A major proving test and public demonstration, called SmartCruise 21, will be sponsored by the Japanese government and the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association in late 2000. In 1999, Mitsubishi introduced its new Driver Support System in Japan, which supplements ACC with lane departure warning and side and rear monitoring via machine vision. Honda, Nissan and Toyota have developed several safety subsystems within the joint Advanced Safety Vehicle project, including lane positioning, headway control, automatic braking, obstacle warning, drowsiness warning system, and nighttime pedestrian warning. Publicly funded research in Europe is focusing on driver monitoring, road condition sensing, vision enhancement, heading control, and sensor fusion. This capability has been prototyped and demonstrated extensively during the nineties, establishing techical feasibility.
Current research focuses on refining system approaches.
LSA would be engaged in slow-speed congested traffic conditions, so that the driver can relax instead of tediously controlling the vehicle. When the congestion clears and speeds increase, the driver would resume control. This capability is being developed in both Asia and Europe. All Rights Reserved.