Vehicles Blog

Updates from March, 2012

• Milford, Mich • General Motors will soon be introducing the 2013 Cadillac XTS, which the automaker is claiming will be the most technologically advanced production car the Cadillac brand has ever offered. The full sized-sedan will be equipped with advanced active safety and driver assistance systems that GM says are “a significant milestone toward the development of self-driving vehicles.”

  At GM’s Milford Proving Grounds outside of Detroit, I got a chance to experience what it’s like to leave the driving to a soulless machine, courtesy of a semi-autonomous SRX. It was part of a day highlighting Cadillac’s safety and crash avoidance technologies, both near term and further into the future — or, as summarized by John Capp, GM’s director of global active safety, electronics and innovation, going the next step from just alerting the driver of a dangerous situation to actually intervening if the driver can’t.

  Related

  • Motor Mouth: Cadillac needs to regain glory

  • L.A. Auto Show: 2013 Cadillac XTS

  Giving driving control over to a car doesn’t come naturally to someone who’s been driving for 40 years, but the SRX’s “SuperCruise” (as it’s being called internally) system proved eerily smooth and effective — at least on the proving ground’s high-banked circuit. Getting up to 100 kilometres an hour, setting the active cruise control and then activating SuperCruise via a steering wheel button is simplicity itself — lights on the steering wheel switch from blue to green to indicate the system is working. Taking one’s hands off the steering wheel is a whole different feeling. With the forward cameras reading the lane markings, the SRX tracked straight and true, never straying from its intended line. Other buttons on the steering wheel allow the SRX to shift left or right in half-metre increments depending on driver preference.

  As part of the demonstration, another car on the track deliberately slowed, activating the brakes as part of the adaptive cruise control system. Again, the SRX slowed to a safe distance, then accelerated as the car ahead picked up speed. And, again, it stayed exactly in the centre of the lane. A tap of the brakes deactivates SuperCruise, putting the SRX back under the control of the driver.

  The system is not nearly perfected, says Capp, but, the way the technology is progressing, it’s quite conceivable that SuperCruise could be an option on cars within five years — notwithstanding regulatory and legal issues. One impediment is weather: The cameras need to be able to read the lane markings. Conditions such as snow and even heavy rain could require the driver to take control.

  Of greater concern with any such system, says Capp, is keeping the driver engaged in the driving experience and not, in a kind of worst-case scenario, falling asleep behind the wheel.

  Cadillac also unveiled its new Safety Alert Seat, which will be offered on the XTS this spring. The luxury sedan will be the first car to use directional tactile sensation — vibrations of the driver’s seat bottom — to warn of crash threats while driving and parking.

  The seat generates vibrating pulse patterns on the left and/or right side of the lower bolster to alert the driver of potential dangers, such as drifting from a traffic lane or toward nearby objects while parking. Threats from the front and back trigger pulses on both sides of the seat. The seat works in conjunction with other visual alerts, focusing driver attention toward the direction of potential dangers.

  Trying out the seat in a variety of exercises, such as backing out of a parking spot into cross traffic and drifting left and right from the designated driving lane, quickly activated the pulsation, which got my attention faster than it would through other systems’ annoying buzzes, beeps and/or flashing lights.

  The Safety Alert Seat is part of the Cadillac Driver Awareness and Driver Assist packages, a combination of active safety systems designed to help drivers avoid crashes. The package includes Forward Collision Alert, lane departure warning, Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

  The Driver Assist Package, available this fall, also uses the Safety Alert Seat and features adaptive cruise control, Automatic Collision Preparation and front and rear automatic braking systems.

  
  

  

  
  8:00 am on March 28, 2012
   

• Automotive anarchists will be overjoyed. AT&T, Verizon and Rogers executives will be high-fiving each other with unprecedented I-told-you-so fervour. And Big Brother’s safety czars will be in full denial mode, wondering quite why their all-powerful lobbyists didn’t quash these cockamamie studies before they saw the light of day.

