New driver safety aids from BMW, MB and Volvo

"43 per cent of fatal Australian accidents occur at night, even though most driving occurs during the day." So says BMW's Australian MD, Guenther Seemann, quoting from official statistics.

Seeman mentioned the statistic in support of BMW's new Night Vision system, which will be introduced with the next generation of BMW 7 Series, due to arrive next year (more here).

The idea is not new, with Cadillac introducing forward-looking infra-red technology on its 2000 model DeVille. BMW adopted the technology in 2006, but the new generation 7 Series gains an upgraded system which can detect and display individual pedestrians.

Presented in the centre fascia LCD, the display is not a straight feed from the thermal imaging camera. Instead, the image from the camera is effectively analysed and 'edited' using intelligent algorithms to highlight pedestrians captured in the raw video data. The pedestrians appear on screen in a yellow video highlight colour and if the system determines that the pedestrian is at risk, it will alert the driver.

To establish that the pedestrian is in danger, the system conducts an ersatz risk assessment, taking into account the car's attitude, speed and proximity to the pedestrian. In addition to the display in the centre fascia, the system also flashes the image up on the windscreen through the vehicle's Head-Up Display.

Not to be outdone by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have also announced new safety systems -- specifically to combat driver fatigue.

The Benz version is named 'Attention Assist' and Volvo calls its system 'Driver Alert Control'. In principle, the two systems achieve the same ends, monitoring the behaviour of the car rather than the behaviour of the driver. Volvo will be first to market locally, with DAC to be introduced in the company's 2009MY cars from October '08.

The Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist facility pre-empts the stage of driver fatigue the company describes as "the one-second nap". According to Benz, fatigue is a greater problem on our roads than alcohol and reaction times extend by 50 per cent once the driver has been operating a vehicle continuously for four hours.

Attention Assist monitors steering inputs from the driver, to establish the level of fatigue, but the 'data' supplied to the system is not limited to the steering; it also records indicator and pedal movements and cross-references that data with external factors such as side winds, road surfaces, vehicle speed and acceleration (both linear and lateral).

The external influences (poor roads, strong side winds), would help the system analyse the driver's fatigue faster, since constant correction and re-correction will provide more data -- and faster. Once the system determines that the driver is beyond a certain threshold of fatigue, it will display an alert in the instrument cluster and sound an audible alarm: "Attention Assist. Break!"

Volvo's DAC system will be made available in S80, V70, XC70 and XC60 models. Keeping up the averages, Volvo has provided its own percentage figures to support the safety system. 43 per cent of Australian fatalities at night, says BMW; 25 per cent of serious motorway crashes due to fatigue, says Benz. Volvo also cites the 25 per cent statistic, but goes for the double-whammy with a back-up stat indicating up to 90 per cent of all accidents result from 'distraction'.

DAC, which operates from a speed of 65km/h, works on the same general principles as the Lane Departure Warning system, except it monitors the car's movements within the lane markings to conclude the driver is fatigued, rather than alerting the driver when the vehicle is actually crossing over the lane markings.

"We do not monitor human behaviour -- which varies from one person to another -- but instead the effect that fatigue or decreased concentration has on driving behaviour," says Daniel Levin, Volvo's project manager for Driver Alert Control.

"Our technology is based on the car's progress on the road. It gives a reliable indication if something is likely to go wrong and alerts the driver before it is too late.

"We often get questions about why we have chosen this concept instead of monitoring the driver's eyes. The answer is that we don't think that the technology for monitoring the driver's eyes is mature enough yet."

DAC is not just an anti-fatigue measure either, according to Volvo. It will also reduce the prospect of driver distraction -- as in changing a CD, lighting a cigarette or conversing with a passenger.

A camera installed behind the windscreen and ahead of the rear-vision mirror monitors the car's position, relative to lane markings. Information stored builds into a data repository to provide the criteria to establish a distraction tipping point.

Once the vehicle's attitude indicates the driver is not paying enough attention -- either through fatigue or general distraction -- it will sound an alarm and display a text message and coffee cup icon in the vehicle's information LCD. The system will even keep the driver updated on a five-point scale, with fewer points illuminated indicating a higher level of fatigue.

Being based on the same technology as the company's 'Lane Departure Warning' system, which is being introduced to Australia at the same time as DAC, there's a reasonable chance that DAC will be less effective in this country than Volvo would hope.

Lane Departure Warning is Volvo's equivalent to Audi's Lane Assist, which has already been sampled by us here at the Carsales Network with mixed success (more here). As an aside, we recently spoke to Audi's General Manager of Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf concerning Lane Assist.

"If you as a customer -- and a driver -- want to have that as back-up and you're living in a regional area where you don't have line markings, then it's not going to work effectively all the time," she said. "You might decide not to choose it.

"But if you're in the city driving around, then generally there's no problem with it. Certainly the lanes are good enough quality in mainly built-up areas.

"It's always a matter of customer choice and that's why these things are optional -- because some people feel they need or want them and others don't."

We might add that some people won't see the point of paying for something that doesn't work all the time -- which is the principal reason to offer it as an option, in our view. Whilst one shouldn't pre-judge, we can't help but be dubious that Volvo's Lane Departure Warning will be any better than the Audi system -- for exactly the same reason: the parlous Aussie road environment.

Volvo appears to recognise that this may pose a problem for locally delivered cars and advises in its press release: "The functionality depends on the visibility and quality of the road markings. The lane markings must be clearly visible to the camera. Poor light, fog, snow and extreme weather conditions can make the feature unavailable."

And if the Lane Departure Warning system is not 100 per cent reliable, then how will DAC fare, since it also relies on the car's position, relative to a marked lane? It could prove to be a hot potato for the Swedish marque.

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