A huge European project dealing with car and road safety has developed a system that will read satellite navigation maps and warn the driver of upcoming hazards, sharp bends, dips and accident black spots, which may be invisible to the driver.
Even better, the system can update the geographic database, thus letting drivers themselves update the maps. Consider: You are driving along an unfamiliar road, using your satellite navigation to find your way. At the same time, smart technology in your car is tracking the route, recognising the terrain and upcoming bends and intersections, to keep you informed.
The PReVENT system is equipped with information on accident blind spots, dips in the road, and more. It can even link into other in-car wireless communication systems to communicate with other vehicles in the vicinity.
"The analysis of many situations can be dramatically improved by an awareness of the location," says Matthias Schulze, coordinator of the EU-funded project. PReVENT, comprising of more than a dozen projects, focuses on specific road safety issues, with all individual projects supporting and feeding each other in some way. It means the impact is greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, one project known as MAPS&ADAS works on the development, testing and validation of safety-enhanced digital maps. The project is also involved with creating a standard interface for an ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System).
Other components such as ’LateralSafe’ use sensors to scan the blind-spot lane and your current lane, while ’SafeLane’ ensures that drivers stay in the correct lane. InterSafe, another sub-project, would help negotiate intersections: A new traffic light, installed with a wireless alert system developed by InterSafe, can warn oncoming cars of its existence and that it is about to turn red.
MAPS&ADAS developed a protocol whereby the car can compare that information to the data supplied on the map. If the new traffic light is not marked on the map, the car can update the map database. "A lot of the sub-projects took advantage of each other’s work," Schulze says.
"Ultimately, it would mean that cars are updating existing maps all the time. It is an elegant application with enhanced functionality that shows how existing technology can squeeze the maximum out of the installed base," he adds. But it could be a long time before that sort of map-making functionality becomes available. It requires transmitters installed in the streetscapes across the landscape, warning cars of upcoming hazards.
"We did not fully develop this technology, but we developed the protocols and systems required to set it up, so that when the infrastructure is in place, it can be quickly integrated into new systems," Schulze informs. It all means that ’map reading for dummies’ technology could be transformed into a very, very smart safety system.
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