Toyota is unveiling their latest technological advancement in order to help keep drivers safe. The automaker has introduced the world’s first GPS linked brake assist system, which uses preprogrammed locations of stop signs in order to detect stop sign related emergency braking situations.
When approaching an intersection the system activates aural and visual alerts to inform the driver to stop. Depending on the vehicle’s relative position to the stop sign a variety of warnings occur, if the vehicle fails to decelerate additional warnings are given. By determining the vehicle position and actual force the driver applies to the brakes, the system can decide if additional braking power is needed. Currently undergoing testing in Japan, Toyota hopes to offer the system there in the near future as part of their continuing efforts to help prevent collisions.
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that its Brake Assist, which helps apply proper braking power, can now—as a world's first*1—coordinate with a vehicle's navigation system.
TMC's latest Brake Assist engages when a driver suddenly applies the brakes in response to stop-sign-proximity warnings provided by the navigation system through its display screen and aurally. The navigation system is able to provide the warnings by drawing on stop-sign information contained within its map data. The Brake Assist optimally adjusts the braking force based on both vehicle-position information (obtained using a rear-mounted camera) and the actual force with which the driver has applied the brakes. TMC hopes that this new technology, developed in conjunction with Aisin AW CO., Ltd., Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Toyota Mapmaster Incorporated, will help reduce collisions at intersections; it intends to offer it on vehicle models scheduled for launch in Japan in the near future.
The development of the navigation-linked Brake Assist follows TMC's development in June 2007 of the world's first system to employ car navigation-system map data to warn drivers both visually and aurally of stop signs ahead—a system TMC enhanced in September 2007 by adding an aural warning that is activated when the driver does not begin to decelerate upon nearing the stop line.
As a part of its efforts to realize sustainable mobility, TMC intends to strengthen its traffic safety initiatives in the future through: 1) the development of even safer vehicles and technologies based on TMC's Integrated Safety Management Concept*2, 2) participation in the creation of a safe traffic environment and 3) activities designed to educate people in traffic safety, thereby contributing to the complete elimination of traffic casualties, which can be viewed as the ultimate hope of a society that values mobility.
*1. As of January 2008, according to TMC survey.
*2. TMC's safety technology and vehicle development concept, aimed at realizing vehicles that do not cause accidents by combining safety technologies and systems to provide optimal driving support based on actual driving conditions
Outline of Stop-sign Warning System and Navigation-linked Brake Assist
Type of Support
Function
Activation Timing
Stop-sign alert
Alerts driver visually and aurally to stop signs
Approx. 100m before stop sign
Stop-sign
reminder warning
Issues voice warning to driver in event driver has not begun decelerating
Approx. four seconds before expected arrival at stop sign
Navigation-linked
Brake Assist
Optimally adjusts braking force for braking aimed at stopping at stop signs
When driver suddenly applies brakes following reminder warning
Note: The system is currently limited to stop signs on roads with four lanes or more in Tokyo’s 23 wards and the cities of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka. TMC plans to expand the area covered by the system in the future.
I nailed a blender to the dashboard of my car, and am willing to do it to yours, too! It is a revolutionary "world's first" mobile juicing solution. Indeed, if you are interested in my "mobile juicing solutions," you're exactly the sort of chap Toyota expects to appreciate this technology.
Serious now. This is not your typical new gizmo, like electrical parking brakes, perfume dispensers, ...
Am I happy about it? No, because it is a step in a direction that seems inevitable to me. In the, hopefully distant, future we will have less and less control over our cars. Things like automatic adaptation to the speed limits in the area your driving are not that far away. I really hope I'm wrong.
But even if I'm not happy with this technology, I know it is technically more impressive and not a purely marketing induced pseudo 'technology' you see introduced every day.
