Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Would you drive safer if your car gave you gruesome warnings? [w/poll]]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/09/would-you-drive-safer-if-your-car-gave-you-gruesome-warnings-w/http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/09/would-you-drive-safer-if-your-car-gave-you-gruesome-warnings-w/http://www.autoblog.com/2013/01/09/would-you-drive-safer-if-your-car-gave-you-gruesome-warnings-w/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Engineers at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology in Japan are trying to come up with a new way to encourage people to drive safer by using scare tactics. Rather than a flashing red light or beeping tone to warn drivers of potential crashes, this system would be more proactive by warning drivers if they are driving too fast for conditions or following too close to the car in front of them. It would also give feedback warnings such as "You would die right now if you were in a crash" - an example given by New Scientist.

The safety system uses radar, sonar and lasers to monitor how the car is being driven, and if risky driving habits are detected, it would respond with a more evocative and emotional warning to scare the driver into safer habits. Would such visual or audible warnings change how you drive? Let us know in the poll below.

View Poll

Would you drive safer if your car gave you gruesome warnings? [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>fukuoka institute of technologysafer drivingvehicle safetyvehicle warning systemWed, 09 Jan 2013 14:29:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20423096/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2013/01/09/would-you-drive-safer-if-your-car-gave-you-gruesome-warnings-w/20423096/article-detail.xml 20423096 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/01/ambulance-lights-628_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2013/01/ambulance-lights-628.jpg <![CDATA[Dung beetles in cow pies helping Toyota create night vision systems? [w/video]]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/19/dung-beetles-in-cow-pies-helping-toyota-to-create-night-vision-s/http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/19/dung-beetles-in-cow-pies-helping-toyota-to-create-night-vision-s/http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/19/dung-beetles-in-cow-pies-helping-toyota-to-create-night-vision-s/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Dung Beetles and your driving will soon have something in common - Click above to watch video

It's called "local adaptive spatiotemporal smoothing," and birds moths do it, bees do it, even educated fleas dung beetles do it. What it means is that when a dung beetle looks at something, it can selectively enhance multiple areas for details or for motion detection simultaneously. What that apparently means for you is, eventually, full-color night vision in your car.

According to New Scientist, Toyota has teamed up with researchers who have been studying insect optics in order to create better driving aids. Mercedes-Benz and BMW use infrared for their night-vision system, but this new system gathers information gathered in the visible spectrum and processes it differently.

It involves a three-part algorithmic, two of which video cameras use right now. When capturing a scene at night, the camera brightens the dark pixels while leaving bright pixels unaltered. The second step is to sharpens the edges within the picture, which it does by changing pixel values where it detects boundaries between light and dark areas. It increases details at the same time as it increases noise. The new and final step that is owed to dung beetles is when the camera compares values of nearby pixels to smooth out the image. The result is reduced noise and enhanced detail.

Now that the scientists have created a camera that can do all this processing on-the-go and at driving speed, Toyota will begin the work of integration. Follow the jump to check out a video on the research. Who would have thought a bug needed such awesome vision to find poop. Hat tip to Ric J!

[Source: New Scientist | Image: Paul Garland - C.C. License 2.0]

Continue reading Dung beetles in cow pies helping Toyota create night vision systems? [w/video]

Dung beetles in cow pies helping Toyota create night vision systems? [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>drivingdriving aidDrivingAidDung BeetleDungBeetleinfraredinsectsnaturenew scientistNewScientistnight visionNightVisionsafer drivingSaferDrivingsciencevisionvisual aidvisual aidsVisualAidVisualAidsTue, 19 Jan 2010 15:29:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/19321413/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2010/01/19/dung-beetles-in-cow-pies-helping-toyota-to-create-night-vision-s/19321413/article-detail.xml 19321413 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/01/toyotadungbtl_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/01/toyotadungbtl.jpg -1 2