Forecast device drives road safety

Date: 1/3/2010

Source: the Engineer

The EU-funded project ‘Friction’ has developed a system that enables cars to determine weather conditions and adjust speed accordingly. The objective of the project is to create an on-board system for estimating friction and road slipperiness to enhance the performance of integrated and cooperative safety systems like vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and driver information.

The project has developed a system that uses three different sensors to determine the conditions of the road:

• Using laser to illuminate a spot on the road with two different wavelengths of infra-red light
• Using a camera that detects polarised light reflected from the road about 25m ahead
• Using a radar system operating at 24GHZ to compare the amount of energy reflected back from the road surface at two different polarisation angles.

Combined, these sensors have been found to distinguish successfully between dry, wet, icy or snowy road conditions. Some car manufacturers are expected to introduce friction-sensing features to their safety packages in the next few years.

More information can be found on the Friction project website.

ITS Radar International will continue to monitor ‘Friction’

Key words: Cooperative vehicle systems, European Commission, In-vehicle systems, Project, Safety