Collision avoidance system

A collision avoidance system is an automobile safety system designed to reduce the severity of a collision. It is also known as a precrash system, forward collision warning system, or collision mitigating system. It uses radar (all-weather) and sometimes laser (LIDAR) and camera (employing image recognition) to detect an imminent crash. GPS sensors can detect fixed dangers such as approaching stop signs through a location database.

Once the detection is done, these systems either provide a warning to the driver when there is an imminent collision or take action autonomously without any driver input (by braking or steering or both). Collision avoidance by braking is appropriate at low vehicle speeds (e.g. below 50 km/h), while collision avoidance by steering is appropriate at higher vehicle speeds. Cars with collision avoidance may also be equipped with adaptive cruise control, and use the same forward-looking sensors.

In March 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced the manufacturers of 99% of U.S. automobiles had agreed to include automatic emergency braking systems as a standard feature on virtually all new cars sold in the U.S. by 2022. In Europe there was a related agreement about advanced emergency braking system (AEBS) or autonomous emergency braking (AEB) in 2012.United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has announced that this kind of system will become mandatory for new heavy vehicles starting in 2015. NHTSA projected that the ensuing acceleration of the rollout of automatic emergency braking would prevent an estimated 28,000 collisions and 12,000 injuries.

The first demonstration of forward collision avoidance was performed in 1995 by a team of scientists and engineers at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. The project was funded by Delco Electronics, and was led by HRL physicist Ross D. Olney. The technology was labeled for marketing purposes as "Forewarn". The system was radar based - a technology that was readily available at Hughes Electronics, but not commercially elsewhere. A small custom fabricated radar-head was developed specifically for this automotive application at 77 GHz. The forward radar-head, plus the signal processing unit and visual-audio-tactile feedbacks were first integrated into a Volvo S40, and shortly thereafter into a Cadillac STS. An SUV-style concept vehicle known as SSC (Safety Security & Communications), that contained many other of Delco's most advanced technologies, also received the "Forewarn" collision avoidance system and was shown to the public for the first time at the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1996. This was a fully functional vehicle, and demonstrations were concurrently being provided by a duplicate vehicle.

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