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Project Active Safety

The vision of automotive research efforts in the long-term is the assisted and conducted safe driving including numerous support functions for the driver. The major objective of the Aktiv-AS project is application oriented research work for active safety, based on the promising results of the previous research initiative INVENT. Therefore prototypes for different left open challenges, such as emergency braking, continuous lateral control, intersection assistance and vulnerable road users, will be developed and tested for real traffic situations. The basis for advanced driver assistance systems is a robust and reliable environment perception and interpretation, which will support even the overloaded and inattentive driver. Missing or inappropriate actions will be detected and compensating measures will be taken by the system. These driver assistance systems shall be marketable in a medium-term timeframe.

The research work will be performed in 5 Aktiv-AS subprojects:

  •                                     – Active Hazard Braking
  •                                     – Integrated Lateral Assistance
  •                                     – Intersection Assistance
  •                                     – Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety
  •                                     – Driver Awareness and Safety
  •                                     – Project Partners and Costs

The Subprojects

In this subproject “Active Hazard Braking” systems will be developed to avoid collisions and to mitigate consequences of accidents. Unlike in existing emergency braking systems, the active hazard braking will be adapted to the traffic situation and thus can be disengaged earlier. This requires a sophisticated detection of the driving environment, accurate interpretation of the situation and plausible system decision adapted to the driving scenario. A main focus is the development of a graduated warning and intervention concept (warning > braking > full braking) which intends to integrate the driver into the decision loop and which also may consider the driver alertness.

The objective of  “Integrated Lateral Assistance” is a continuous, integrated lateral guidance in the full speed range from 0 to 180 km/h for lane-keeping and lane-change as well as inside of construction sites. This continuous, reliable and semiautonomous lane keeping function will work even in complex driving situations. Intensive acceptance testing will be done.

Intersections are the crossing knots of traffic streams, require therefore a significantly higher attention of the driver and are still one of the major accident points. The main focus of the subproject “Intersection Assistance” is to reduce the number of accidents at intersections by supporting the driver while entering and crossing an intersection or turning into. Onboard sensing systems, cooperative communication, integration of positioning and digital maps and a comprehensive situation analysis will be the basis for the intersection assistance. An appropriate selection of information- and warning strategies up to autonomous intervention will ensure the adequate support of the driver.

The subproject “Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety” aims at the development and test of active measures to improve safety of vulnerable road-users (VRU) utilizing anticipatory sensing systems capable of detecting an imminent accident in advance in order to avoid collisions or at least to reduce their consequences significantly. The range of measures includes driver and VRU warning, active intervention in the braking system as well as (ir-)reversible protection mechanisms. Reliable activation of these measures represents a big challenge for the sensor systems, in particular concerning the high diversity of VRU appearance in complex traffic-environment, short reaction times, and well adapted situation analysis.

The cross-sectional project  “Driver Awareness and Safety” deals with the detection of driver alertness using surround sensor information and/or in-vehicle video cameras. The actual alertness level will be used to adapt the strategies for warning and intervention in the application projects. Additional measures for sustaining the driver’s alertness will be validated. Development methods for active safety systems will be created and verified to assess their controllability in critical situations, to predict the driver’s long-term behaviour and the system’s future impact on accident rates. Final point is the discussion of legal aspects of the system introduction.

Project Partners

Adam Opel GmbH, Allianz Zentrum für Technik GmbH, AUDI AG, Audi ElectronicsVenture GmbH, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH, Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, Continental Teves AG & Co.oHG, Daimler AG, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens Restraint Systems GmbH, Siemens VDO Automotive AG und Volkswagen AG. Numerous university and research institutes as well as small to medium-sized companies are also contributing to the projects as subcontractors.

Project Cost / Funding

37,5 M€   /  15 M€

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