  Related

  • Motor Mouth: Advice to automakers for the New Year

  It turns out that talking on cellphones may not be dangerous after all; or, at least, the current bans on their use are ineffective. Yup, despite all the hype, countless studies and the pontificating by the self-righteously smug that hordes of us are dying because we were all so distracted by our iPhones, it turns out the banning of in-car communications by many jurisdictions (including Ontario) has not reduced accidents one iota. Indeed, there’s a possibility that the restrictions made things worse.

  According to the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), while actual hand-held cellphone usage declined in states that enacted bans, accident rates did not. Indeed, according to a study by the U.S. Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), texting bans have actually increased accident rates. The HLDI compared each state’s accident rate before and after the texting bans as well as with neighbouring jurisdictions without any texting restrictions and, according to Adrian Lund, president of the HLDI as well as the IIHS, “Texting bans haven’t reduced crashes at all. In a perverse twist, crashes increased in three of the four states we studied after bans were enacted.”

  Now even a skeptical libertine such as your rules-phobic Motor Mouth isn’t ready to proclaim that texting while driving saves lives. According to the HLDI, it’s not the concept of preventing in-car typing that is driving the seemingly wonky statistics but rather the execution of the ban. In a classic be-wary-of-what-you-wish-for unintended consequence — and, now, this is me being self-righteously smug since I predicted something like this in my original Motor Mouth on Ontario’s ban — drivers are simply holding their smartphones lower to escape detection, resulting in even greater distraction.

  Software that prevents texting in a moving car would seem to be a better solution than driving our automotive communications underground. On-board communications devices that read text messages aloud would also seem to be a solution, though I suspect that truly devoted rules and regulations statists will decry any mobile communications device as the work of the devil. And, of course, that doesn’t address the possibility that talking on a cellphone, hands-free or not, doesn’t appear to be a distraction at all.

  Of course, you’re not going to see massive coverage of these latest studies. They certainly won’t generate as much ink as has been devoted to the horrible consequences as saying, “Yes, dear, I won’t forget the 2%” while driving. We like our 15-second sound bites easily digested, which is why any statistical opposition to the outwardly logical intuition that cellphones are distracting — like any rationally argued contradiction of the “speed kills” accepted wisdom — is unlikely to gain much traction. Besides, “Cellphones not dangerous” is hardly an attention-grabbing headline. The National Enquirer, after all, hardly trumpets “Celebrity dad pays his alimony cheques on time” headlines nor does The Economist make its money with “Hey, the world economy is doing just hunky-dory” cover stories.

  And, indeed, none of this information has prevented the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from calling for a complete ban on in-car cellphone use, hands-free or not. It’s even trumpeting the perfect eyeball-riveting mantra, positing distracted driving “as the new DUI.”

  “It’s becoming an epidemic,” says NTSB member Robert Sumwalt.

  The Safety Board cites statistics that show that, at any given time in work-a-day America, 13.5 million drivers are using their cellphones behind the wheel and that being distracted by Android was the cause of more than 3,000 fatalities last year in the United States. Of course, like so many such headline-generating statistics, one has to consider how they are derived. Unlike drunk driving, which can be established post mortem, how does one ask a dead driver if he was actually gabbing with his girlfriend at the exact moment he drove headlong into that semi?

  What seems to be lost in the entire kerfuffle is any form of common sense. Taking your eyes off the road to text would seem to be a no-brainer as a distraction, though, as noted above, the current ban would seem to be a complete waste of time.

  Ditto having to dial a phone while driving. But a “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts” — the very definition of common sense by Merriam-Webster — would seem to dictate that any argument with your significant other would be equally distracting whether it was via a handheld phone or she was sitting right next to you, yelling in your right ear.

  Let’s see them ban that.

  
  

  

  
  9:00 am on January 6, 2012
   

• WASHINGTON •  U.S. safety investigators called on Tuesday for a nationwide ban on texting and cellphone use while driving, a prohibition that would include certain applications of hands-free technology becoming more common in new cars.

