New Kind of Crash Avoidance Camera Available in 2012

Oct. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- GM is unveiling in 2012 the industry’s first crash avoidance camera that uses only one camera to reduce the number of front-end and lane departure crashes. The camera is a high resolution digital camera that will be mounted on the windshield near the rearview mirror, and will contain a visual display mounted high on the dashboard. It has the technology to search for certain shapes and lane markings so it can warn drivers when they are about to make an unsafe move. The new technology will actually audibly warn the driver that they are coming too close to a vehicle or if they have failed to signal before turning or changing lanes. And it’s only available on the GMC Terrain!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has claimed that most of the rear-end collisions that this new camera will prevent are caused by driver inattention. In fact, approximately twenty eight percent of all crashes reported to the police annually are rear-end collisions. This new camera has the potential to prevent these crashes from occurring.

The way the warnings will work is that the vehicle will give off indicator lights, as well as sound chimes in the event of a dangerous vehicle hazard. The chimes are not loud enough to distract or startle the driver if they are concentrating on the road, but they are loud enough to properly warn a driver who may be drifting off at the wheel. The situations that will cause the vehicle to alert the driver are when the driver turns without signaling, follows too closely, or otherwise seems to be coming too close to a vehicle. The front-end collision system works at speeds of 25 mph or above, and the lane departure warning is available at speeds of 35 mph or above. Otherwise the only time that the system is not available is if the camera becomes obstructed, such as by mud or snow. But luckily this can easily be fixed by simply wiping the camera lens clean!

Some of the most interesting features of the new system are that the camera can operate at about fourteen frames per second, and can employ a variety of camera tricks in order to properly detect shapes and textures. It can even operate at night by looking for taillights and using short and long exposure pictures to detect different aspects of oncoming traffic. The system can use the vehicle’s speed, directional change, and use of the brakes and accelerators to determine when to alert the driver and detect a countdown till the vehicles will collide. The new system can even give the brakes an extra charge when it detects that a crash is imminent to give the driver an extra boost of brake power so they can stop quickly.

GM is excited to unveil this new technology for the 2012 model Terrain vehicles. Right now the system is only available in the Terrain, but they are hoping to expand the safety technology into other vehicles as well. For more information, please visit our website here: http://gmctruckcharlotte.com/gmctruck/.