Today there are systems able to detect what is happening outside of the car, e.g. lane tracking, obstacle detection, pedestrian detection etc. There are also means for monitoring the actions of the driver, e.g. what he is/is not paying attention to. A natural step is to fuse the available data from within and outside of the car, and suggest a suitable response. This paper discusses driver assistance systems, lists a set of necessary core competencies of such a system and in particular presents a system for force-feedback in the steering wheel when crossing lanes. A force-feedback system like that is, e.g. likely to reduce accidents due to driver fatigue since unintentional lane changes become more difficult. The presented system utilises a robust lane tracker which is experimentally evaluated for the purpose of driver assistance. (Author/publisher)
Abstract