Continental has unveiled a new solution for transition to the driver during automated driving. The combined "Road and Driver" camera system determines whether it is safe to hand responsibility over to the driver.
Continental "Road and Driver" camera system
Continental
Continental has developed a combined camera system for a holistic model of the environment in self-driving vehicles. In the "Road and Driver" system, an outward-looking camera monitors the traffic while an inward-looking camera observes the driver. This constitutes the final fallback during automated driving. The system uses consolidated and evaluated data to determine whether it is safe to hand over driving responsibility.
The "Road and Driver" camera is fitted behind the windscreen, above the rear-view mirror, in the usual way. However, while the forward-facing camera observes the traffic in front of the vehicle with a 125-degree field of view, the inward-facing camera detects the driver’s position, whether he or she is distracted, and where his or her hands are.
The "Road and Driver" system will launch in 2021
"Thanks to the new camera system, vehicle and driver are constantly aware of one another. Ultimately, this comes down to trust. The human can rest assured that the technology will not abruptly hand back responsibility without warning, but that this will take place according to clear and comprehensible criteria", explains Georg Binder, Head of Strategy & Planning, Advanced Driver Assistance System business unit at Continental.
As well as a safe transition between "automated" and "manual" modes, the camera system can also adapt safety systems. It does this with the "Occupant Safety Monitor", which tailors the deployment of airbags to the situation detected in the interior, for example. The camera system’s data is evaluated but not recorded. Start of production of the "Road and Driver" camera is planned for 2021, to ensure compliance with the new Euro NCAP test protocols.