Nissans Shouldn’t Crash

Nissan - BR23C Robot Car

Thai Automaxx has an article up on the latest collison avoidance technologies at Nissan entitled “Nissan announces RB23C – Crash avoidance robotic car inspired by flight of the Bumblebee.” At CEATEC Japan 2008 Nissan unveiled the BR23C Robot Car, a robotic micro-car that mimics the instincts of a bumblebee to avoid accidents. It is set-up as the last line of defense in Nissan’s Safety Shield, and is designed to react in the blink of an eye. According to Toshiyuki Andou, Manager of Nissan’s Mobility Laboratory:

“The split second it detects an obstacle, the car robot will mimic the movements of a bee and instantly change direction by turning its wheels at right angles or greater to avoid a collision.

“The biggest difference to any current system is that the avoidance maneuver is totally instinctive. If that was not so, then the car robot would not be able to react fast enough to avoid obstacles.”

The article does not say when we might see this technology in production models, but hopefully the results of this project will create a safer car that can navigate past even the most seemingly unavoidable obstacles.

Bus Drivers Shouldn’t Drive

Your bus ride may soon be getting a lot smoother. According to the Wired.com article “Look Ma, No Hands! Automated Bus Steers Itself,” California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (California PATH) have developed a magnetic guidance system that will allow a bus to steer itself. Bus driver’s still control acceleration and braking.

Magnetic guidance technology uses magnetic markers embedded every 1.2 meters (4 feet) down the center of the lane and onboard sensors to track them. Alternating the polarity of the magnets creates a code that a computer aboard the bus reads to determine the buses’ latitudinal and longitudinal position. A bus doing 60 mph can process data from 88 feet of roadway in less than one second, and the system is robust enough to withstand real-world abuse, says Wei-Bin Zhang, who leads the project. “Today’s demonstration marks a significant step in taking the technology off the test track … towards deployment onto real city streets,” he says.

In addition to smoother rides, the magnetically guided bus can reliably stop much closer to curbs than human drivers, in some cases stopping only 1cm from the curb. The article does not state whether these buses will be hitting real bus routes anytime soon, however the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has taken a look at the project and determined it would cost significantly less than a new light rail system.