Winners of the Automotive News PACE awards include many ADAS and connected car features. The most interesting are new systems that prevent backing up collisions and others that prevent injuries to pedestrians.
Safety from Behind
A system from Valeo gives drivers an extended view of objects behind them while they are backing up.The Back-Over Protection System offers the advantages of both ultrasonic park assist sensors and a rear camera, while providing added comfort and safety for reversing maneuvers. The innovation is unique to the market due to its four-meter obstacle detection range. It offers a faster obstacle alert when compared with a traditional ultrasonic system and overcomes many of the signal absorption issues of ultrasonic systems.
Pedestrian Protection
Continental received the 2014 Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers Contribution to Excellence) Award for its Pressure sensor-based Pedestrian Protection System (PPS pSAT). The system is compliant with Euro NCAP standards, which require enhanced measures to reduce injury in pedestrian collisions.
Continental developed a solution for pedestrian protection with Daimler. When impact is sensed the hood opens reducing pedestrian injuries.
Continental calls it a cost-effective solution, using pressure sensors and a flexible tube mounted behind the vehicle’s front fascia. The PPS activates within 10-15 milliseconds of impact by slightly lifting the hood of the vehicle, thereby reducing pedestrian injury through energy absorption and deflection of the impact across the surface. It is Continental’s third PACE Award win in just two years.
TESLA with NVIDIA Corporation using Tegra Visual Computing Module (VCM)
Tesla wanted to have scalable, modular and updatable for all functions including vehicle performance and graphics. Working together Tesla and NVIDIA incorporated the Tegra 3 Visual Computing Module into all Tesla models resulting in the power of a smartphone inside a vehicle that can be updated by pushing the changes to the driver for acceptance.
Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. won a PACE award for headlights that automatically dim to protect the vision of oncoming drivers.
Pedestrian Air Bags on Volvo V-40
Autoliv Inflators Sweden created a green airbag inflator for pedestrians. To make the new Volvo V-40 safer for pedestrians. Research found that the most damaging contact between vehicle and pedestrian is when the pedestrian’s head strikes the rearmost edge of the hood in front of the windshield, or when the head hits the “A Pillars” on the sides of the windshield. Autoliv’s solution is to deploy an exterior airbag covering these areas, a challenging first for the industry. Volvo tested the solution and was successful. The Volvo V-40, is the first exterior pedestrian protection airbag and it has the highest possible rating on the NCAP crash test.