The software-only solution uses “sense of touch” technology to detect a variety of objects on the road of different heights, sizes, shapes, and materials – both organic and hard – such as a human body, road debris and other objects. The virtual sensor then prevents the vehicle from running over the object, which could harm human life or damage the vehicle. The safety level virtual sensor will be added on top of the Tactile Processor Platform, which already includes the company’s suite of virtual sensors such as grip estimation, tire health, surface sensing, vehicle health and much more.
According to NHTSA hundreds of children are killed and thousands are injured every year in nontraffic crashes in parking lots, driveways and private roadways. Runover virtual sensors in both autonomous vehicles and vehicles with ADAS systems can help reduce the human death toll by sending signals to these vehicles that alert the car and driver at distinct stages of the runover. The new virtual sensor will enable another critical safety function, allowing vehicles to sense the road, identify the type of material under their tires and alert an initial runover, preventing vehicles from fully running over objects that could lead to a fatal incident.
“Tactile Mobility is always looking to build solutions that make the driving experience safer and more enjoyable for everyone,” said Shahar Bin-Nun, CEO of Tactile Mobility. “Now, for the first time, the automotive industry will have access to an affordable in-vehicle software solution that enables vehicles to identify what they might drive over and avoid potentially fatal accidents — a critical step in the development of autonomous vehicles. We are already working with a well-known OEMs to bring the technology to the mass market and look forward to expanding our collaboration to embed this safety sensor in autonomous vehicles of all levels to ensure road and vehicle safety for everyone.”
Three in four Americans are afraid to ride in fully self-driving vehicles. For autonomous vehicles to be trusted by the mainstream, they must be far safer than human-controlled vehicles. To achieve this, they must respond to vehicle-road dynamics just as – or better than – human drivers do; they must be able to not only “see” the road that lies ahead, but also “feel” the road friction, roughness, curves, grades, distresses and objects in the roads under their tires. Runover sensors enable vehicles to sense the road and react to obstacles, hazards, and vulnerable objects, significantly mitigating the damage.
Tactile Mobility is a world leader in software-based tactile sensing and data solutions. Its solutions are comprised of an in-vehicle module residing on one of the vehicle’s computers and the cloud-based system. The company’s software collects first-order data gathered from vehicles’ built-in non-visual sensors — including wheel speed, wheel angle, RPM, paddles position, gear position — and then analyzes it to yield actionable insights in real-time. These insights provide a clear-cut, highly accurate description and analysis of the continually evolving state of vehicles, roads, and vehicle-road dynamics. The data insights are beneficial across many sectors due to their availability, accuracy, and quality – from road planning and management, to tracking tire conditions and wear, and even for insurance purposes.
About Tactile Mobility:
Tactile Mobility enables the next phase of mobility development by leveraging existing vehicle sensors and artificial intelligence to equip vehicles with the missing sense of “touch” – for the first time in history. By generating, collecting, and processing data from existing in-vehicle sensors about the vehicle, road, and surrounding environment, Tactile Mobility enables OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, insurers, and city maintenance and planning departments to offer their customers innovative products, driving efficiency and performance as well as a safe driving experience – depending on their specific objectives. Tactile Mobility was co-founded in 2012 by Boaz Mizrachi, Yossi Shiri and Alex Ackerman and is already working with several OEMs including BMW. The company is headquartered in Haifa, Israel.