Accident-prevention systems trialled at German intersection

It is the culmination of an EU-funded project, Intersafe-2, which has gathered 11 partners from industry and research to address the problem of collisions at intersections — which account for 43 per cent of all traffic accident-related injuries in Europe.

Intersafe-2 comprises a system of co-operative sensors at intersections and on board vehicles, which together build up a ’snapshot’ of activity at the intersection that can be communicated to vehicles and, ultimately, their drivers.

The recent test used a BMW passenger car, a Volkswagen passenger car and a Volvo truck, all equipped with different combinations of sensors, including stereo cameras, lasers, radar, WLAN and GPS.

‘With these kind of projects, every partner wants to try their own technology and see how it works,’ said Dr Mario Dalla Fontana, an engineer at TRW Conekt, one of the project partners. ’But also, in certain cases, it is useful to have combinations of sensors where the information is fused together so you get the best picture,’ he added.