Cooperative Vehicular Safety Applications

The past decade witnessed active safety systems such as vehicle stability control (VSC) rapidly change the automotive electronic landscape by complementing passive safety systems such as seat belts and air bags. Most automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) offer laser-based or radar-based adaptive cruise control (ACC) or precrash systems (PCSs). ACC employs forward-looking sensors for longitudinal control of the vehicle through brake and throttle actuation. PCSs additionally utilize rear-looking sensors and driver-recognition cameras to prepare the vehicle's cabin for an imminent collision by seat belt pretensioning and head-restraint repositioning. Similarly, OEMs are releasing lateral control systems such as lane-keeping assistants (LKAs) or lane-departure warnings (LDWs), which use computer vision to detect the vehicle's orientation relative to lane markings and provide feedback to the driver through audible, visual, or haptic signals.