With Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), almost all vehicle accidents can be avoided. The role of ADAS is to prevent deaths and injuries by reducing the number of car accidents and the serious impact of those that cannot be avoided.
Essential safety-critical ADAS applications include but are not limited to:
- Pedestrian Detection/Avoidance
- Lane Departure Assist
- Road Sign Recognition
- Rear Emergency Braking
- Blind Spot Detection
- Cross Traffic Alert System
- 360 Degree/Panoramic view/Peripheral Camera systems
- Automatic Parallel Parking System
- Adaptive Cruise Control (Radar, Camera)
- Automatic High Beams
How does ADAS work?
Automobiles are the foundation of the next generation of mobile-connected devices, with rapid advances being made in autonomous vehicles. Automatic applications of vehicle functions are controlled by various programmed chips, called systems on a chip (SoCs). These chips connect sensors to actuators through interfaces and high-performance electronic controller units (ECUs).
Self-driving cars use a variety of these applications and technologies to gain 360-degree vision, both near (in the vehicle’s immediate vicinity) and far. That means hardware designs are using more advanced process nodes to meet ever-higher performance targets while simultaneously reducing demands on power and footprint.
These are some of the most common ADAS descriptions:
Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control systems can maintain vehicle speed, a gap to the vehicle in front, emergency braking, and can stop the vehicle completely; some will even accelerate the vehicle from a stop allowing the vehicle to drive in traffic without driver input to brake or gas. Advanced cruise control is particularly helpful on the highway, where drivers can find it difficult to monitor their speed and other cars over a long period of time.
Automatic Emergency Braking
Automatic emergency braking uses sensors to warn the driver that there is another vehicle, pedestrian, or object in their path. Some emergency braking systems can take preventive safety measures such as creating a warning beep, tightening seat belts, applying brakes, and engaging adaptive steering to avoid a collision.
Automatic Parking
Automatic parking helps drivers navigate the parking spot so they know when to turn the steering wheel and stop. Vehicles equipped with rearview and 360-view cameras have a better view of their surroundings than traditional side mirrors. Some systems can even complete parking automatically without the driver’s help by combining the input of multiple sensors.
Blind Spot Detection
The blind spot monitor system is a function that assists the driver in making the decision to change lanes. The function uses quasi-millimeter wave radar to detect vehicles that are traveling in an adjacent lane in the area that is not reflected in the outer rearview mirror assembly. The function advises the driver of the existence of a vehicle by illuminating the outer rearview mirror indicator on the outer rearview mirror assembly.
Crosswind Stabilization
Crosswind stabilization offers adaptive help when it detects high wind currents on the side of the vehicle. The sensors in this system detect the strong pressure while driving and they will apply brakes to the wheels affected to keep the vehicle on course.
Driver Drowsiness Detection
Driver drowsiness detection helps warn drivers of sleepiness or other distractions. The system starts monitoring the driver as soon as the driving begins. This determines whether a driver’s attention is decreasing. The safety system then warns the driver if the steering/driving pattern is changed after a period of driving.
Glare-Free Automatic High Beam
Glare-free high beam light uses sensors to adjust to the darkness and the vehicle’s surroundings without disturbing oncoming traffic. This new headlight application detects the lights of other vehicles and redirects the vehicle’s lights away to prevent other road users from being temporarily blinded.
Night Vision
Night vision systems enable drivers to see things that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to see at night. There are two categories of night vision implementations: Active night vision systems project infrared light, and passive systems rely on the thermal energy that comes from cars, animals, and other objects.
These are just a few lifesaving systems that are key to the success of ADAS applications. They incorporate the latest interface standards and run multiple vision-based algorithms to support real-time multimedia, vision processing, and sensor systems.
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