Communications of the ACM
A New Safety System For City and School Buses Will Avoid Accidents Around Bus Stops
A new safety system for buses alerts the driver to the presence of pedestrians around a bus stop, and other dangerous conditions.
Credit: RUVID Association
Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) researchers, in collaboration with C-Robots, have developed a safety system for city and school buses that detects the presence of pedestrians in the surrounding area of the bus stop and warns the driver of dangerous conditions.
The system was developed to help avoid accidents in areas of the bus stop when the bus restarts its route. The system includes cameras placed at strategic points on the bus that enable the driver to see where the rear-view mirrors cannot, a screen placed next to the vehicle wheel, software for detecting people, and different warning devices synchronized with the software.
"Our unit automatically processes the images taken by the cameras and warns the driver even if he is not looking at the screen," says UPV researcher Leopoldo Armesto.
For added safety, the system includes a mechanism in the accelerator that prevents it from functioning if a risk is detected. The system also will prevent the driver from spinning the wheel toward the area around a pedestrian.
"The system, at first, does not disable driving but when it detects a risk, warns the driver, slightly affecting the accelerator or the wheel," Armesto notes. "If the driver persists, it can generate an emergency lock."
From RUVID Association
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2014 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found