Automakers Turn Toward ITS to Improve Safety in Crowded World

TOKYO – The 20th edition of the ITS World Congress closed its doors earlier this month, with all eyes focused on future improvements in safety technologies and expanded usage of intelligent transportation systems to contain growing infrastructure costs.

The confab, hosted by ITS Japan and the Tokyo government, held more than 250 executive and technical sessions involving some 1,000 speakers from North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

A consensus is building that intelligent-transportation systems hold the key to dealing with rising infrastructure costs and traffic congestion, while cutting global traffic fatalities from the current 1.2 million people annually.

Fotis Karamitsos, the European Commission’s acting deputy director general-mobility and transport, warns that “building new roads, railways and airports is almost impossible in light of budget constraints...everywhere.”

Over the next three decades, Karamitsos says, transportation planners worldwide will face huge growths in population, from an estimated 6.5 billion people today to 9 billion by 2050. By then, the top 50 cities will have populations of more than 10 million people.

During the same period, he estimates, the number of vehicles in operation will swell to 2 billion-4 billion units, up from 800 million at present.

“The only way to deal with these trends is to organize our transportation structure in a better, more intelligent manner,” he says.

Malcom Dougherty, director-California Department of Transportation, concurs. “ITS solutions will be considerably cheaper than building additional infrastructure,” he says.

“In the next 15-20 years, we expect fuel efficiency or use of alternative-fuel vehicles to cut fuel consumption in half. This is a good thing. But it also presents a challenge for how we’re going to pay for that transportation infrastructure.”

Dougherty says it would be easy to raise gasoline taxes, but charging drivers by the mile for the roads they use might be the better strategy.

“This is probably the most equitable way (to finance infrastructure),” he says. “But it also will be difficult to make that transition.”

Ron Medford, director of safety for self-driving cars at Google, puts yearly financial losses from sitting in traffic at $120 billion in the U.S. alone, including 2.9 billion gallons (11.0 billion L) of fuel.

With this in mind, Klaus Compass, vice president-vehicle safety at BMW, predicts the first applications of autonomous driving will focus on fuel efficiency and controlling the vehicle when in congested traffic.

“The safety benefits will probably be achievable at a later point in time,” he says.

Even so, beginning in 2014, the European New Car Assessment Program will require autonomous emergency braking to achieve a 5-star safety rating. Beginning in 2016, enhanced pedestrian protection also will be necessary to reach the top safety score.

On the exhibition’s floor, some 200 vehicle makers, system suppliers and infrastructure developers displayed their latest ITS and safety technologies.

Toyota, in a large-panel display, focused on next-generation telematics including road-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian communications; future “big-data” traffic information services; and energy-management technology. The automaker also provided details of future lane-keeping and cooperative adaptive cruise control technologies.

Nissan outlined its latest Safety Shield technologies, including blindspot warning and intervention; distance control assist; forward emergency braking; lane-departure prevention; moving-object detection; and backup collision-intervention.

In August, the automaker unveiled the next stage in its Around View monitoring concept with a prototype system employing laser scanners to enable the car to automatically steer around stationary objects in its path, such as parked cars.

Honda’s focus was on vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-motorcycle and vehicle-to-pedestrian communications.

Daihatsu, Toyota’s small-car subsidiary, displayed its Smart Assist pre-crash brake system that uses laser radar to warn the driver if the car is within 65 ft. (25 m) of the vehicle in front.

Five Daihatsu cars, all 0.66L models, currently employ the system, including the Move, Move Custom, Tanto, Tanto Custom and Mira e:s.

Denso supplies the laser radar along with the system’s electronic fuel injection and yaw-rate sensors. ADVICS supplies the vehicle stability-control sensor.

Suzuki displayed a pre-crash brake system called Radar Brake Support that prevents frontal collisions at speeds up to 9 mph (15 km).

The system, introduced in July, is optional on the Wagon R and Spacia minicars in Japan. The system is supplied by Continental.

The automaker also has expanded its line of models with rearview cameras featuring automatic viewpoint select functionality. Since launching the system in January 2012 on the Swift, Suzuki has added the Escudo, Solio, MR Wagon and Wagon R.

Mazda exhibited its experimental ASV-5 vehicle outside of Hiroshima for first time. It incorporates front and side cameras, quasi-millimeter wave radar and active safety systems that include radar cruise control, forward-obstruction warning, rear monitoring, lane-departure warning and smart-brake support.

Aisin revealed plans to introduce a head-up display in 2017. No details were offered except that the unit likely will be installed in a luxury car. A company official predicts that by 2020, head-up displays will be installed in 10% of cars sold in Japan, Europe and North America.

Denso displayed a 17-in. (43 cm) head-up display, but gave no timeframe for introduction.

ADVICS, Japan’s leading brake-system supplier, has developed the second generation of its integrated stability control, autonomous emergency brake and lane-keep assist system. The supplier would not disclose when the system will become available, but it is expected to hit the market soon.

Sumitomo Electric Industries displayed a prototype receiving coil and bi-directional onboard charger for a wireless charging system for future electric cars. The supplier expects sales to begin in 2020.

Next year’s ITS World Congress will be held in Detroit Sept. 7-11.