To alert the car to unseen pedestrians and other obstacles, General Motors (GM) is working on integrating smartphones with the cars.
GM wants to create a network of smartphones paired with fixed cameras and other road side sensors to lookout for unseen obstacles and alert the car driver of the same. According to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, such systems could be instrumental in preventing nearly 81 percent vehicle crashes in the U.S.
Demonstrating the integration of the technology on the second-generation Chevrolet EN-V, GM stated that such technology might be in use by 2020. According to Mr. Don Grimm, Senior Researcher for GM’s Perception and Vehicle Control Systems group, the safety systems could considerably help boost the vehicle safety, and added, “By putting the technology into portable devices, we could make this potentially life-saving technology widely available.”
The technology would be available for use either as a portable GPS-sized transponder or as smartphones devices, and a vehicle could either come fitted with the technology or use a Bluetooth link to an iPhone or similar device. To communicate with other vehicles, traffic signals or other smartphone users, the technology would use the Dedicated Short-Range Communications.
