impact and to protect all people involved in the accident. For example, one such measure during the accident preparation stage is to initialize situation-specific non-reversible protection systems by adjusted airbag parameters, including for instance improved angle detection, offset crashes, or the staged triggering of smart airbags. In the future, it is expected to initiate the activation of emergency braking by the Predictive Safety Systems in order to reduce the impact energy and thus the severity of the accident.

In the near future, however, CAPS will not only prevent or attenuate front end collisions, the driver will also be actively assisted in dangerous situations that might potentially lead to side, rear end, multiple crashes or roll over accidents. With its assistance and warning functions, driver assistance systems will generally reduce accident risks in the future. Furthermore, the sensors of the mentioned systems will contribute to improve the passive safety and protection of pedestrians. Surround sensors calculate the time and place of impact as well as the relative speed of the accident obstacle. From this information, protective systems may be initialized with perfect timing based on the situation.

CAPS is a modular, functional concept which can be utilized in different electronics architectures of OEMs. A complete network of sensors and control units makes it possible to distribute CAPS functions to several control units and get multiple usage out of the sensor signals.

The basic aim is to integrate the CAPS functions into existing control units such as for ESP, ACC and airbags to keep the costs down. The CAPS architecture in regard to interfaces will be designed in such a way that the principle systems and ECUs of different suppliers can be integrated into a comprehensive system.

Accident free road traffic – a vision?

Road traffic without accidents will remain a vision, however, it is a goal well worth pursuing. Drivaware foresees numerous measures for the step-by-step introduction of assistance and safety systems, which will lead to more relaxed and comfortable driving and less accidents. With the driver assistance systems and the integrated safety system CAPS presented here, Drivaware makes a decisive contribution towards this goal.