University of Michigan Gets Safety Grant

Light & Medium Truck, Jun 2008 by Goodman, David N

A high-tech system to help car and commercial truck drivers avoid crashes by warning them of potential road dangers and assessing their options will get some real-world testing starting this summer.

The program, in tests under a federal grant to the University of Michigan, will help motorists choose the path of least danger when both stopping and changing lanes present risks, project director Jim Sayer said in an interview.

The Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System, Sayer said, goes beyond the collision-warning detectors now available in some luxury models by integrating data from many sources.

The government's approval of the second phase of the $32.3 million study clears the way for 16 passenger cars and 10 commercial trucks equipped with the system to hit U.S. roads starting this summer, Sayer said.

"We're going to get a good cross section of the driving public," he said.

A recent study the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released said expanding the availability of the forward-crash and lane-departure warning systems now offered in some highend vehicles could save tens of thousands of lives a year.

The system in testing is designed to "warn drivers when they are about to leave the roadway, are in danger of colliding with another vehicle while attempting a lane change, or are at risk of colliding with the vehicle ahead," the university said in a statement.

"It will use information gathered by inertial, video and radar sensors, plus a Global Positioning System, to warn drivers of potentially dangerous situations to prevent or lessen the impact of crashes."

The university's Transportation Research Institute is conducting the study, part of a joint initiative by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In addition to $25.2 million in federal funding, $7.1 million is coming from Visteon Corp., Eaton Corp., Cognex Corp., Honda Motor Co., Navistar Inc., Con-way Inc., Battelle Memorial Institute and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

David N. Goodman, Associated Press