Advanced Vehicle Safety Systems (AVSS) must have information about both the current and the upcoming location and surroundings of a vehicle to allow speed control, intersection warnings, suspension adjustment and steering assistance or control. Digital map databases containing highly accurate information about the road network can be augmented to support these functions. For example, the vehicle can be tracked along the digital map, and information about hazards such as sharp turns, intersections and even road incidents provided to vehicle control systems. Current navigation systems already perform a tracking function for route guidance; as the car travels, its position is traced along the digital map using "map matching" techniques. Additional database features and data from forward looking sensors combined with dedicated high speed map matching will enable a suite of AVSS functions. This paper discusses the in-vehicle systems necessary to implement these capabilities, with special attention to the role played by the digital map database.
Abstract