Vehicle safety is one of the significant areas in which automotive companies are investing heavily. Over the years, automotive companies have developed many technologies, which can be helpful in preventing road accidents. These technologies, which automate, facilitate, and improve vehicular systems to assist drivers for a safe and better driving are referred as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). ADAS systems based on Automotive IoT Solutions, help drivers in avoiding on-road collisions by generating alerts on potential hazards while driving and allow the drivers to take timely control of the vehicle.

Advance Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are not only helpful for private car owners, but also helpful for different kinds of vehicle fleets such as trucking fleets, delivery fleets, taxi cab fleets, commercial fleets etc.

Let us check out some of the important ADAS Technologies:

Adaptive Cruise Control

The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) or Radar Cruise Control is an intelligent system, which allows drivers to maintain an optimum distance between vehicles while driving and allows vehicles to automatically adjust their speed while approaching towards other vehicles. ACC is based on on-board radar or laser sensor, which instructs the vehicle to slow down in case of any vehicle is detected. The adaptive cruise control system is comprised of a radar headway sensor, digital signal processor, and longitudinal controller. The system is integrated with the engine as well as breaks of the vehicles so that when the system detects any vehicle in its roadway, it automatically decelerates the vehicle and allow the vehicle to reaccelerate to the set speed when the path is clear.

Lane Departure Warning and Lane-Keeping Assist:

Lane Departure Warning (LDW): Alerts the driver if the vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane.

Lane Departure Warning Systems help drivers to keep their vehicles in its lane and help in reducing on-road collisions. These systems generate audio-visual alerts if the vehicle starts deviating from its lane. Lane departure warning systems use a small camera mounted near the rearview mirror to recognize the striped and solid lane markings. When the vehicle starts deviating from the lane without an appropriate turn signal, this system triggers an alarm to react to.

Lane-Keeping Assist (LKA): Provides steering input to keep the vehicle within its lane.

Lane-Keeping Assist (LKA) is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) designed to help drivers maintain their vehicle within its lane on the road. The system utilizes various sensors and cameras to monitor the vehicle’s position relative to lane markings. Here’s how Lane-Keeping Assist generally works:

Lane Detection:

Cameras mounted on the vehicle continuously monitor the lane markings on the road. These markings can include solid lines, dashed lines, or other lane boundary indicators.

Position Monitoring:

The system tracks the vehicle’s position within the lane. If the vehicle starts to drift close to or over the lane markings without the driver using the turn signal, the system recognizes this as a potential unintentional lane departure.

Driver Warning:

When a potential unintentional lane departure is detected, the system typically provides a visual, audible, or haptic (vibrating) alert to notify the driver. This alert serves as a warning for the driver to take corrective action.

Lane Intervention:

In addition to providing a warning, many Lane-Keeping Assist systems offer a more active intervention. This can involve applying steering input to guide the vehicle back into the center of the lane. The level of intervention can vary among different vehicles and systems.

Forward Collision Warning Systems

Forward Collision warning systems are in-vehicle electronic systems that notify the drivers in case of forward collision with any other vehicle or object in the roadway. Latest collision warning systems work on radar, laser and camera systems and generate audio, visual and tactical alerts in case of any possibility of collisions. These systems measure the distance, angular direction and relative speed between the two vehicles. Some of the forward collision warning systems are integrated with the adaptive cruise control systems to slow down the vehicle speed when any vehicle is detected in front.

Traffic Sign Recognition System

Missing out any traffic sign can be a cause of a serious road accident. The real-time traffic sign recognition (TSR) systems not only help drivers to follow the traffic signals, but help them follow the traffic rules. Traffic sign recognition systems in a vehicle are equipped with forward-facing cameras to detect the on-road signs. Real-time feeds from the front cameras with image processing, computer vision and image recognition algorithms help this system to recognize the traffic signs and display on the infotainment system to be addressed by the driver.

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TMPS)

Tire pressure is a critical parameter in ensuring vehicle suspension and safety on the road. Uneven tire pressure can create mileage issues, more emissions, reduced tire tread life and can cause a tire failure, which may result in serious road accidents. Tire Pressure monitoring systems are critical ADAS systems as it warns the driver if any tire is under-inflated. Tire pressure monitoring systems are of two types, indirect and direct systems. Indirect TPMS systems measure rpm (revolutions per minute) of the tires and if any unprecedented rpm is measured in wheels, the driver is indicated by the system. On the other hand, direct TMPS systems are pressure sensors attached to each tire, which provide readings of actual pressure inside each tire.

Night Vision and Pedestrian Detection

Pedestrian detection systems are the ADAS functions, which requires high accuracy and reliability. As a majority of the pedestrian-related accidents occur in the nighttime, they are paired with night vision systems to function precisely even in low visibility. Efficient pedestrian detection systems with night vision are equipped with thermal cameras and far-infrared sensors. Infrared sensors capture thermal radiations from the front of the vehicle and clearly distinguish living beings from objects, trees and traffic signs on pedestrian and roadways. The automotive companies are researching on artificial intelligence (AI) based pedestrian detection technologies, which are expected to be more precise than the existing ones.

Parking Assistance Systems

Parking assistance systems are one of the most commonly used ADAS systems. Parking assistance systems generally use ultrasonic sensors, which are fixed on front and rear bumpers of the vehicle to detect the obstacles while parking and trigger alarm. The rear cam is also integrated with the system to provide visual assistance while parking. The system senses the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle

Other than the above-mentioned Advance Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), there are many other functions like automatic emergency brake systems, driver behavior monitoring, blind spot detection, etc., which assist in automated driving, enabling safety of vehicles, drivers and the public on the road.

eInfochips helps companies to design and develop automotive solutions such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), HMI and application development for Vehicle Infotainment systems, Rear Seat Entertainment as well as Telematics Solutions. To know more about eInfochips’ capabilities in automotive and ADAS solutions, get in touch with us.