Tokyo — Honda has set itself the ambitious goal of having zero
collisions in its cars ten years from now, and hinges most of that
safety improvement on adding active safety features that help prevent
accidents, as well as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and
Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies to give drivers more
warning about their surroundings. We sampled some of the new ideas at a
briefing at Honda’s R&D center in Japan.
The first new feature is Automatic Emergency Braking. Like similar
systems from other automakers AEB sounds an alarm inside the cabin and
can apply the brakes if a front-end collision is imminent. The system is
aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities and currently only works at
speeds up to 37 mph, but it proved very effective in our brief test. We
drove a test car fitted with AEB at a steady 31 mph toward a dummy of a
pedestrian. As we approached, the car’s instrument cluster flashed a
warning and produced loud chirping, then the system applied full braking
power and stopped the car a few feet away from the pedestrian cutout.
AEB brakes so aggressively that the tires chirped and the ABS system
activated. We repeated the demo with another pedestrian cutout that was
suddenly pushed out in front of our car, and AEB stopped the car equally
well.
AEB uses input from a windshield-mounted camera and a millimeter-wave
radar sensor in the car’s grille. That allows the car to determine the
position, speed, and even direction of a pedestrian. The system can also
prevent crashes with cars or other solid objects that are at least one
meter (three feet) tall. Based on crash data from Japan, Honda
estimates that AEB could prevent about 90 percent of all pedestrian
fatalities caused by cars traveling 37 mph or slower.
Riding The Green Wave
Honda’s so-called Green Wave technology aims to promote safety and
better fuel economy by providing the driver with directions on how to
drive. Infrared transmitters on traffic lights transmit data to sensors
in the car’s passenger window and dashboard, which interpret the
information and display in on a screen mounted in the dashboard. Honda
used IR technology rather than radio waves because many Japanese traffic
lights already have IR transmitters, and the government plans to
overall and expand the V2I transmitters within the next two or three
years.
The first part of the Green Wave recommends a driving speed at which
the car will reach the next traffic light when it’s green. In our test
Japanese-market Honda Odyssey, this meant we traveled at 26 mph while a
control car in the adjacent lane drove at about 35 mph. While the other
car had to brake, stop at a simulated red light, and then accelerate
again, we breezed through the fake intersection about five seconds after
the light turned green. This is designed to promote smoother, more
fuel-efficient urban driving, and to reduce the risk of rear-end
collisions from frequent stop-and-go traffic. But it might frustrate
other drivers who wonder why you’re driving so slowly.
Green Wave also lets drivers know when traffic lights will turn
green, so they’re less likely to be rear-ended by impatient drivers. A
series of five bars on the in-car screen counts down, until it displays
“Confirm road ahead” and the traffic light turns green. Honda believes
Green Wave could go into production in about two to three years.
Adaptive Cruise Control With Cut-In Prediction
i-ACC is Honda’s enhancement of adaptive cruise control, which
benefits from a new feature called Cut-In Prediction. With normal
adaptive cruise systems, the computer will brake aggressively and then
subsequently re-accelerate when another vehicle changes lanes in front
of the car. Honda’s system, by contrast, guesses when a car in an
adjacent lane may move over and adjusts its speed pro-actively.
i-ACC uses a camera and radar to track up to six vehicles, and uses
information like closing speeds between vehicles to determine which cars
are likely to change lanes. Honda says Cut-In Prediction can react up
to five seconds earlier than normal adaptive cruise control, keeping a
safer distance between vehicles and also saving fuel by driving more
smoothly. The front-facing camera can also be tasked with lane-departure
warning and traffic-sign recognition duties. Honda showed a static demo
of i-ACC in an Accord sedan, but didn’t allow us to test the system.
1 comment:
Honda’s automotive technologies sound like the type of systems we are likely to see in future automobiles: centered on safety and better fuel economy. The i-ACC predictive algorithms can be especially handy when it comes freeways and high ways that have a lot of cars changing lanes every second.
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