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In-Depth Information
though number of fatalities per kilometer driven has fallen by a factor of three since
1980, the growth of transportation still has an unfortunate impact on the modern
society in terms of loss of life and property. Half of all road traffic deaths are among
pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Motor vehicle crashes are ranked number
nine among top ten leading causes of death in the world [
5
] and are the number one
cause of death among children between ages 2 and 14 in the US [
56
].
Thankfully, cars are becoming smarter by leveraging the latest technologies, mak-
ing driving safer and more enjoyable. Electronic systems promise to make roads
nearly accident free. Active safety systems that are engaged prior to an accident (such
as antilock braking system, electronic stability system, collision warning/avoidance,
or adaptive cruise control) and passive safety systems which are engaged during
the accident (such as passenger safety cell, seat belts, air bags, etc.) are helping to
achieve this goal.
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are designed to increase driver situa-
tional awareness and safety by providing essential information, automating repetitive
or complex tasks, and taking actions to reduce the severity of an accident. Human
drivers are fallible: we send text messages while crawling in slow traffic, we forget
to check surroundings before changing the lane, or get drowsy while driving at night.
By reducing the amount of information to which a driver must react, or even taking
over some of the tasks, such as braking or steering, ADAS technology is advancing
toward a smart car that eliminates the errors we humans make. According to recent
industry reports, ADAS market is one of the fastest growing segments in automotive
electronics.
Driver assistance systems are focus of large joint research projects. Car manufac-
turers and research groups work together to solve the driver assistance challenges,
by participating in projects such as CARSENSE (2000-2002) [
57
], INVENT(2001-
2005) [
58
], and PREVENT(2004-2008) [
59
].
Embedded vision, along with radar and lidar, is at the forefront of technologies
that enable the growth of ADAS. In the next generation of driver assistance systems,
they will reduce the incidence of low-impact collisions and allow vehicle autonomy
at lower speeds.
In this chapter, we focus primarily on ADAS building blocks based on embedded
vision. We first give an overview of ADAS applications, compare different sensor
types used inADAS, and then focus on camera-based systems. In Sect.
3.4
, we discuss
the main components that make today's vision-based ADAS systems successful.
3.2 Analysis of Key ADAS Sensors
In order to provide support for advanced driver assistance applications, a sensor
system must collect timely and relevant information about the environment. Typical
sensor types that are used in ADAS are:
