14 DAY TRIAL // While the company responsible for the new and innovative product/service in this case is Nissan, it has only partially something to do with cars and also lots to do with mobile phones. Because, you see, Nissan Motor has announced that it is developing an advanced system which is meant to help reduce car accidents involving pedestrians.
The Intelligent Transportation System will be using GPS receivers both in the car and participating mobile phones. Thus, the position of the car can be determined and drivers will get a warning if any pedestrians (equipped with mobile phones) are close by.
This is how its supposed to work: The system will collect probe data from the vehicle and position data from pedestrians. Received data will then be analyzed to determine the location of the vehicle relative to the pedestrians on the road. By detecting pedestrians ahead of the vehicle, the system will send a warning alert to the driver at the event of a potential conflict.
Nissan is currently studying what data is most relevant for preventing the accidents and plans to investigate a variety of factors that influence the pedestrian-vehicle's relative positions and the direction in which both the car and the pedestrian are moving. Because, if the system were to detect all pedestrians that were close to a vehicle, the system would be completely useless. The company is also considering various driver alerts like visual warnings or audible alarms.
The ITS project is an experimental program conducted by Nissan aimed at reducing traffic accidents as well as congestion by making use of real-time driving data collected from vehicles. And since mobile phones are a part of most people's lives, with most not leaving their homes without their handsets, they are the best choice when it comes to several new technologies.