Ford Selects Iteris for Lane Departure Warning Systems
IVsource.net
30 September 2000

With lane departure warning systems already on the market for heavy trucks for some time, the auto industry is now visibly jumping into the action: Ford has selected Iteris to supply the AutoVue lane departure warning system in a recently announced exclusive deal.

This agreement marks Iteris's initial entry into the domestic consumer automotive market with AutoVue, their image processing-based lane tracker.  The system could be made available to consumers as early as model year 2003; Ford targets future Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles produced and sold in North America for initial introduction.

In June of this year, Iteris accomplished the industry's first large-scale deployment of video-based in-vehicle sensors with the production order shipment of its AutoVue lane departure warning system to DaimlerChrysler (DC) in Europe.  The AutoVue system is currently available as an option on Mercedes Actros trucks.  The company worked with DC for some time in tuning their system for commercial introduction.  "We've shipped hundreds of units to Germany by now," says Van Dan Elzen.  The systems are expected to be available on Freightliner trucks (owned by DC) later this year.  Iteris' chief competitor, AssistWare, has also had success in the heavy truck market: their SafeTrac system is now available as a factory option on Kenworth trucks and via direct sales to commercial fleets.  (See the IVsource archives for more information on both.)

First to Cars

But Iteris is the first supplier of LDWS to enter the passenger auto market.  The announcement coming this soon surprised industry observers, given the slow movement by the auto industry in areas like Adaptive Cruise Control.  Most likely, Ford found the simplicity of image-based lane tracking to be attractive, as it requires relatively minimal integration with other vehicle systems and provides a readily understandable value to the consumer.

"Our agreement with Ford literally paves the way for our AutoVue product becoming a standard option on consumer vehicles in the United States," said Francis Memole, vice president of vehicle sensors for Iteris.  "Ford manufactures more than 7 million cars and trucks worldwide per year.  As a result of this agreement, we could be shipping as many as 50,000 units the first year alone.  Consumers could see our lane departure warning systems on vehicles as early as mid-year 2002 on the 2003 models."

Memole notes the company's style of "laying low" until a product is ready.  "During all the ITS hype for the last ten years, we were quietly working on a robust, affordable system, making steady progress until we perfected the AutoVue for both European and American roads," he says.   The product was developed completely with private funding and, interestingly, Iteris notes that it has no interest whatsoever in participating in government programs: their energies are focused on sales and  profits in the high-volume truck and car markets.

Expanding to Mazda, Jaguar, Volvo

Dave McNamara, engineering manager for Ford Motor Co. said, "It's this type of 'smart technology' that we at Ford feel can enhance the safety of our vehicles." 
In addition to the purchase agreement, Ford has agreed to help promote the lane departure warning system feature on their Mazda, Jaguar, Ford of Europe and Volvo brands.

Lane departures are the number one cause of fatal accidents in the United States, and account for more than 39% of crash-related fatalities.  According to Iteris' press release, "the AutoVue lane departure warning system was designed to address the growing number of accidents caused by drowsy and inattentive drivers by warning drivers of an unintended lane departure before it occurs."

Cleverly jumping on the driver distraction bandwagon, the press release continues:  "Recently the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has claimed that as many as 1,575,000 accidents annually are caused by distracted drivers; a large percentage of which can be attributed to unintended lane departures.  Lane departures are also identified by the government as a major cause of rollover incidents involving sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks."

The AutoVue system uses a highly sensitive, computerized camera and a combination of sophisticated lane recognition algorithms and proprietary image recognition software and hardware to track lane markings in the road.  AutoVue is a compact device that resides inside the vehicle on the windshield.

When the AutoVue system detects that an unintended lane change is about to occur, it alerts the driver by emulating a  distinctive rumble strip sound, allowing the driver time to correct the situation in a controlled manner.  The company says this particular alarm sound was chosen after thorough research proved it to be most effective for warning a driver without causing an overreaction.

AutoVue works effectively both day and night, and in most weather conditions where the lane markings are visible.  By simply using the turn signal, a driver indicates to the system that a planned lane departure is intended and the alarm does not sound.  "Performance is superb," says Memole.  "The system works very well with both poor road markings and poor weather."

Iteris is a subsidiary of Odetics, once a division of Rockwell International, which provides advanced information, software and sensor technologies across the ITS industry.

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... see the Iteris Web site at www.iteris.com or contact Christopher Van Dan Elzen at clv@iteris.com.

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