New Technologies Coming to Make Driving Safer, Experts Report at Detroit Conference

19 September 1997
New Technologies Coming to Make Driving Safer, Experts Report at Detroit Conference

    DETROIT, Sept. 19 -- New technologies are coming to make
driving safer by helping drivers control their vehicles at night, in bad
weather, and in emergency situations, according to technical experts at a
conference here this week.
    Some 150 specialists from industry, government, universities and research
institutes reported on systems being developed to help civilian and military
drivers at the Third Annual Automotive Enhanced Driving/Night Vision
Conference at Detroit's Westin Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
    Joint efforts by industry and government researchers will bring new
systems into everyday use faster and at lower cost, declared Dr. A. Fenner
Milton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology and
Chief Scientist of the Department of the Army.  Research programs are
developing multi-use technologies that will serve personal, commercial, and
military needs, he said.
    Latest developments in radar, infra-red and video-based technologies to
enhance night vision, assist older drivers, and compensate for driver fatigue
were reviewed at the conference.  Technical reports covered systems that can
warn of obstacles, avoid collisions, automatically sense emergency situations
and augment the driver's braking and control.
    Experts agreed in the conference's closing blue-ribbon panel that
continuing development is needed to reduce system costs and refine new
products.  They predicted that new capabilities will be added to future cars
and trucks as integrated, electronically-controlled systems that will bring
drivers real benefits without distractions or confusion.
    Technical papers were presented by experts from Carnegie Mellon Research
Institute, Communications and Control Electronics Ltd., Daimler-Benz AG,
Delphi Automotive Systems, Dynamic Safety Resources, Eaton-VORAD Technologies,
Echelon Corporation, ERIM International, the Federal Highway Administration,
Freightliner Corporation, Motorola, Inc., OSRAM Sylvania, Raytheon, Robert
Bosch Corporation, the U.S. Army's National Automotive Center, Texas
Instruments, UT Automotive, and the University of Michigan Transportation
Research Institute.
    The conference was presented by the National Automotive Center (NAC) of
the U.S. Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) and ERIM
International, a research institute based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Chairman of
the conference was Michael C. Dudzik, director of ERIM's Automotive and
Transportation Programs.

SOURCE  ERIM Automotive