1 January 2006

GM Designs Intelligent Cars

As more devices in the automation industry become more intelligent, why not a car? General Motors is developing cars that see other vehicles the driver can't or doesn't.

Using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, the car can detect the position and movement of other vehicles up to a quarter of a mile away.

In a world where vehicles come equipped with a simple antenna, computer chip, and global positioning system (GPS) technology, your car and those around it will "see" each other-whether it's in blind spots, stopped ahead on the highway and hidden from view, around a corner, or blocked by other vehicles. The vehicles can anticipate and react to changing driving situations and instantly warn the drivers with chimes, visual icons, and seat vibrations. If the driver doesn't respond to the alerts, the car can bring itself to a safe stop, avoiding a collision.

Today, vehicles come equipped with multiple safety sensors including a long-range scanning sensor for adaptive cruise control, forward vision sensors for object detection, mid-range blind spot detection sensors, and long-range lane-change assist sensors. GM has the ability to replace all of these sensors with one advisory sensor that will provide all-around, instantaneous traffic intelligence, promising a better and significantly less costly way of sensing other vehicles around your car while driving.

While other vehicle manufacturers are developing similar technology, GM has the ability to leverage or enhance existing systems such as OnStar and StabiliTrak systems to deliver this solution more quickly and cost effectively.