The New Mercedes-Benz, E-Class, In the fast lane with Active Lane Change Assist.

he next step on the road to autonomous driving

Mercedes-Benz will expand the new Driving Assistance package of the future E-Class for the market launch in spring with "Active Lane Change Assist" and will thereby make the business class saloon car even more intelligent. 

The radar- and camera-based assistance system supports the driver in changing lanes, e.g. when overtaking on multi-lane roads. The system thus offers a significant further increase in comfort and can help to prevent collisions.

Nearly 15 percent of all accidents on German roads happen between two vehicles travelling in the same direction, almost 20 percent of them resulting from collisions when changing lanes.

To defuse such risky situations, Mercedes-Benz has been offering Blind Spot Assist since 2007, which was further advanced into Active Blind Spot Assist in 2010. Apart from the visual and additional audible warning when the turn indicator is activated, Active Blind Spot Assist is able to intervene with one-sided brake applications to keep the vehicle in its lane.

Mercedes-Benz now takes another major step forward with Active Lane Change Assist. As part of DRIVE PILOT, it reduces the pressure on the driver in typical lane-changing situations, because the driver is thus better able to focus on what is happening on the road around them. 

Also, as an addition to Active Blind Spot Assist and Active Lane Keeping Assist, the system helps to prevent accidents.

"The new E-Class is even more in tune with the wishes of customers in the business class segment. 

With the help of numerous innovations, there is no loss of driving pleasure, even on monotonous and overfilled stretches of road. DRIVE PILOT and Active Lane Change Assist optionally support the motorist with driving tasks that are often not pleasurable," says Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

Automatic lane change

When the driver activates the turn indicator for more than two seconds to change lanes, Active Lane Change Assist steers the new E-Class into the adjacent lane. 

The vehicle will only change lanes autonomously if the sensors do not detect any vehicles in the relevant safety zone. It is inconsequential whether the car wants to change to the left lane for overtaking or wants to return to the right-hand lane. 

A long-range radar system and the stereo camera monitor the area in front of the vehicle, while multi-mode radar sensors permanently check the area to the rear and sides. Both factor-in the speed of detected vehicles in the vicinity. The driver themselves need only monitor the lane change. 

For Germany, the Federal Motor Vehicle and Transport Authority has already issued provisional approval for Active Lane Change Assist. The application procedure for EU-wide approval has been started.

The criteria for the operation of Active Lane Change Assist are:

• operation of the turn indicator for longer than two seconds
• the unoccupied zone detection system allows a lane change within three seconds
• Steering Pilot is activated
• vehicle travelling on multi-lane, motorway-like roads, detected via the navigation module integrated into COMAND Online
• separate adjacent lane, detected via stereo camera
• speed between 80 and 180 km/h

The active lane change is aborted by the system when the sensor system detects an obstacle, no longer sees lane markings, the driver countersteers or Steering Pilot is switched off.

Active Lane Change Assist is a sub-function of DRIVE PILOT and thus a component of the Driving Assistance package from Mercedes-Benz, which celebrates its world premiere in the new E-Class next year. The new E-Class will be launched in Germany in spring 2016.

Volvo's Vision 2020 takes another step closer to no deaths or serious injuries in a Volvo car.

With the development of a new safety feature that locates collision-free escape routes, Volvo Cars has taken one of the final steps towards realising its vision that by 2020 no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car.

In December, the four-year Non-Hit Car and Truck project will draw to a close, leaving as its crowning achievement the development of next-generation sensor fusion technologies that provide a seamless 360° view around a car.

A Swedish collaboration between academia, various institutions and industry, the Non-Hit Car and Truck project has focused on developing new technologies and improving existing ones in order to reduce accident risks for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

Unparalleled 360° view around the car – sensor fusion

One of the project’s challenges was to build one cohesive detection system out of a number of discrete sensors installed around the car, something that has never before been accomplished. This required the development of a centralised Sensor Fusion framework to enable the various technologies – cameras, radar, lidar, GPS, etc.– to share information efficiently.

Through this framework, the system is able to provide a complete 360° view of the environment and perceive any potentially threatening objects that drivers would otherwise not be able to see. By focusing on viable automotive sensors, the project has taken a big step in making this new technology a reality in the near future.

Generating collision-free escape routes – threat assessment 

The 360° view is enhanced by the manoeuvre generator, a new safety feature that uses software to identify collision-free escape routes in all traffic scenarios. The system, which works by constantly analysing threats around the car, can even assist drivers with auto-braking and steering. To illustrate how the 360° view and manoeuvre generator work together, the project has built two test vehicles.

A milestone for 2020 and self-driving cars 

“Volvo Cars is definitely on the front line when it comes to innovative active safety research and development. And with the Non-Hit Car and Truck project, we’ve taken a significant step towards realising the vision that by 2020 no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car. The technology is also imperative for the development of self-driving cars, which will be able to automatically steer and brake to avoid collision with any object in any situation. Our primary objective is to focus on preventing different types of accident scenarios. But going forward, we will also continue to work on developing cars that adapt to each individual driver’s unique behaviour,” says Anders Almevad, Project Manager for the Non-Hit Car Project at Volvo Cars.

About the Non-Hit Car and Truck project

The Non-Hit Car and Truck project, an 80-million-SEK endeavour started by Volvo Cars and its partners in September 2010, will be closing in December 2014. It supports Volvo Cars’ vision that by 2020 no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car. The focus has been on developing technologies to reduce accident risks for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Partners include: Volvo Cars, AB Volvo, ÅF (sensor fusion development), HiQ (sensor fusion development, threat assessment), Mecel (sensor supplier) and Chalmers University of Technology (sensor fusion development, driver adaptation). The Non-hit Car and Truck project is associated with the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre.