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Japan is upgrading their car improvement....WOW...LET SCROLL IT DOWN, just want to share this article...
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| Competition is hotting up in Japan to develop driving assistance systems to detect all hazardous objects, including pedestrians and other vehicles, to avoid a collision. © Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd |
Next-generation Japanese cars in the development pipeline are
focusing more than ever on safety as much as on environmental friendliness. Car
safety previously meant little more than a sturdily built body, airbag
protection in the event of collision or improved braking performance. Now,
however, Japanese carmakers are busy developing safety systems aimed at
avoiding a collision itself. Japanese cars are witnessing a high-tech evolution
as seen in sophisticated automatic braking and driver-warning systems made
possible with miniaturized cameras and advanced radar technology.
Cameras,
Radar Used for Safe Driving Assistance: Collision Avoidance System
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An image of milliwave radar detecting the car ahead. The system
works well at night and in bad weather. © Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
|
In 2003, a Japanese carmaker introduced to the market for the
first time in the world a car fitted with a collision avoidance system the
company developed with milliwave radar. A major attraction of milliwave radar
is it can detect objects even in the dark of night or in bad weather such as
rain or fog. It can detect objects as far ahead as 100 meters. Using milliwave
radar, if the collision avoidance system detects a car within a dangerously
close distance, it first warns the driver with a buzzer, and then automatically
activates the brakes. If it detects an imminent danger of collision, the system
electronically rolls up the seat belts to take out slack, giving a warning to
the driver. At the same time, the system reduces the actual impact and damage
from a collision. It was an epoch-making system, but failed to be widely used
because of its high price (about 300,000 yen), targeted at high-end cars.
The race in Japan to develop collision avoidance systems really
heated up in 2008 when an affordably priced system found wide use.
An image
of a safe driving assistance system fitted with "stereo cameras" or a
pair of miniaturized cameras. The system has won wide support in Japan for its
affordable price, boosting interest in safe driving assistance systems as a
whole. © Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.
This
system detects objects in front of the vehicle with a pair of miniaturized
cameras fitted right behind the windshield. It accurately measures the distance
between the car and an obstacle and, if necessary, gives a warning to the
driver or, depending on urgency, automatically activates the brakes to avoid a
collision. The Japanese carmaker that came up with the system developed a new
image-processing LSI chip capable of measuring distance as fast as 30 times per
second, and combined it with a pair of cameras for a high-performance and yet
lightweight system.
In 2010, two years after the initial introduction, the company
offered it as an option at an affordable price of 100,000 yen. Buyers of models
offered with the optional collision avoidance system chose to purchase it at an
astonishing rate of over 70%, showing to the public that collision avoidance
technology was no longer a special option limited only to expensive cars.
The
system boasts the capability of automatically stopping the car, without the
driver slamming on the brakes, to avoid a collision if the car in front is
dangerously close and the difference in the two cars' speeds is less than 30
kph. To improve the system's situational recognition capability in identifying
hazardous objects among those captured with the car-mounted cameras, the
company reportedly collected data on driving the equivalent of three times
around the globe.
Making
Up for Driver's Distraction: Driver-Monitoring Camera
 |
| An image of the "Driver-monitoring Camera" developed by Toyota Motor Corp. This camera keeps tabs on the driver's eyelids, mouth and face to detect possible danger based on face direction and the frequency of blinking. |
Many car accidents take place as drivers fail to recognize the
situation around their vehicles by looking aside or dozing off. A system
combining a miniaturized camera and an image-processing computer has been
developed to keep tabs on the driver so that he/she does not take their eyes
off the road or doze off. This system uses a car-mounted camera to monitor the
driver's face direction as well as the upper and lower eyelids. If the driver
fails to keep his/her head straight ahead for a while, the system assumes that
the driver may have become distracted. Or if the frequency of blinking becomes
less than an average, the system assumes the driver may be dozing off. The
system then gives a warning to the driver or applies the brakes.
Based on this system, the maker says it aims to be the first in
the world to develop another system capable of steering automatically to avoid
a collision. Taking note of the fact that many accidents take place during
low-speed driving on city streets or in a traffic congestion, where drivers
tend to be less attentive, another carmaker developed a safety system activated
only at low speeds from 4 to 30 kph. As a sensor, this carmaker employed an
inexpensive infrared laser, in place of more costly cameras, limiting its
detection capability to a car or an obstacle within six meters in front. The
company says the system can avert a collision if the speed is slower than 15
kph and can still reduce collision damage at speeds of 15 to 30
 |
A picture in an experiment to test the control of a car fitted
with a safe driving assistance system applicable only at low speeds. © Mazda
Motor Corporation
|
An image of the "Around View Monitor" system capturing
moving objects around the car. The system is activated automatically when any
of the vehicle's camera-assisted sonar units, fitted in all four corners of the
car, detects an object. It informs the driver of a possible danger with an
alarm sound and a simulated image. © NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
In
November 2011, a carmaker introduced a moving object detection system, the
world's first system capable of showing moving objects all around the car,
captured with cameras installed on the four sides of the vehicle and shown on
an “Around View Monitor.” The system detects without fail any object coming
close to the car, including any in the driver’s non-viewable "blind spots,"
and warns the driver by showing an image on the display and by sounding an
alarm. The system, showing a simulated bird's eye view on the display, can
cover any object in the blind areas previously undetectable in the rear-view
mirror, such as a pedestrian walking behind a parked car. Thus drivers are made
aware of unseen risks.
Japanese
cars, which have become popular worldwide because of their fuel efficiency,
durability and compact size, are now generating a new wave of interest in the
safety technology area.
(October 2012)
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