Intelligent
Vehicle Technologies, LLC
|
|
|
The United States Department of Transportation Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology program
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology Initiatives
USDOT Intelligent Transportation Systems
The Federal Transit Administration
DOT'S ITS PROGRAM - EXPLORATORY INITIATIVES -- 2005
NHTSA - People Saving People
NHTSA - Safety School
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United States Patent No. 6,249,219 B1Severe Braking Warning System for VehiclesA severe braking warning system for a vehicle is described wherein the system is designed to measure a vehicle's rate of motion and, upon deceleration of the vehicle, affect the vehicle's brake light circuit by switching it on and off at a pulse rate proportional to the severity of deceleration. The system comprises an accelerometer, a microprocessor (either an integrated unit or the vehicle's existing unit), transistor, and a switch in communication with the vehicle's existing brake light circuit. The inventive brake light warning system provides a supplemental indication to other vehicles traveling behind of the rate of braking, thereby reducing the possibility of rear-end collisions. 06/19/01 -- We claim:
Brake lamp warning systems review: In the interest of promoting safety systems to the auto
industry, the USDOT Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program, ITS,
IEEE IV, and the American Society of Automotive Engineers, I would
like to highlight a few notes with the intent to help shed some
light on what the operation of an effective severe braking warning
system for vehicles and display should entail. An added benefit to
this paper is that recently I found new research and test
documentation data with proven results supporting my theory; that
is, when we conclude that driver preference shows that blinking,
or flashing lights is the most effective measure for providing
early warning indication of severe braking alerts. Earlier, I explained to my wife that I could easily come up with over a thousand reasons why enlarging a brake light display or intensifying its output during severe braking, versus flashing the lights at a rapid rate (3 - 8 cycles per second) would not be consistently interpreted by drivers to produce favorable warning results, or for that matter, become appropriate for use in the 'real-world' mobile application. Main reason:
During severe braking application, it has been proven that flashing the lights instantly on and off distinctively and effectively catches the trailing driver’s attention, and in contrast to Valeo's and BMW's adaptive brake light system, is technicaly uniform display for application throughout the hundreds of existing automobile, light and heavy vehicle makes and models. Another important factor to keep in mind, while considering the shortcoming of BMW's intensity light display (or adaptive rear brake lights) system is that it basically functions to operate with the use of 'additional' light emitting diodes. Thus, the BMW adaptive rear light emergency warning system is unfit and unfeasible for retrofit unto older vehicle models employing filament or incandescent light bulbs.
Consider BMW's statement:
"When a BMW 6-Series brakes normally, following drivers will see the brake lights illuminate. When braking is severe, the brake light is bigger and brighter as additional light-emitting diodes are activated. This feature is a valuable road safety benefit. It quickly alerts following drivers to adjust the severity of their own braking action when, for example, fast-moving traffic unexpectedly comes to a sudden halt. Within each of the BMW’s two triangular-shaped rear light clusters, electronics control the operation of 26 fast-acting LEDs. Fifteen of them illuminate under normal braking and a further five, positioned at the top of each light cluster, are activated during severe braking by signals received from a sensor measuring deceleration.” Consider now when you are actually
driving under heavy fog conditions and how the nature of light
obstruction will automatically cause a dimming effect on the brake
lights. Under foggy conditions light intensity recognition would
be severely misinterpreted by the following driver, versus rapidly
flashing lights that are distinctly and instantly recognizable as
severe stoppage on the road. For BMW's system to be effective
and acceptable on our roads and highways, every automobile, truck,
bus, motorcycle, tractor trailer, recreation vehicle, construction
vehicles, farm vehicles, trailers, and, not limited to SUV's would
have to have the same and identical rear brake light display
installed. That is correct, the BMW’s two triangular-shaped rear
light clusters, electronics control with the operation of 26
fast-acting LED’s-- It will simply Never happen, rather, I
believe adapting the rear center brake light to flash on and off
at a programmed rate while making the circuit fail-safe, will ultimately
be the answer to the emergency brake light warning issue -
and even better yet, adapt all the rear-end lights to operate
simultaneously and provide for greater flash visibility of
warning. In considering a universal braking warning system for vehicle’s that is functionally applicable throughout the wide range and spectrum of vehicles, and for providing a working platform across the board for approval by the USDOT, UNECE, Etc., it has been clearly demonstrated and proven that only one effective world-class working standard and approved method will solely prove useful. Study on the validity of Emergency Brake light Display pdf
Study
on the validity of Emergency Brake light Display doc
Contact Information
|
Copyright © 2004-2007 Intelligent Vehicle Technologies Company, LLC. All rights reserved. |
