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Bosch is already working on the
sensitive vehicle of the future. Such a vehicle will be equipped
with sensors and electronic systems which perceive and interpret
its environment, identify dangerous situations and support the
driver and his driving maneuvers in the best possible way. The
purpose of these electronic assistance features is to alert the
driver in dangerous situations – and in an emergency even to
carry out autonomous driving maneuvers.
Statistics demonstrate that the complex
traffic situation is difficult to handle for many drivers: In
Germany in 2001 there were a total of 2.37 million traffic
accidents – 375,345 of which resulted in personal injuries. In
nine out of ten cases the cause was human error.
In critical driving situations only a
fraction of a second may determine whether an accident does or
does not occur. Studies indicate that about 60 percent of
front-end crashes and almost one-third of head-on collisions
would not occur if the driver could react one-half second
earlier. At the end of the 1980s this insight led to the vision
of highly efficient street traffic, demonstrated in the
“Prometheus” project supported by the German Federal Research
Department. But at the time the electronic components necessary
for this – highly sensitive sensors and extremely efficient
micro-processors – were not yet ready for high-volume series
production and automotive applications. However, these
components are available today and the possibility of the
“sensitive” automobile is within reach: sensors scan the
environment around the vehicle, derive warnings from the
position, speed and driving direction of the objects found, and
perform driving maneuvers all in a split second faster than the
most skilled driver.
A short distraction has enormous consequences tc "A short
distraction has enormous consequences "
A statistical analysis of the cause of
accidents outside urban areas in Germany indicates that more
than one-third of all accidents can be traced back to a lane
change or unintentionally leaving a lane. Sensing systems can
provide assistance in this area. First, the systems can survey
the blind spot of the driver. Second, the systems can monitor
the vehicle staying in its lane. Another third of all accidents
are front-end collisions or rear-end collisions, which could be
avoided through collision warning systems. Also systems for
collision avoidance, e.g. by active emergency braking, are
possible. Accidents with pedestrians or collisions at
intersections are more difficult to anticipate: due to their
high complexity, these accidents can only be recognized...
...Continued
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