The latest safety system that will soon be a necessity in every car. Right turn assist is coming.
For many years we can observe a huge development of technology used in the automotive industry. Car manufacturers compete with each other with newer and newer ideas, thanks to which our cars are filled with many active safety systems, such as lane keeping assistants, parking sensors, lights reacting to lighting or even anti-collision system. Certainly, these solutions increase the safety of all road users.
This time, Continental has decided to meet a specific group – cyclists. After all, it happens many times that when turning right, the driver, not seeing the cyclist, causes a collision. The solution to the problem is the right turn assistant.
Right turn assistant is a system similar to blind spot assistant or active cruise control, but with the difference that the sensors used in this system are based on shorter range radar. With their help, the assistant monitors the car’s surroundings more closely and can react in case of danger
For example, a driver who tries to cut the path of a cyclist at too high a speed will receive a message about the danger, and then, if the driver does not slow down, the assistant will activate the brakes even to a complete stop. As for the specifications, our article describes the system that Continental presented
In the case of Continental’s right turn assistant, the sensors monitoring the surroundings were equipped with short-range radars with a very high frequency – 77 GHz (other such systems install radars with a frequency of 24 Ghz). It is this high frequency, according to the manufacturer, that has made it possible to increase the resolution of ambient monitoring
Thanks to this, the system will be able to much more accurately detect and recognize the size, the speed at which the object moves, the direction of movement, and all this in real time. The assistant reacts when the driver does not intend to stop, sends a signal to the on-board computer of our car, and then the emergency stop function is activated, so there is no collision
A huge plus is the small size of such a device, which makes installation in passenger cars very simple. The sensors can be placed in each of the four corners of the body, so we can monitor an area with a radius of 360 degrees. This system additionally prevents unwanted opening of the door in front of an oncoming cyclist, it will also detect smaller objects like scooters.
The new technology meets all the requirements of the NCAP standards safety strategy 2020-2022, which deals with increasing pedestrian and cyclist safety. In addition, the system fits perfectly into the Vision Zero program of technology company Continental, which conducts a number of studies on road accidents.
The company’s latest data shows that their latest system can prevent 5 percent of all car accidents involving cyclists and an additional 6 percent of accidents in which cyclists suffer minor injuries. It is worth noting that installing such systems is mandatory for trucks across the European Union from 2020.
For example, a study by Continental in Germany found that 36 percent of all accidents in which cyclists were killed could have been avoided by installing right-turn assist systems in trucks.