  The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation covers portable devices only but still goes beyond measures proposed or imposed to date by regulators and states, most of which already ban texting while behind the wheel.

  “When it comes to using electronic devices, it may seem like it’s a quick call or a quick text or a tweet, but accidents happen in the blink of an eye,” says NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman.

  More than 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving crashes in the United States in 2010, according to Transportation Department figures.

  Most motorists participating in a Transportation Department survey released last week acknowledged few situations in which they would not use a cellphone or text while behind the wheel although they supported measures to curb the practice.

  The five-member NTSB recommendation to states for a ban, except in an emergency, stemmed from an investigation of a Missouri chain-reaction crash that killed two people last year, an accident blamed on a driver who was texting.

  The panel’s action follows nearly 10 years of investigating transportation accidents linked in some way to distraction and is not binding. But the safety board has long been effective at articulating U.S. transportation safety priorities and its views can be influential in legislative or regulatory decision making.

  Congress has shown no interest in banning cellphone use or texting while driving. So far 35 states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving, but fewer than a dozen prohibit using a cellphone.

  The Transportation Department has waged an aggressive public campaign on the issue under Secretary Ray LaHood that has included limited bans.

  “There’s no call or text message that’s so important that it can’t wait,” LaHood says.

  LaHood has raised concerns about distracted driving and hands-free technology with automobile companies but has not prompted federal action or asked industry to stop putting it into new vehicles.

  Cellphones and communication technology is ubiquitous and sweeping bans such as the one proposed by the NTSB are considered difficult to enforce, experts have said. This is one reason why federal and state restrictions so far have focused on the most obvious distraction — texting — or targetted individual groups, like truckers or federal workers.

  The auto industry has invested heavily in hands-free communications technology, such as Bluetooth, that is now available in most 2012 models sold in the United States as standard or optional equipment.

  “It actually is a big decision maker for some consumers,” says Jesse Toprak, a vice-president of TrueCar.com, who notes that Ford, in particular, has been aggressive in using it to attract younger buyers who may not otherwise have considered one of their cars.

  Ford referred inquiries to the industry’s trade group in Washington, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM), which said it was reviewing the NTSB recommendation.

  “What we do know is that digital technology has created a connected culture in the United States and it’s forever changed our society. Consumers always expect to have access to technology, so managing technology is the solution. Features that are integrated into the vehicle, and are designed by automakers are engineered to be used in the driving environment. That means it’s designed to be used in a way that helps drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel,” the AAM says.

  It further says texting while driving is “incompatible with safety.”

  
  

  

  
  12:12 pm on December 14, 2011
   

• Munich • Active safety is playing an increasingly more important role in the modern automobile. Electronic stability control (ESC) systems became standard fitment on all 2012 light-duty vehicles. The reason is not difficult to grasp when you look at the numbers.

  According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a vehicle equipped with ESC is 35% less likely to be involved in a crash. The U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) goes further, suggesting that it cuts fatal crashes by 43% and the likelihood of a fatality due to a rollover by a whopping 77% to 80%! The next phase of active safety has to do with predicting an incident and then taking corrective action before it occurs.

  Audi has a number of systems, each of which is designed to reduce the risk of injury caused by a crash. The umbrella under which many of these systems reside is called Audi pre sense. It does exactly what its name implies — it looks for a potential incident and begins to take corrective action before the big bang occurs. The basic system uses the electronic stability control system. When the car begins to deviate from the driver’s intended line, the system turns on the hazard warning lights, closes the windows and sunroof (if open) and snugs up the seat belts, which pulls the riders back into their seats and readies them for the potential impact.

  Farther up the chain is pre sense front. This system uses the active cruise control and its ability to control the speed of the vehicle. Before taking charge, the system first attempts to draw the driver’s attention to the potential incident by giving visual and audible warnings. If the driver does nothing, it attempts to spur them to action by dabbing the brakes momentarily. If the driver still does nothing to avoid what is now a looming problem, the system applies up to 30% brake pressure to slow the vehicle, which reduces the severity of the impact.

