Industry News
Mobileye Technology Powers Volvo Cars' New Lane Departure Warning System
By source: Mobileye
Dec 19, 2007, 12:52

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Mobileye N.V., a pioneer and leader in computer vision-based driver assistance systems, announces its latest technology partnership with Volvo Car Corporation and Delphi Corporation. Beginning with the new 2008 Volvo S80, V70, and XC70 Mobileye debuts a first-ever combination of its advanced vehicle detection and lane detection technologies, all powered by the Mobileye EyeQ™ vision system on a chip. Mobileye’s advanced technology plays a key role in three of Volvo’s all-new safety and driver-comfort features, including the world-first Volvo Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB) system, the all-new Volvo Driver Alert Control (DAC) system and the Volvo’s Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system

The LDW is akin to a “virtual rumble strip” that alerts drivers when they cross lane markings – a common factor in many head-on collisions and other serious accidents. Volvo’s LDW utilizes Mobileye's EyeQ and lane detection technology as the core of the system.

"By using an audible warning upon an unintentional deviation from the driving lane, Volvo's new lane departure warning system creates an intelligent rumble strip imitation that alerts the driver even when there are no physical strips on the shoulder of the road,” explains Amnon Shashua, Ph.D., Chairman of Mobileye N.V. and professor of computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Since a significant portion of run-off-road crashes are attributed to drowsy driving to the point of falling asleep at the wheel, Mobileye’s lane detection technologies can play an instrumental role in reducing accidents and fatalities for multi-tasking motorists who also log long hours.

“Volvo’s uncompromising safety philosophy matches our own mission of keeping the driver focused, alert and responsive, regardless of concentration levels or distractions,” said Shashua,. “We’re pleased to be part of Volvo’s safety solutions and technology team.”

Mobileye Lane Departure Warning Helps Drivers Stay on Track
Research shows that nearly 80 percent of all road accidents are due to driver inattention within three seconds prior to the accident. Also, according to the U.S. Transportation Research Board, approximately 40 percent of all road fatalities occur when a single vehicle departs from the road and crashes. Road shoulder rumble strips have proven to reduce lane departure fatalities by up to 90 percent, and at times even more.

Volvo's LDW system is based on Mobileye's EyeQ™ system-on-chip, which processes a video stream from a CMOS camera mounted on the windshield looking forward. The EyeQ analyzes the real-time flow of images and applies Mobileye's advanced lane detection functional algorithms.

The system alerts the driver with a gentle warning sound if the car crosses one of the road markings without obvious driver intent, such as use of the turn signal. LDW is activated at 65 km/h (40 mph) and stays active as long as the speed exceeds 60 km/h (27.3 mph).

Mobileye's lane detection technology supplies Volvo's LDW with real time measurement of the vehicle's position within the lane, as well as with road curvature information, which enables it to increase warning confidence, and reduce false alerts. The technology also detects construction areas or other situations where lane markings are ambiguous. Lane marking availability is shown through a display in the instrument cluster.

Volvo's lane departure warning feature helps motorists stay safely on track in diverse driving conditions, from monotonous highway driving where driver inattention is commonplace to twisty mountain roads that require total focus.

EyeQ™ -- Mobileye’s Brain Behind Its Vision and Radar
The Mobileye vision system contains a high-performance electronic control unit designed to recognize lane markings by analyzing video images from a high dynamic range CMOS camera. With the potent processing power of two Pentium computers at a fraction of the cost, Mobileye’s patented EyeQ™ processor is a complete Vision System on a Chip (VSoC).

About Mobileye
Mobileye is a pioneer in the development of vision systems for intelligent transportation and is recognized as the world leader in vision-based Driver Assistance Systems (DAS). Mobileye has been selected as the vision engine supplier by the leading automotive companies worldwide such as BMW, GM and Volvo for their production vehicles starting from 2007. Mobileye's innovative off-the-shelf line of products, the Mobileye AWS™ - Advance Warning System, is being distributed and sold around the world, and is the safety solution of choice of a growing community of European, American and Asian trucking fleets.

Mobileye N.V. is headquartered in The Netherlands, with a research and development center is located in Jerusalem, Israel and sales and marketing offices in Detroit, Michigan; Cyprus and Tokyo, Japan.

More information about Mobileye can be found at www.mobileye.com.



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