es, already be too long for the driver to react properly and avoid an accident.The Lane Assistant-the Lane Departure Warning System-for trucks and buses provides support to drivers in such cases, without directly intervening in the driving of the vehicle. This system, which was developed by the researchers at DaimlerChrysler, has been available in Europe since 2000. Plans also call for the system to be marketed in North America.A small camera mounted behind the windshield photographs the road directly in front of the truck. A high-performance computer evaluates the images. Using the lane markings as points of reference, it analyses the position of the vehicle within the lane. It then processes this information and the speed to continually calculate whether the vehicle is in danger of leaving the lane.If the system calculates a result below a critical value, the warning is activated. There is a "washboard sound"-a noise that people recognize as the one produced by driving over the lane markers at a highway construction site. The washboard sound is emitted from the vehicle's audio system so that the drivers hear it from the right or left speaker, depending on the direction in which they are moving out of the lane. They then intuitively steer the vehicle away from the sound and drive within the lane markings again. Technological Potential of Assistance SystemsVarious Assistance and Comfort Systems from DaimlerChrysler will increase road safety in the future. enlarge /news/top/pics2000/vernetzt_shema800e.jpg/news/top/pics2000/vernetzt_shema800e.jpgIn the next stage, the researchers and engineers at DaimlerChrysler want to make the detection of people and objects even more reliable. Conditions of limited visibility, such as those experienced at night, in fog or during heavy rain, should not represent an additional source of error for the sensors. The systems must operate robustly and absolutely reliably. They must identify not only the lane ...