  The top version, pre sense plus, goes one further by applying full brake pressure 0.5 seconds before the impact. In the real world, this action can take as much as 40 kilometres an hour off the impact speed, which dramatically reduces the severity of injury. Future pre sense generations will also look at the potential severity of the impact and tailor the seat belt pretensioners and air bag deployment to the type of impact.

  Beyond that, Audi is expanding its active safety portfolio by adding adaptive cruise control with stop and go. It uses a pair of radars that monitors the road ahead for 250 metres. It then controls the speed of the vehicle and the distance by which it tails the car ahead. The system works over the entire speed range (zero to 250 km/h) and it can bring the vehicle to a halt if that’s what the car ahead does. It is a truly freaky feeling letting a system prevent you from running into the back of a car.

  The next evolution will add a laser scanner (it can be likened to a very sophisticated bar code scanner). This debut is pre sense city. It allows the vehicle to track the car ahead and mimic what it does by not only controlling the gas and brakes but also by using the active steering system (part of Audi’s self-park system) to track the car ahead. Mercifully, it is smart enough not to follow the car if it does a hard right out of the lane.

  Audi’s lane departure warning system is also a little different. As well as vibrating the steering wheel when the driver begins to drift out of the lane, it, too, uses the active steering and a camera that monitors the lines to put the car back in the centre of the lane. It really does encourage the use of the turn signal — this cancels the action.

  Another future technology is a self-parking feature, and it goes well beyond anything offered today. Using a variety of sensors, the car actually parks itself without the driver being in the vehicle. Pull up outside the garage, open the door, get out and push a button on the key fob. The system then selects Drive and inches into the garage all by itself. When it senses the wall at the end of the garage, it stops, selects Park, shuts the engine down and applies the parking brake. It also closes any open window and locks the doors. The next morning, the driver simply pushes the same button and it backs out to a predetermined spot on the driveway. If at any time it detects an obstacle, it will stop and wait for the problem to clear. So, if little Johnny leaves his toy dump truck in the middle of the garage, it will not get bulldozed!

  The other demonstration of note was a system designed to ease the chore of backing an Audi up with a trailer in tow. The secret to the ability lies in a special tow hitch ball that measures the angle of the trailer relative to the car. It is very simple to use. When backing up, the driver uses the Multi-Media Interface’s central controller to guide the car, not the steering wheel. The system uses the active steering to dial in the inputs needed to put the trailer where the driver wants with uncanny precision. It turned a complete trailer-towing neophyte (me) into a trailer tow pro in less time than it took to read this description. All I did was control the speed of the car. What will they think of next!

  
  

  

  
  8:00 am on December 2, 2011
   

• Yokosuka, Japan • The earthquakes and tsunami in Japan earlier this year has that country re-evaluating its sources of electricity — and those concerns are helping kick-start development of electric vehicles as an additional resource to the nation’s power grid.

  The battery that powers the all-electric Nissan Leaf is a significant storage unit for electrical energy. In fact, Nissan says the battery’s six kilowatts of power is sufficient electricity to supply the needs of a typical household for two days. It’s also capable of storing photovoltaic energy generated by wind and/or solar panels through its power control system.

  
  The Japanese automaker is actively working with the government here to develop the concept of tapping into electric vehicles such as the Leaf as a viable part of the power supply grid. With Nissan expecting to sell 1.5 million electric vehicles annually by 2016, this supplementary power source could play a role in enhancing electrical infrastructures around the world, assuming various regulatory issues can be resolved.

  This new chapter in the Leaf story was only part of an extensive global media briefing held at Nissan’s Oppama proving ground this week prior to the opening of the Tokyo Motor Show. The company pulled the covers off several technological innovations it’s working on. Some features we’ll be seeing soon; others may be farther down the road. For example, in an effort to make recharging more convenient for Leaf owners, Nissan engineers have developed a wireless charging system. Simply park the car over the pad, which recharges the battery through electromagnetic induction— no plug-in is required. Engineers say the charging efficiency of the wireless unit is about 80% to 90%, similar to a plug-in charger.

