PReVENT Demonstrates Advanced Intersection Safety Applications

June 5, 2006

The Integrated Project PReVENT's INTERSAFE subproject recently demonstrated numerous intersection safety applications at the Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications (AMAA) conference in Berlin.

According to IP PReVENT, the goal of INTERSAFE is to mitigate and prevent accidents at intersections. The areas where roads meet are especially dangerous for the road users, resulting in 35% to 40% of traffic accidents and 70% of all fatal accidents.

Using advanced sensors, new vehicle localization algorithms and communication between the vehicle and road infrastructure, the project is developing an intersection assistant that provides drivers with relevant information about the intersection and helps them navigate it safely.

Two applications were demonstrated onboard the INTERSAFE Volkswagen Phaeton equipped with a camera vision and laser scanner technology:

• Right of way warning: Warns that the driver has to stop for traffic from the right. A series of risk levels - green, yellow and red - are shown on the in-vehicle display. If the driver does not respond appropriately to the visual information, a warning in the form of an audio signal alerts the driver to an imminent collision.
• Traffic light assistant: Info from the traffic light is transmitted to the vehicle via a wireless communication link. The in-vehicle safety application gives the status of the traffic light along with a suggested speed that the driver should adopt in order to get a green light upon arrival.

The accurate localization needed for this kind of intersection application is achieved using so-called high-level maps, featuring the intersection landmarks and the topology. A relative accuracy of 10 cm can be attained.

Source: Integrated Project PReVENT.