Mercedes Benz jumps from Brake Assist System to the “Seeing Car”
Mercedes Benz looks forward to the far future with more of its plans to create for the ultimate revolutionary vehicle. After the advent of the Pre-Safe technology, they are now moving on to upgrade their innovations to a higher level. The German automaker has banked well on their what they have achieved in the car brakes system, and they are now aiming for the ultimate “seeing” and “thinking” car.
Since the advent of the Brake Assist (BAS) System, which Mercedes-Benz began offering in 1996 (which was the world’s first), it has been proven to be effective for preventing accidents, therefore leading to the era of the “seeing” car.
This began in 2005 with the introduction of Mercedes-Benz’ Brake Assist Plus (BAS Plus) system, which was followed by the Pre-Safe Brake in 2006. Both systems utilize radar sensors that measure the distance to the vehicle ahead, and so can recognize an impending rear-end collision. BAS Plus warns drivers of the danger and then immediately makes available the braking pressure required for the situation at hand. The Pre-Safe Brake intervenes if an accident is imminent by autonomously braking the vehicle if the driver did not react to the prior warning issued by the system.
This autonomous partial braking maneuver reduces the impact speed in case a collision still occurs, therefore making the system act as an “electronic crumple zone” that gives the passengers additional protection. Mercedes engineers are currently testing the second stage of the Pre-Safe Brake, which involves initiating an automatic emergency braking maneuver if a collision becomes unavoidable. This will lead to a further reduction of impact energy.
This technology is borne out of a particularly accident-prone area in mind—the four-way intersection. A new system already developed by Mercedes as a prototype uses a stereo camera that recognizes cars, cyclists and pedestrians approaching the car from the side. By monitoring the movement, distance, and speed of the object in question, the system is able to predict its probable direction of motion and calculate the likelihood of an accident in advance. This allows the system to gain valuable time to warn the driver and prevent the accident.
Another video-based Mercedes assistance system will remind drivers in the future to obey speed limits by “reading” traffic signs and transmitting their images to a cockpit display in the vehicle. This technology will be used further down the line to also register stop signs, yield signs, and traffic lights.
Soon, it may also be possible to have vehicles communicate with roadside beacons in order to optimize traffic flows and prevent the formation of traffic jams.
Car-to-car communication systems can improve occupant protection as well by exchanging data between vehicles when a collision has become unavoidable. Seatbelt tensioners, airbags and other safety features could then be adjusted in accordance with the data obtained on the counterpart vehicle, whereby at close ranges, the cars of tomorrow could exchange data on vehicle type, mass, rigidity or geometry. As a result, the activation of occupant protection systems could be tailored even more closely to the requirements of the circumstances.