Posted on Friday 22 February 2008
Mazda will commence public road trials of its ASV-4 advanced safety vehicle in Hiroshima next month as part of the Japanese government’s efforts to promote technologies aimed at reducing the number of traffic accidents. Mazda’s latest system uses a vehicle-to-vehicle communications set-up to alert drivers of oncoming vehicles at blind intersections or on twisting roads with limited visibility.
By reducing driver oversight or error, the system aims to mitigate two vehicle collisions at blind intersections, rear-end collisions and accidents at two-way intersections. This is the fourth phase of Mazda’s ASV safety system. Previous designs include a rear vehicle monitoring system that detects vehicles approaching from behind at highway speeds and Mazda’s Precrash Safety System, which uses milliwave radar to monitor for oncoming obstacles, then alerts the driver and automatically applies the brakes if necessary.
A number of carmakers have been trialling similar vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems but the technology will only be truly viable when all the companies work together to develop a single system. In the meantime, the next safety breakthrough appears to be autonomous braking systems such as the set-up that debuted on the new Volvo XC60. The system can automatically apply the brakes if it detects the vehicle is approaching another vehicle in front too rapidly.