Is There Hope for Intelligent Driving Systems? - SPARC, Space and More
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The European Commission funds a project called SPARC. It is coordinated by DaimlerChrysler and their partner is Freescale Semiconductors. The profit of Freescale Semiconductors for 2006 was $2.7+ billion (transport division). Their goal is to improve the safety and efficiency of traffic. Driver assistance systems, such as radars, GPS, cameras, sensors, breaking and steering, wouldn't be neglected.
SPARC's other goal is avoiding accidents via preventative actions. SPARC, once it is fully implemented, would include the ability to detect and forecast the possibility of hazards and accidents. Many of the project's aspects are similar to the collaborative driving concept.
The prototype of SPARC could likely arrive in the mass-production stage somewhere in the next few years. It would be possible for it to come out sooner on particular German-manufactured commercial trucks by Daimler AZ, such as Mercedes-Benz and Western Star.
Another project of the aforementioned American IT&C Company involves their partnership with Continental AG. They are developing a specific multi-core microcontroller (MCU) called Space. If everything goes as planned, then Space should be implemented in Continental's renowned breaking system, EBS. We'll see what the future brings.
The European Union made its decision to fund an intelligent driving system because last year, for example, approximately 60,000 road accidents happened in the EU territory. About 95-97% were caused by some sort of human mistake. Having a collaborative driving transportation infrastructure brings tons of advantages!
Apparently, Motorola is also researching some gadget that comes really close to the "smart car" concept of helping drivers enhance their safety and driving efficiency.
Armin Sulzmann, senior manager of DaimlerChrysler AZ, explains the usefulness of innovative breakthroughs in transportation by urging us to imagine a scenario where a driver falls asleep and risks our lives, even though we're driving cautiously. The system would calculate the probability of collision, take over the controls, and act autonomously based on its algorithms, following the road lane while decelerating.
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