Cadillac, like many other automobile manufacturers is working towards the ultimate goal of producing self-driven cars. While self-driven cars per se may still be some years away, the technology needed to drive such a cars safely is very much in development today.
General Motors have announced a new active safety and driver assistance system that will use “sensor fusion,” integrating a broad range of sensing and positioning technologies. The system will be installed in the new 2013 Cadillac XTS this fall.
Bakhtiar Litkouhi, GM Research and Development lab group manager said that they believed sensor fusion would enable future active safety systems to handle a greater number of inputs to provide 360 degrees of crash risk detection and enhanced driver assist features. He added that the system that combined the strengths of multiple sensing technologies and expertly managed those inputs could provide advisory, warning, and control interventions to help drivers avoid collisions and save lives.
Cadillac’s Driver Assistance Package will combine radar, cameras and ultrasonic sensors to provide the drivers with adaptive cruise control, forward collision alert, lane departure warning, automatic collision preparation, blind zone alert, rear cross traffic alert and a rear-view camera with dynamic guidelines.
No sensor working alone provides all the needed information. That’s why multiple sensors and positioning technologies need to work together synergistically and seamlessly, Litkouhi said. Sensor fusion will help facilitate that he added.