  While the Leaf is grabbing all the EV attention at the moment, Nissan continues to work on developing a practical fuel cell stack, which its engineers say will be the solution for long-range use of electric vehicles. They showed off a third-generation, in-house-developed cell that features 2.5 times the power density of the previous unit, yet is 50% smaller in size. Weight has been reduced to 40 kilograms from 120 kg and its cost to produce has been reduced significantly. This new, compact fuel cell stack will still cost about $200,000 to produce, but that’s about 10% of the price tag on the original iteration. Engineers working on the project are confident those cost figures can be reduced further. In fact, they’re currently working on developing fourth and fifth generations of the stack and promise these new units will be very different from the model just introduced — and more cost-efficient. Interestingly, Nissan’s fuel cell technology connects directly to the powertrain used in the Leaf, so there’s no need to develop an electric motor system specifically for use in its fuel cell-powered vehicles.

  Efforts to develop new environmental technologies and reduce carbon dioxide emissions — as well as global dependence on non-renewable resources — are only part of Nissan’s story. The company is also committed to developing new safety technologies. It has set a goal of cutting in half the number of fatal and serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles by 2015, with the ultimate objective of reducing that number to substantially zero. While that may sound like a lofty target, there has already been significant progress. In 1995, there were 15.3 fatal and serious injuries per 10,000 units of Nissan vehicles in Japan. That total has already been cut in half (it was 7.2 in 2009) and the prospect of reaching close to zero seems to be attainable. In the United States, the record is similar, with the number of fatalities per 10,000 units reduced to 1.63 from 3.14.

  Much of the credit for these improvements in vehicle safety can be attributed to Nissan’s Safety Shield concept, which includes nine technologies — lane departure prevention and lane departure warning, distance control assist and forward collision warning, around-view monitoring system, blind spot warning and intervention systems, plus backup collision intervention and rear moving-object detection.

  Now that suite of safety technologies is about to expand. For example, an acceleration suppression system will soon be available that overrides misapplication of the pedals. In other words, when someone accidentally stomps on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal as they pull into a parking stall, the system will apply the brakes and stop the car before it hits the bricks. This technology really works. Creeping up to a foam wall, I was told to mash the gas pedal. I put it to the floor and the car moved forward, then halted abruptly with about 15 to 20 centimetres to spare. The system also works when backing into a parking spot.

  Another nifty new system I experienced is what Nissan calls a predictive forward collision warning. Basically, the car sends a forward radar signal that not only detects the vehicle in front, but also the vehicle ahead of that — the signal is channelled under the vehicle immediately in front. If the lead vehicle, which typically can’t be properly seen, suddenly changes speed or stops, the system will issue a series of warnings. An icon is displayed on the dash, there is an audible signal and the seat belts tighten. In a hands-on test, it worked to perfection. I followed a big SUV, which completely blocked my view ahead. The car ahead of it suddenly stopped and the SUV swerved to avoid a collision. I, on the other hand, would have barrelled into the rear of the stopped car had I not already been warned that trouble was brewing. I was able to make an avoidance manoeuvre with ease. However, the system, which has a forward range of about 150 metres, does not apply your vehicle’s brakes — that’s still left to the driver. Expect to see this feature available on Infiniti models soon.

  One can also expect to see greater use of cameras as multi-sensing systems in future Nissan products, and not just in the high-end Infiniti lineup. Nissan is developing front and rear camera systems that not only provide a typical view, but also integrate other safety features such as pedestrian avoidance (at speeds up to 30 km/h), lane change and blind spot warnings, rear-view warning of objects and persons (especially little ones) and forward collision avoidance warning. By integrating single cameras front and rear with these technologies, costs are reduced enough that these safety features can be available on models further down the lineup, rather than limited to the upscale vehicles.

  
  

  

  
  2:29 pm on November 30, 2011