Driver Assistance Systems Hit the Big Time in Torino
IVsource.net
27 November 2000

From the pronouncements trumpeted by officials to impressive demo vehicles, it was clear at the ITS World Congress in Turin, Italy that driver assistance has moved from concept to product development reality.  Read on for a quick review of highlights ... and watch for more articles to come in the future.

- Pictures Coming Soon -

Having escaped far beyond the domain of corporate research labs and universities, these systems are now lodged solidly among the vanguard of new product development for automobiles.  Now sharing the limelight with that burgeoning heavyweight of the vehicle electronics industry -- telematics -- ADAS are on a parallel track and moving along at a decent pace.

High Level Pronouncements Aplenty

At the Congress opening plenary sessions, several commentators from the stratosphere of the vehicle industry and government offered views that indicate where ADAS stands at these levels.  Giancarlo Michellone, president and CEO of the Fiat Research Center, noted their work in lane keeping and adaptive cruise control, and their goal of "automatic driving as the final task."  He also encouraged "handshaking" between the vehicle and the road.

Jean-Francois Poupinel of Cofiroute SA and chairman of the Supervisory Board of ERTICO (Europe's ITS association), when asked in a panel if automated driving was around the corner, noted that "it already exists" -- as evidenced by automated highway demonstrations in the US and Japan.  But he opined that very few in that audience would actually see automatic highways in their lifetime, because it is "very expensive, all vehicles need to be equipped, drivers must accept it, and the infrastructure must be put in place."  He then noted that, for the medium term, automated truck-trains on dedicated roadways could be operating within a few years, based on work underway in the European CHAUFFEUR program.  (Editor's note -- Like many, Mr. Poupinel seems to be unaware of vehicle automation approaches that require no special infrastructure or vehicle-vehicle cooperation -- the myths surrounding this point seem to be numerous and pervasive.)

Msr. la Terrasse, the French Minister of Transport, noted in his remarks about safety that "we must test and evaluate anti-collision devices, and we must implement them on all vehicles, not just the top range models."  Max Moseley, president of the International Automobile Federation, observed that development seems to be lagging for advanced forms of driver assistance, due perhaps to a lack of central policy within Europe and a general lack of leadership and championing.

Roberto Testore, CEO of Fiat Auto, put forth the vision of anti-crash systems on all cars -- "Why not?" he asks, consider a future in which it is essentially impossible for cars to crash.  Both Robert Peugeot, executive vice president of Peugeot Citroen, and Georges Douin, executive VP with Renault, agreed that the carmakers must be proactive in the field of collision countermeasures, rather than waiting for the government to regulate such systems.

Who Made the Trip?

Approximately 3500 people attended the Congress, held Nov 6-9 in the Lingotto Conference Center in Turin.  The exhibit hall featured around 200 exhibitors, including major car companies such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Fiat, Nissan, Toyota, as well as a major display by the European Commission highlighting their ITS programs. 

Attendees came from all over the world, with every populated continent represented.  Happily, the location of the Congress provided an opportunity for many eastern Europeans to attend.  However, Russia is apparently not ready yet for ITS, as they had only three attendees. 

Who Came From Where to Attend Torino 2000 ...

A Wide Variety of Vehicle Demos

Vehicle demonstrations were prominent at the show, both on the rooftop test track at the conference center and at Fiat's research facility nearby.  Following are thumbnail sketches of some of these demos ( IVsource will produce more in-depth articles in the coming months):

• SAVE -- this Fiat-developed vehicle uses image processing for lateral warning and control.  Based on testing and driver evaluations, developers have defined three gradients of product offering:  lane departure warning, lane maintaining, and lane keeping.  "Lane maintaining" provides a "hands on & off" the steering wheel function -- the driver can always steer but doesn’t have to, whereas the "lane keeping" requires that the driver keep hands off the wheel for the system to stay engaged.  Drivers strongly prefer the lane maintaining function, according to Fiat engineers.  Word is that these systems have passed Fiat's first stage "technology gate" for product development, implying that all technical issues are resolved.  Efforts to bring the systems to market will now focus on cost and reliability refinements.  When introduced, the systems may appear on the new Fiat Brava model, which has an electronic power assist system designed to accept external commands.

• LACOS -- Development of the LAteral COntrol Support system was funded by the EU 4^th Framework program and involved Volkswagen, Renault, and Fiat, among others.  Essentially, LACOS provides lane changing support to drivers by monitoring the side and rear areas of the vehicles (using image processing) and the far rear (using radar) to detect rapidly approaching vehicles in adjacent lanes.  Cameras are mounted in the side mirrors, and the radar is in the center of the rear bumper, looking backwards with a range of 150 m (488 ft).  Red warning lights appear, at the right or left pillars and within the side mirrors, when a driver signals an intention to change lanes when it is not safe.  Haptic warnings via steering wheel vibration are also being investigated.  Fiat says that, in testing with 33 normal drivers, lane change support was of high interest.  Fiat is now conducting a one year evaluation with 10 vehicles.  Calling their system an "Intelligent Mirror," Fiat expects to enter the market next year for light commercial vehicles and high-end vehicles such as the Chroma.  Lane Departure Warning may come a year later -- they believe it is important next to link the warning to steering control, so as to keep the vehicle in its lane.

• ACC Alfa Romeo -- This vehicle boasted lane departure warning, stop-n-go Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and highway ACC.  Interestingly, their development approach has led to separate ACC products for urban versus highway driving.  Their stop-n-go ACC operates from 0 - 70 km/hr (0 - 42 mph) and is activated separately from their highway ACC, which operates from 30 - 160 km/hr (18 - 96 mph).  Fiat, which produces Alfa Romeo vehicles, is expected to introduce ACC in 2001 on their Lancia Kappa vehicle.

• BMW ACC -- BMW allowed attendees to drive their production ACC system on the roads near the Lingotto Conference Center.  Your reporter gladly got behind the wheel of a Model 750 to enjoy and test the system.  BMW's approach allows the driver to set three different gaps, with the desired speed setting indicated by an LED on the speedometer.  The system operates down to a quite low 30 km/hr (18 mph) and up to 160 km/hr (96 mph).  A yellow icon appears to show that the system is tracking a vehicle ahead, and flashes if the driver needs to intervene to apply the brakes.  The system worked quite well, in both arterial traffic and on the freeway -- however, when shifting to a clear lane, acceleration to the desired speed was quite slow.  BMW engineers later explained that the algorithms must ensure that the host vehicle really does have a clear lane ahead before accelerating.  But to a driver, the feeling is that of being the "slow guy in the fast lane" for several seconds before the acceleration kicks in.  The system also missed one target situation, where a medium-size truck cut in from the right on a three-lane freeway -- the driver had to brake.

Overall, in briefings by European car-makers such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, and Fiat, the message was clear -- they are deep into ADAS and working aggressively to bring products to the market.  This point was further reinforced by the impressive displays by these and other companies in the exhibit hall.

... stay tuned to IVsource for follow up articles.

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