14 DAY TRIAL // As car accidents cause more victims every year, it became clear that some form of warning system for drivers had to be developed. Experts from the Netherlands-based company Mobileye took on the challenge, and designed a camera that is able to recognize potential threats to the security of the car, warning the driver 2.7 seconds in advance of a potential collision. The device is both image and sound-based, much like the GPS system, and its creators hope it will impose itself as mandatory in the following years.
The number of worldwide victims of car accidents has long since exceeded 1.2 million individuals per year, and is constantly growing, according to international reports. However, the lighter-sized chip and coin-like camera developed by the scientists at Mobileye promise to change these terrifying figures. The efficiency-cost report is very high, since the hi-tech chip is as powerful as two Pentium processors, while the proprietary camera is able to distinguish among very many possible features. The whole “idiot-proof” system, as the head of the company calls it, comes at a cost of less than $1,000, with promises that it will drop in time.
The chip is programmed to recognize vehicles, pedestrians or obstacles in all weather conditions, eliminate the difficulties posed by shadows or flaring, and calculate distances toward objects in relation to the speed of the vehicle. It will use the audio component in order to signal potential threats within 2.7 seconds, as well as the display device that changes color from green (safe), to orange (potential danger), to red (imminent collision), sending out warnings with plenty of time in advance, and potentially saving lives. Reaching past a minimal safety distance will cause the audio system to caution the driver to reduce speed and move back, and the warning will not stop until the brakes are stepped on.
It is “trained” to monitor the vehicles and walking people that pose no threats and those who may cross the driver's vehicle path, as well as to notify the drivers when they change lane. “Studies by auto makers, government and non-government organizations have shown that giving sufficient warning can prevent up to 80 percent of all traffic accidents. Mobileye is the only technology developer that provides the broadest range of accident prevention alerts in a single system,” explains VP for Sales and Aftermarket Products for Mobileye Vision Technologies, Iftah Amit.
The company wishes to equip this system both on luxury and on commercial or passenger average cars. This is the first step in seeing their hopes come true as regards the global acceptance of the Mobileye device as a compulsory standard car equipment, just like the seatbelt or the airbags. The second would be having insurance companies lowering the fees for people using this system. The device is already installed in some BMW, Volvo and GM cars from the US, UK, Netherlands, Australia and Chile.