ISRAEL — Imagine a car that can stop itself before hitting another vehicle or pedestrian. Well, a device being developed in Israel could transform driving habits forever.
You're out for your morning drive to work. There's little traffic, the roads are clear. All of a sudden you're distracted from your driving, and a pedestrian has crossed right in front of your car. You have no time to brake.
Video – New Israeli Smart Car Prevents Pedestrian Accidents
ISRAEL — Imagine a car that can stop itself before hitting another vehicle or pedestrian. Well, a device being developed in Israel could transform driving habits forever.
You’re out for your morning drive to work. There’s little traffic, the roads are clear. All of a sudden you’re distracted from your driving, and a pedestrian has crossed right in front of your car. You have no time to brake.
But this is no ordinary car.
It is fitted out with a special alert system that warns you when you are driving too close to a pedestrian, or a car. And if you don’t react to the warning immediately, the system breaks for you.
Yonatan Samet, Mobileye R&D Project manager, said, “This system actually sees what’s going on on the road. It can see where the lane marks are, it can see where the vehicles are, it can see where the pedestrians are, what the pedestrians are about to do. Are they about to cross the road? Are they going to remain on the sidewalk and be safe and protected? This is a system that saves lives.”
A digital camera is connected to the system and reads what’s happening on the road in front of it. It can differentiate between cars and pedestrians from some 35 meters away. It will sound off as quickly as 2.5 seconds before an impending crash, leaving drivers enough time to react.
The device also recognizes lane marks. It sends a warning beep when the car swerves out of its lane, so a sleepy driver can be instantly woken up.
The technology is already available in vehicles produced by a leading car maker.
When it hits the market next year, the device is likely to cost upwards of $1,000.
Drivers are going to have to ask themselves if saving a life is worth the cost, or if they should just be paying more attention behind the wheel.
hm
so ur car shuts down when you try parking- and you’re too close to the car in front of you? what happens with parallel parking. you can’t do it!! great idea though.
Have to see it
Sounds good for the country not a city. Might cause more accidents in CH then it prevents.
american
volvo already has this automatic breaking system
c
wow!!! i would love to buy this new smart car ,
Critic
Nothing like stopping shorts and getting rear ended …
debbi
how can it “tell” when a pedestrian is about to cross the road? often, the pedestrian himself is still deciding….
cher
to hm
when you park you are not traveling the same speed as when you are driving so the automatic brakes work only if the car is going over a certain speed(like maybe over 15 mph or something like that).so the system probably works only when you are going over a certain speed.
doubtful
i think it’s like that stupid beeping sound for backing up. It’s supposed to let you know if you’re about to bump into something.
Ha- try parallel parking with it! I get a headache every time!
mendey
if you make a short stop you will get hit by the car in back of you, so whats the point?