Mercedes Looks to Safety Future

Press Release

Lane departure prevention assistant steers vehicle by means of targeted braking impulses

Approximately one out of every six major accidents in Germany occurs because a vehicle inadvertently moves out of the lane it’s traveling in. More than one-third of all traffic fatalities also result from such accidents. Mercedes-Benz is therefore developing a lane assistant that warns drivers when they inadvertently drift out of the lane they’re traveling in, and autonomously puts the vehicle back on course if an accident appears imminent. The system uses a camera to detect lane markings, while simultaneously monitoring the vehicle’s movements within the lane, as well as the driver’s activities. In the system’s initial phase, vibrations in the steering wheel let drivers know that they have moved out of the lane and should take corrective action. Should the driver fail to react to this subtle but effective warning, the system will put the vehicle back on the proper course by initiating a targeted braking maneuver on one of the wheels. This braking action automatically disengages if the driver begins steering back to the proper position.

Blind Spot Assist makes lane changes safer

Another newly developed Mercedes assistance system provides for even more safety when changing lanes. The system works with six close-proximity radar sensors that monitor the area behind both sides of the vehicle, thereby enabling them to register whether another vehicle is moving through the blind spot in an adjacent lane. If this is the case, the system will inform the driver by means of a red warning light in the side-mirror glass. The system will then sound an alarm if the driver fails to notice the warning and hits the blinker as a prelude to changing lanes.

Fatigue detection warns drivers of dangerous microsleep

Fatigue detection is the designation for a new field in which Mercedes safety engineers are continuing their practically focused development of systems for accident prevention. Various scientific studies estimate that between 10 and 20 percent of serious traffic accidents can be attributed to fatigue. According to an investigation carried out by insurance companies in Germany, fatigue is responsible for one in four fatal motorway accidents. The goal of the Mercedes engineers is to develop an assistance system that can recognize fatigue before it becomes a danger, and then warn the driver. A team of Mercedes experts has therefore been studying various approaches for reliably recognizing early signs of driver fatigue. More than 250 drivers have participated in the associated tests, traveling around 400,000 kilometers in the process.

Radio system sends danger warnings from vehicle to vehicle

Mercedes-Benz expects road safety to also be enhanced even further in the future by car-to-car communication systems, which are now undergoing a major testing campaign in Germany. Mercedes is contributing its more than six years of practical experience in this area to the test series, which is being conducted jointly by several German automakers and industrial companies. Car-to-car communication systems utilize WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) radio technology, which enables them to rapidly transmit warnings in time to prevent accidents. Among other things, such systems can be used to warn drivers of fog, black ice, and other dangers right around the next bend. The vehicles serve as transmitters or receivers of information, which they can also forward to other vehicles like a relay runner passing a baton. The critical situations themselves are registered by existing onboard safety systems such as ABS and ESP®. In the future, it may also be possible to have vehicles communicate with roadside beacons in order to optimize traffic flows and prevent the formation of traffic jams.

Radar sensors analyze the size and weight of a potential accident partner

Car-to-car communication systems can improve occupant protection as well by exchanging data between vehicles when a collision has become unavoidable. Seatbelt tensioners, airbags and other safety features could then be adjusted in accordance with the data obtained on the counterpart vehicle, whereby at close ranges (immediately before an impending accident), the automobiles of tomorrow could exchange data on vehicle type, mass, rigidity or geometry. As a result, the activation of occupant protection systems could be tailored even more closely to the requirements of the circumstances. Radar sensor systems that are already available in various Mercedes models could be utilized in the future for anticipatory crash analyses. Here, the system would “see,� for example, whether the vehicle approaching on a collision course is a truck, a bus or a car, allowing it to calculate the severity of the impending impact and the settings required for safety systems. Every fraction of a second before an accident counts when it comes to properly preparing vehicle occupants for an impending impact. Preemptive crash analysis therefore represents a crucial further step toward enhancing occupant safety - and an important supplement to the proven PRE-SAFE® system. By working on these and other such innovations, Mercedes-Benz is continuing its long-term commitment to improving road safety. As ever, this approach is based on the prime principle of the Mercedes safety philosophy, as formulated by Béla Barényi: To make an important contribution to improving safety on our roads and, with each new invention, to move a little closer to the vision of accident-free driving.