Nissan trials mobile phone safety system

3G and GPS will allow cars to "see" pedestrians

18 April 2007 12:17 GMT / By Jonathan Goddard

Nissan is developing an advanced mobile-phone based system to help reduce accidents involving pedestrians.

The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will use 3G and GPS function to provide pedestrian location information to drivers. Geographical data transmitted from the pedestrian’s phone and from the vehicle is fed to the ITS to allow the system to determine the corresponding positions between the two. A pedestrian alert will appear onboard the vehicle to warn the driver, helping to reduce road accidents particularly in a blind-spot situation.

Nissan is studying what types of pedestrian data are most relevant to help prevent accidents. The research will investigate a variety of factors influencing the pedestrian-vehicle’s relative positions, such as the directions in which pedestrians and the vehicle are moving, and the corresponding speeds and distances between them. Various driver alerts, such as visual warnings or audible alarms, are also under study.

Full tags

Car And GPS, Cars, Safety