Subaru develops 'Eyesight' crash avoidance system

Subaru Australia has previewed a new crash avoidance system that will be introduced on its flagship Liberty and Outback models next year.

The "Eyesight" system comprises two cameras mounted near the top of the windscreen that constantly monitor traffic conditions and can detect pedestrians and cyclists.

The "stereo" cameras scan the road ahead to maintain a safe distance between the car in front when the cruise control is used, by applying the brakes or accelerator as necessary. In this mode, the system can also bring the car to a stop from freeway speeds.

Other companies such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz have similar systems, but they use radar technology.

However, unlike the German systems, the Subaru technology will also slam on the brakes if a car suddenly cuts into your lane at freeway speeds -- even when the cruise control is not activated. If the difference in speed is not greater than 30km/h, impact will be avoided.

The Subaru system will also slam on the brakes in stop-start traffic to prevent crashing into the back of the car ahead -- similar to Volvo's City Safety technology (involved in an embarrassing malfunction during a media event in Sweden a fortnight ago.

But Subaru Eyesight goes a step further than the Volvo system and stops the driver from accidentally driving into a car park wall (if he or she has mistaken the brake for the accelerator pedal, for example).

Another neat trick: the car will beep at you if you've not noticed that the vehicle in front has moved away from the traffic lights or intersection.

While Eyesight is similar to Volvo's City Safety (which uses a combination of camera and radar technology), the Subaru system can bring a car to a safe stop from higher speeds.

The Volvo City Safety system is guaranteed to avoid a collision below 15km/h and may slightly graze the car in front when stopping from up to 30km/h.

In most conditions, the Subaru system is guaranteed to avoid a collision at speeds up to 30km/h and may slightly graze the car in front when stopping from up to 50km/h, the company says.

Subaru previewed the technology earlier this week at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. An Outback was specially equipped with the system and a TV monitor was fitted to show us how the technology worked.

Just like a digital point-and-shoot camera, Subaru's Eyesight cameras quickly identify objects (in this case: cars, pedestrians, cyclists and other road furniture) and then put a frame around them once detected.

However, the production cars will not have monitors that show the Eyesight's view.

Subaru says it has been working on Eyesight for the past 10 years and earlier iterations of the technology have been available on Subarus in Japan for the past two years.

Subaru is currently up to the third version of the second-generation Eyesight system; Australia will likely get a newer version dubbed Eyesight 2.4.

Japanese technology supplier Hitachi developed the cameras for Eyesight while Subaru developed the software, the company said.

The Eyesight system does not work in all conditions; heavy rain and fog can obscure vision. And a plain white wall may be hard for the cameras to gauge distance in a car park scenario.

The system works at night, although its ability to detect objects beyond the headlight beam is diminished.

"The cameras see what you see," says Subaru technical manager Derek Ashby. "So if visibility is poor, chances are the system can be affected."

A light on the dash warns the driver when the system is not working.

As with the Volvo City Safety system, the Eyesight system won't slam on the brakes if more than half the width of the car is not directly behind another vehicle.

"In these situations it is possible for the driver to swerve," says Ashby. "We don't want to take control away from the driver. This is a last moment intervention for when a crash is imminent."

Subaru Japan has also developed a prototype car that can drive itself, using the Eyesight camera technology and satellite navigation, but it says it is an experimental vehicle only and not planned for production.

"This just shows you what is possible, but we believe drivers should be in control at all times," Ashby says.