At the Frankfurt Motor Show
(IAA), the international automotive supplier Continental will be presenting a
Left-turn Assist based on Vehicle-to-X (V2X) technology (ideal for left hand
drive vehicles abroad) in the outdoor area of the New Mobility World. This
technology issues an audible and visual warning to alert the driver of an
impending collision due to the presence of a hidden approaching vehicle during
a left-turn maneuver. This is a well-known hazard that occurs most frequently
during left-turn maneuvers at intersections. Automatic intervention is only
triggered if the driver fails to observe the warning despite the increasing
probability of an accident.
Other functions that
Continental offers with its V2X technology include the Electronic Brake Light
and the Roadworks Assistant. The Electronic Brake Light contributes to
forward-looking driving by informing the driver that a vehicle further ahead in
traffic is braking, even if it cannot yet be seen. This information can be very
valuable, in particular on winding country roads. If a vehicle is approaching
roadworks, the Roadworks Assistant supplies information about their location,
length and also recommends the lane the driver should choose to ensure optimum
traffic flow.
A study conducted by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2014 clearly shows
that V2X functions improve road safety and prevent accidents. In this way, V2X
communication is able to save approximately 1,100 lives and prevent up to
600,000 accidents in the US every year. These figures are the reason why
legislators in North America are already working on making the introduction of
V2X mandatory in new vehicles. It is expected that the new law will take effect
within the next two years.
V2X communication therefore
represents another important contribution on the way to automated driving and
the realization of “Vision Zero” – the vision of accident-free driving. “Our
aim is to reduce the number of accidents significantly or to eliminate them
altogether. With V2X, it is possible not just to ‘see around the corner’, so to
speak, but also to detect hazards early on, before they are visually perceived.
By issuing appropriate warnings, through cooperative assistance, and right up
to intervention by the vehicle, we want to eliminate these hazards before the
driver notices them or the sensors detect them,” explained Dr. Bernhard Klumpp,
Head of the Passive Safety & Sensorics Division at Continental. “Thanks to
our many years of expertise and experience in this field, we provide a
versatile system-oriented approach to the implementation of cooperative safety,
based on the use of V2X technology.”
Vehicle-to-X
communication offers many advantages
At the technical level, with
its so-called V2X OneBox, which contains all the components required for V2X
communication, Continental provides a versatile, efficient product solution for
this vehicle safety system which implements ad-hoc communication, namely
real-time direct communication between vehicles without a fixed network
infrastructure. The OneBox can easily be integrated in the existing vehicle
architecture and is based on a modular system which is already compatible with
next-generation applications, such as the initiation of emergency braking
maneuvers instead of warnings. The direct communication between road users via
an ad-hoc network makes V2X communication very different from interaction via a
back-end. V2X communication requires neither a mobile phone network nor a mobile
network operator and is therefore independent of network availability, an
essential prerequisite for safety-related technologies.
Precise vehicle localisation
with M2XPro
One important prerequisite for
V2X is the ability to determine the vehicle’s position as accurately as
possible relative to a precise time base. Continental’s Motion Information to X
Provider (M2XPro) is an intelligent localization sensor which merges GNSS
(Global Navigation Satellite System) information with the driving dynamics sensors
(steering angle, inertial and wheel speed sensors) present in the vehicle and
delivers a robust, extremely precise calculation of the vehicle’s current
position.
An integrity measurement
supplies status information relating to the system state and data quality,
information that is essential for the system’s self-monitoring functions.
Communication between road users is conducted via short-range radio over
distances of 300–500 meters based on the ITS-G5 standard (in North America:
Dedicated Short Range Communication IEEE 802.11p; in Europe: ETSI ITS-G5). This
makes it possible to exchange safety-related information, such as vehicle
position and dynamics or braking operations, with other nearby vehicles and the
infrastructure directly in near-real time. The V2X systems of all vehicle
manufacturers are interoperable. Data safety and anonymity are ensured by the
system architecture. Advantage: The information is not stored and is not
attributable to any particular user.
Source:
Continental