Review of mainstream active safety technologies for driverless cars

At present, the most popular topics in the automotive field are pure electric vehicles and driverless technology. As the most outstanding representative in the field of electric vehicles, Tesla can be said to have basically led the development direction of the entire electric vehicle market. As an emerging automobile manufacturer with technology flowing through its veins, Tesla's ambition is not only in the field of electric vehicles, driverless cars are also a development direction that Tesla is very concerned about.

At present, the most concerned about driverless cars is undoubtedly Google. Currently, Google can be seen testing driverless cars in many states in the United States, and the outside world seems to have always focused on Google's driverless cars. Although manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have also been developing driverless technology, when it comes to driverless cars, the first thing that comes to mind must be Google. And Tesla does not seem to attract too many people's attention on driverless cars. However, just this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly stated on his Twitter that Tesla will officially launch the latest 7.0 version system to Model S owners around the world on October 15th, US time. In this version, Tesla will officially bring some autonomous driving technologies to global car owners, such as automatic lane change, automatic turn signal, steering wheel control, and enhanced automatic reverse parking technology.

In fact, before Tesla's 7.0 system, many car manufacturers have equipped their models with similar active safety and auxiliary technologies. In many models with mid-to-high configurations, we can see many functions with similar purposes. Before the release of Tesla's new 7.0 version system, let's take a look at the main active safety and driving assistance technologies currently on the market.

Automatic emergency brake

The name of this technology is easy to understand. Cars equipped with this technology can use the radar probe or camera sensor installed in front of the car to monitor obstacles in front, and the driving computer automatically detects whether there is a collision risk at any time based on the information of vehicle speed and distance. During driving, if the driving computer finds danger, such as accelerating too fast, being too close to the car in front, or the car in front suddenly brakes, the car will first make a sound to remind the driver. At this time, if the driver still does not respond in time to resolve the dangerous situation, the vehicle will automatically brake.

The representative of automatic braking technology is Volvo, a Swedish manufacturer that focuses on safety. Volvo has developed a system called City Safety that can automatically detect pedestrians and vehicles in the middle of the road. When you are driving at a speed of no more than 15 kilometers per hour, this system can automatically brake to help you avoid a collision. However, when the speed is higher than 15 kilometers per hour, a collision is basically unavoidable, but the vehicle will still brake at full force to minimize the degree of collision.

Driver Assistance Systems

Driver assistance technology is a technology that integrates multiple auxiliary functions, including lane departure warning, tracking assistance, night vision assistance, adaptive cruise control, etc. These technologies can prompt the vehicle to leave the lane without manual operation by the driver, identify the driver's status, improve the safety of vehicle driving at night, and automatically maintain the speed without controlling the throttle.

Among the models with driver assistance systems, Mercedes-Benz's new S-Class is the representative model with the most comprehensive driver assistance functions. The car is equipped with more than 10 sensors, radars and cameras. In addition to the preventive safety system, it is also equipped with the latest driver attention assistance system. The system can even continuously identify more than 70 driver-related parameters, sensitively monitor the driver's attention level, determine whether he is in a state of fatigue, and promptly remind the sleepy driver to avoid danger. When the highly sensitive steering angle sensor captures the driver's sluggishness or drowsiness and other dangerous behaviors, the system will sound a loud alarm and display the words "Attention Assist System: Stop" on the dashboard.

Reverse collision avoidance system

Similar to the automatic braking system, the reverse collision avoidance system is also an active safety technology that many novice drivers need. For novice or female drivers, when reversing, they often ignore obstacles behind them due to lack of attention or experience, resulting in scratches and other accidents. When reversing, if a car happens to pass behind you, the car will stop immediately, and the same applies to pedestrians. In general, the system will first sound an alarm to remind the driver; if there is a risk of collision, the intelligent brake assist system will actively implement emergency braking and directly stop the vehicle.

The representative model of this system is the Japanese luxury car manufacturer Infiniti. When the owner puts the vehicle into reverse gear, it will automatically start. The sensor at the rear of the vehicle will continuously monitor the rear and rear side areas of the vehicle. When a large object approaches and passes through the rear area of ​​the vehicle during the reversing process, the system will not only give sound and image warnings, but also automatically brake the vehicle when necessary to avoid rear collision accidents when the vehicle is reversing. Infiniti's system effectively combines sound and image reminders with driving intervention. If the driver cannot make a correct response, the system will automatically take braking measures to provide more comprehensive parking safety protection.

Adaptive lighting system

The adaptive lighting system automatically adjusts the low beam steering angle according to the vehicle speed and the steering angle, expanding the effective lighting range when the vehicle turns. The automatic leveling function ensures that the lights always shine on the ground ahead regardless of the load. This function allows the vehicle to follow the direction of the road ahead when entering a curve, rather than simply illuminating the edge of the road. The adaptive lighting system helps relieve nighttime driving fatigue and improve nighttime driving safety, especially when driving on unfamiliar continuous curves.

Another Japanese luxury car manufacturer, Lexus, has an adaptive lighting system that allows drivers to have a good view when turning. The sensor will monitor the vehicle speed and the steering angle of the front wheels to estimate the vehicle's position three seconds later and direct the headlights there. The left and right headlights can rotate to different degrees according to the turning angle, one can rotate 5 degrees and the other can rotate 15 degrees.

Automatic parking

Parking is a nightmare for most drivers, especially novice or female drivers. Parking spaces in big cities are becoming increasingly scarce, and the space left for drivers to park is becoming increasingly narrow. Driving a car into a narrow space has become a necessary skill. Automatic parking technology can automatically back a car into a garage with the help of the driver through sensors on the car body.

The automatic remote control parking system equipped on the new generation BMW 7 Series has taken the current automatic parking technology to its extreme. This system can automatically park the vehicle in a parking space without the need for driver control. Even in large multi-storey parking lots, the system can perfectly execute parking instructions. This parking system also operates through a radar scanner installed on the vehicle, but what is special is that the computer will make a comprehensive judgment based on the environmental data obtained from the scan and the structure of the parking lot itself, allowing the vehicle to find a parking space and perform parking tasks more easily.

At the same time, the biggest highlight of this system is that the entire automatic parking system can be executed through a smart watch. With just a simple setting, you can completely hand over the parking task to the vehicle itself. This system is also quite intelligent. In addition to being very familiar with the structure of the parking lot, it can also calmly deal with emergencies in the parking lot, such as pedestrians, illegally parked vehicles, etc. When the vehicle is parked, the automatic parking system will automatically lock the vehicle. When it receives the smart watch command again, it can also detect the distance between the owner and itself, and calculate when the owner will arrive at the parking lot to pick up the car, and then drive to the location where the owner got off last time at the exact time, allowing the driver to drive away directly.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.