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emblems were eliminated or replace with more flexible. However, the reduction of
the number of hard spots in joints and seams is still a goal of engineers [6-8], where
the popping-up bonnet and pedestrian airbag contribution is significant. Additionally,
the development of crash safety standards, which initially improved the vehicle
occupants passive safety, turned the global attention to vehicle safety issues. All of
the above aspects are the safety countermeasures, which help to reduce vulnerable
road user injuries during an impact [9]. Thus, there are called passive safety elements.
In other words, the passive solutions encompass design modifications to the vehicle in
order to minimize the risk of injury to pedestrians and cyclist, but they do not
influence vehicles handling, driver's actions or enforce autonomous manoeuvres. The
advance in VRU safety is clearly reflected when we consider the state of the
technology from 1970s. In 1972 A. Fisher and R. Hall's paper in the Journal of
Accident Analysis and Prevention concluded "it would appear that pedestrians and
vehicles are just not compatible" [10].
The stated passive safety technologies have enabled great progresses in death and
injury prevention. Conversely, due to technological advances, it is feasible to
implement systems aimed at accidents prevention or mitigation of impact speed by
(semi)autonomous braking or avoidance manoeuvres - formally named the active
safety systems. The leap forward in technology was possible when the informal, often
mechanical connections between subsystems were replaced by systematic networking,
steadily applied through the vehicle.
In this paper, the investigation into the role of virtual computer simulations and the
computer-vision technology is presented in developing automobiles safer for
pedestrians and cyclist.
2
Active Safety - Detection Technology
The effectiveness of VRU active protection system depends, among other, on
reliability of used detection technologies. To prevent large number of false signals, it
is important not only to detect a potentially dangerous object, but also to gather data
that allows discrimination between valid and invalid detections (e.g. reacting to
pedestrian but not to environmental clutter) and classification of detected objects.
Three main sensor types - i.e. RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging, LIDAR
(Light Detection and Ranging) and camera, used in vehicular applications, have
different properties and thus different advantages and disadvantages.
2.1
Radar
One of the most popular automotive sensors are short or mid-range 24 GHz, or long
range 77 GHz RADARs. The RADARs emit electromagnetic energy in the
microwave region, usually operating according to the frequency modulated
continuous wave (FMCW) principle to provide objects radial range and its relative
velocity. In order to localize objects in azimuthal dimension, multi-beam radars are
often utilized. While RADARs operate independently of weather and light conditions,
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