Autoblog

Volvo has its locusts, Nissan has its bees. With 300-degree vision via compound eyes and instantaneous reflexes, bees don't run into things the way cars do. Nissan wants to halve the rate of car crashes by 2015, versus the company's 1995 tally, and is using bees to come up with a new generation of crash-avoidance systems that will be able to respond to obstacles in ways superior to humans.

Whether bees or locusts, the key to making the technology work has yet to be created: allowing the car to act on information instantly, without complex processing. Information from the bees' eyes doesn't get kicked around their noggins first, it goes straight to the wings which immediately react to keep them out of trouble. More simply: they don't think about what they need to do -- they just do it. When bees do that, they end up unhurt. When humans do that, they end up on the evening news.

To start down that road, Nissan's made a Biomimetic Car Robot Drive (BR23C) that knows how to act like your annoying sibling: it goes around you if it thinks you're in the way. Yet, even when the basic technology can be transferred to vehicles, there is still the issue of dimensions: the BR23C can rotate in any direction to sidestep barriers, but your car has a narrower range of options. Until the guy next to you can also respond instantly -- or we're all driving Nissans and Volvos -- we'll have to see how the technology shakes out.

[Source: Nissan]

Lane departure sensors and adaptive cruise control have helped to prevent accidents and save lives, and new technology from the University of Michigan hopes to take the those ideas to the next level. U of M's Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System warns drivers if they're about to hit another vehicle while changing lanes; if they're about to leave the road; and if they're going to rear-end another vehicle. The system improves on existing technology by integrating data from video, radio sensors and GPS to warn drivers of dangerous situations and give them the path of least possible harm.

The university secured over $32M in funding from state and local governments plus several corporations, which will pay for the testing of 16 passenger cars and 10 commercial trucks equipped with the system. IIHS predicts that tens of thousands of lives will be saved each year if lane departure and forward crash systems are improved, so here's to hoping the Wolverines have a smash hit on their hands. No pun intended.

[Source: Detroit News]