Opel Aims To Make Driving Safer With UR:BAN Research Project

Opel has highlighted some of the details of its new safety systems which it is developing as part of Germany’s UR:BAN research project (user oriented assistance systems and network management). The German government-funded project hopes to provide drivers of passenger cars and commercial vehicles with forward-looking support on the road which is tailored and customized to driving in urban traffic. UR:BAN is divided into three main pillars,  Cognitive Assistance, Networked Traffic System, and Human Factors in Traffic, of which Opel is a partner in all three.

To aid in cognitive assistance, Opel is developing an advanced driver assistance system which uses a camera and radar system in conjunction with modified braking and steering systems. The system will intervene in the brakes and steering when it thinks a collision with another vehicle or a pedestrian may occur.

In the networked traffic system part of the project, Opel is developing a “Car-to-x” communication system. This will relay information via Wi-Fi from the car to other vehicles and to the traffic infrastructure. Opel says a networked traffic system and cooperative driving will allow all involved vehicles to act in unison with one another, theoretically increasing the flow of traffic.

Lastly, for the human factors in traffic section of UR:BAN, Opel is working on a new technical system which will detect driver intention using sensors within the vehicle. The sub-project, unofficially called behavior prediction and intention recognition, will predict whether or not the driver is able to avoid an emergency situation through steering or braking. If it detects the driver can mitigate the situation and the car doesn’t need to intervene on its own, it will “delay or suppress a driver warning.”

The UR:BAN research project is on-going until 2016. With the project, teams of engineers, physicists and traffic psychologists are exploring driver assistance in difficult situations, the intelligent networking of vehicles and infrastructure, driver behaviors and human-machine interactions for urban driving.