For a few years now, research and development in driverless cars have evolved tremendously, and several intuitive and creative changes have been witnessed. There have been various demonstrations of these autonomous vehicles by the auto giants both on and off roads. 

However, the measure of safety has always been a serious concern in self-driving cars. There have been severe accidents during the trials on-road of various driverless cars. For instance, in 2016, a Tesla driver died in a fatal crash while using autopilot mode. In another instance in 2018, a self-driving car from Uber hit and killed a woman. It is, therefore, a key requirement to work around the safety features of self-driving cars. In this article, we discuss 10 creative measures that can or have been adopted for driverless cars.

(The list is in no particular order).

1| Adaptive Cruise Control

Adaptive cruise control (ACC), also known as Dynamic Cruise Control is an intelligent form of cruise control that works by slowing down the speed and speeding up automatically to keep pace with the vehicle in front of it. This technique helps in avoiding a collision. 

This control scheme is designed to improve drivers’ comfort during multi-vehicle driving situations and to completely avoid rear-end collision using severe braking and lane change manoeuvre. This technique is widely regarded as the critical component of future generations of intelligent driverless cars.

Know more here.

2| Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is one of the most advanced developments for standard safety equipment on autonomous vehicles. This technique works by scanning the road ahead and can apply the brakes automatically to avoid a collision. 

In autonomous vehicles, this technique works by automating the activation of a car’s brakes in conjunction with the existing self-steering, lane-keeping assistance and other systems to control the vehicle with negative inputs from the driver.

Know more here.

3| Blindspot detection 

Blindspot detection is one of the core technologies which provides 360 degrees of electronic coverage around a car, regardless of the speed. Developed by Volvo, this technology tracks traffic just behind the vehicle as well as what’s coming alongside. 

Blindspot detection or blindspot monitoring includes two different categories, active blindspot monitoring and passive blindspot monitoring.

Know more here.

4| Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is an automatic feature that uses automatic computer-controlled braking of individual wheels to assist in maintaining control in critical driving situations. The feature becomes active when the driver loses control of the vehicle.

According to this blog, vehicles fitted with ESC are involved in 32% fewer single-vehicle crashes, and 58% fewer roll-over crashes that result in driver injury.

Know more here.

5| Lane-Keeping Assist

Lane-keeping assists (LKA) is a technique in autonomous driving vehicles that enables vehicles to travel along a desired line of lanes by adjusting the front steering angle. This technique is used mainly for preventing accidents during free driving of autonomous vehicles. It works by warning the driver and/or deploying the steering if the vehicle moves out of a lane.

Know more here.

6| Reverse Park Assist

The Reverse Park Assist system helps a driver to sense when objects are in the blind spot of the vehicle. The system can help in preventing reverse parking accidents. There are mainly two common types of reverse parking-assist systems, which are simple audio warning and a sophisticated camera and video-monitoring system. Also known as rear park assist, this technique utilises multiple ultrasonic sensors located on the rear bumper of the vehicle.

Know more here.

7| Rear Cross-Traffic Assist

Rear cross-traffic assist or rear cross-traffic alert system helps drivers reversing out of perpendicular parking spaces when their rear view is obstructed. According to this blog post by Bosch, rear cross-traffic alert can make reversing easier by warning about the vehicles crossing when getting out of a parking space.

This system basically utilises two mid-range radar sensors in the rear of the vehicle, which measure as well as interpret the distance, speed and anticipated driving path of vehicles detected in cross-traffic.

Know more here.

8| Traffic Jam Assist

Traffic Jam Assist can be said as an extension of the Adaptive Cruise Control. The technique is basically a low-speed version of Adaptive Cruise Control that tries to maintain the set speed while taking other vehicles into account.

Traffic jam assist is based on the sensors, and the functionality of adaptive cruise control with stop & go and lane-keeping support. When the Adaptive Cruise Control systems ‘stop & go’ is turned on, it continuously analyses the speed of the surrounding vehicles and compares with their own driving speed..

Know more here.

9| Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Communication

The Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a technique that wirelessly exchanges information about the speed, position as well as distance of the surrounding vehicles. The technology behind V2V communication allows vehicles to broadcast and receive Omni-directional messages and creates a 360-degree “awareness” of other vehicles in proximity.

Know more here.

10| Vehicle Guidance System

This technology helps steer the vehicle without human intervention. Unlike driver assistance systems, this system needs no monitoring by a human driver. The Vehicle Guidance System is part of the control structure of the vehicle and consists of a path generator, a motion planning algorithm and a sensor fusion module.

Know more here.

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