TRW showcases driver assist systems

TRW Automotive demonstrated its driver assist systems (DAS) and outlined expected trends in sensor technologies during the company's recent bi-annual Ride and Drive event at the Hockenheimring in Germany. According to Andrew Whydell, TRW Electronics’ director of product planning, DAS has and will continue to be a focal point for the automotive industry as governments and industry bodies strive to reduce road fatalities worldwide. For example, the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) and the Ins
June 5, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
601 TRW Automotive demonstrated its driver assist systems (DAS) and outlined expected trends in sensor technologies during the company's recent bi-annual Ride and Drive event at the Hockenheimring in Germany.

According to Andrew Whydell, TRW Electronics’ director of product planning, DAS has and will continue to be a focal point for the automotive industry as governments and industry bodies strive to reduce road fatalities worldwide. For example, the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) and the 7120 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have this year introduced active safety criteria into their assessment programs which can be met with forward-looking radar and video camera sensors.

From 2014, 6437 Euro NCAP has introduced automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane departure warning (LDW) into its ratings scheme, and in North America, the IIHS has made fitting of forward collision warning (FCW) or AEB a requirement to receive its Top Safety Pick + consumer safety award. Going forward, from 2016 Euro NCAP will also introduce pedestrian AEB into its assessment program and is considering additional tests for other vulnerable road users including cyclists in future updates.

Whydell continued: "TRW has broad experience in radar and video camera systems and we anticipate exponential growth in these technologies over the next decade. We are now implementing our third and fourth generation sensor systems which not only help to address the more immediate industry requirements, but also play a fundamental role in enabling semi- and automated driving.

"As we move towards cars that allow the driver to take their hands off the wheel for periods of time, we'll start to see additional sensors being fitted to monitor 360 degrees around the vehicle and also the driver's attention level. The systems will need to allow time for a distracted driver to be able to retake control of the vehicle. Radar sensors will therefore require a wider field of view at shorter range, combined with an overall longer range detection capability. Next generation video camera sensors will likely have lenses which can extend the range for detecting vehicles to 250m and beyond for highway driving, while also allowing you to see what is happening close to the vehicle when manoeuvring at low speed.

"We continue to develop a flexible and scalable family of sensors that can fully address future industry requirements and support vehicle manufacturers across all vehicle segments and in all markets."
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • European tunnel upgrades following new safety legislation
    August 20, 2015
    Across Europe there is a very mixed picture of compliance to latest safety standards for road tunnels. Best practice has emerged, however, in the wake of European legislation. Jon Masters reports High profile fatal fires following accidents in the Mont Blanc, Tauern and Gotthard tunnels prompted the 2004 European Union Directive 2004/54 on road tunnel safety. This meant all EU member states would have to meet new standards of safety in road tunnels by 30 April 2014. The Directive applied to all tunnels over
    Read More
  • US DOT issues guidelines for automated vehicles
    September 21, 2016
    The US Department of Transportation is issuing Federal policy for automated vehicles, laying a path for the safe testing and deployment of new auto technologies that have enormous potential for improving safety and mobility for Americans on the road. “Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken,” said US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This policy is an unprecedented step by the federal government
    Read More
  • Internet-connected cars their functionality and safety challenges
    February 27, 2013
    Internet-connected cars are poised to flood the market in the near future. Pete Goldin considers the functionality they offer, the technology they use and the challenge they represent in terms of driver safety. Many vehicles on the road today offer some sort of inter­net connectivity and experts agree that this capability will become a competi­tive differentiator in the automotive industry in the next few years. The era of the digital vehicle, it seems, has started. “We clearly see that cars in the near f
    Read More
  • New analysis finds speed cameras may create bad driving behaviour
    October 28, 2015
    Using more than one billion miles of driving behaviour data, collected over three years (2011-2014) and including 8,809 separate journeys in 5,353 vehicles, Wunelli, a LexisNexis company, has revealed the most frequent braking black spots across the UK created by speed cameras, based on motorists braking excessively just before speed cameras to avoid being caught. Eighty per cent of all the UK speed cameras investigated had hard braking activity, with braking increasing six fold on average at these loca
    Read More

Highlighted Content