Nissan Develops Emergency Auto-Steering System

AmiMoJo writes "Japanese automaker Nissan Motor says it has developed a new technology to help drivers avoid collisions. A new computer system automatically steers the car to avoid colliding with objects in the road. The system relies on radar and laser scanners. It also uses a front-mounted camera to provide information on what's happening outside the car. The system first alerts the driver to turn in a certain direction. If the driver cannot immediately turn in that direction, the system takes over the steering to help avoid a collision."

Comments

recipie for disaster

[Anonymous Coward]

How well does said auto-steering system perform on ice, mud, or fording small streams?

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[LinuxIsGarbage]

Electronic Stability Control already does it on those surfaces.

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[dubbreak]

Pro tip... install appropriate tires prior to driving on ice.

This.

Proper tires make all the difference. I have a FWD Rav4. Stock "all season" tires would cause it to go into a traction control seizure on slippery inclines (it would just shudder until you turn the traction control off). With some proper winter tires (full studable winter, not "winter rated") it was great in the snow and ice. I tried to get it out of control on purpose and between ETC and ESC it would right itself every time (this was in northern Canada with plenty of snow and ice in -20C).

Still have to watch for breaking though. If you are carrying too much speed and hit ice antilock isn't going to save you. Driving slow and engine braking will.

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[ThatsMyNick]

Ambulance drivers are usually far better drivers than the rest. They also understand their vehicle and its response far better than the average folk. So yeah, no wonder they prefer to take decisions themselves than trust the machine to do that for them.

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[artor3]

No, electronic stability control is a great idea that makes cars much safer ...for most drivers.

For highly skilled drivers, it probably gets in the way more than it helps. But the vast majority of drivers aren't pros. And there's no denying that accidents have gone down markedly since ESC was introduced. And lest you claim that's a coincidence, studies have also shown strong correlation between vehicles that lack ESC and vehicles that end up in fatal accidents.

Seriously, you shouldn't make claims like that before looking at the evidence. If someone sees your post and decides to avoid getting ESC in their next car, their risk of death goes up by quite a bit. It's akin to telling people vaccines cause autism. Stop it.

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[Snotnose]

Err, no. My daughter was an EMT for a few years (quit when she got preggers with the best twins in the world :). She went through a pretty intense schooling period of about a year. It was all about anatomy and saving lives. None of it was how to drive.

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[Ironhandx]

Anything that has any sort of significant down side, including seat belts, should be optional.

According to studies done by the RCMP in Canada before they made seat belts mandatory everywhere seat belts were only responsible for prevention of death in 30% of the accidents in which they were a factor.(I.E. the car getting crushed is the car getting crushed, seat belt didn't really matter there) In nearly all cases they caused injuries and in 5% of cases direct death could be attributed to the seat belt being worn.

Seat belts are awesome when there are roll cages installed in the vehicle.... how many Corollas and Honda civics do you see out there with roll cages installed? Additionally the best seat belt in those cases is a proper 4-point harness. Not the "quick clip" seat belt invented by a company that thought it would make it easier to market. It did, it also made the thing almost as useless as a lap belt.

The incidence of neck-related injuries has risen nearly 900% since seat belts were made mandatory. Deaths per reported accident has only dropped about 20% and most of that can be attributed to better crash design in the car chassis and stricter safety regulations that have been introduced that have nothing to do with a seat belt. Given the down side is significant, seat belts should be optional.

Air bags should not be optional, the amount of damage they cause(broken thumbs, occasional cracked ribs, the odd broken nose or arm) is vastly outweighed by the damage they prevent. Some people say the air bag and seat belt work in sync, they do not. Modern air bags deploy so fast its already halfway inflated by the time the locking mechanism in your seat belt kicks in. All the seat belt does is give your head time to snap forward and nail the airbag while its near the end of its inflation and travelling at some ridiculous speeds that are the peak of its inflation speed. Hello whiplash and neck problems for the rest of your life as a best case, hello lifetime paralysis or death as worst cases. The seat belt didn't save you, the air bag did.

The same goes for ABS as for seat belts. The idea is your stopping distance is shorter. In many coniditions it isn't, but that isn't stopping idiots from lobbying to get it made mandatory here. Ice, deep snow, hydroplaning, all of these conditions fuck ABS sensors to hell. There are two theories(And these are straight theories, they can only be MARGINALLY proven in a lab, but the guy that invented the shit apparently had a marketing genius on staff) about ABS.

One: It will allow more control of steering while allowing maximum braking. This is patently wrong. Someone who has the sense to steer out of a situation will have the sense to be able to ease off the brakes a little when they feel the car starting to fish on them, and easing back on the brakes rather than having a motor kick in that disengages them almost completely is much much preferred. Those that don't have the sense are going to death grip the steering wheel and the ABS is just going to get them to whatever they are about to hit even faster.

Two: It'll make you stop faster. With modern brakes on dry pavement even at highway speeds? ABS isn't even worth talking about. Stopping distance increased by 20%+ over a driver with a 30 minute lesson on proper braking. You now occupy the air space of the vehicle in front of you. The speeds at which ABS becomes necessary exist only on the German Autobahn and roads like it. At those speeds your reaction time is so slow(in relation to how much time it takes for your vehicle to suffer enough jarring braking to lose stability) for easing off the brakes that its better to have a sensor do it for you.

That being said, most people are stupid, and ABS is a good idea. Should it be a default option on vehicles? Yes. Should I still be able to purchase a vehicle without it? Very much YES.

Snow and ice? My truck was horrendous. Then I pulled the ABS relay and figured out how to disable the traction control. Now it handles like it should, like a d

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[michelcolman]

There are many different types of Electronic Stability Control. Unfortunately, most car builders just take the cheapest and most basic one available. If I compare the ESC in my wife's Prius with the one in my Merc, it's a world of difference. When you turn into a street with the Prius (with lots of gas because there's traffic coming), as soon as the front wheels start spinning a bit, the ESC kicks in and goes "oh, my, understeer, that's mighty dangerous!" and slams on the brakes. What the f*** do I care about understeer, there's traffic coming! I don't care if the turn is slightly wider! My Merc, on the other hand, will happily allow even a little bit of oversteer before, very briefly, making a small correction using one of the brakes while continuing to accellerate. You really have to go overboard before it makes a drastic correction, and trust me, that means you needed it.

I just love driving my Merc in winter. With everything on, it makes you feel like you're the best driver in the world. Of course it's more fun with it off, if you want to do doughnuts and things like that, but I've never felt less safe with it on. And trust me, I'm no wuss on the road.

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[YttriumOxide]

Aye, I don't disagree. I just haven't seen any conclusive proof of such -- at most I've seen some "studies" from the manufacturers themselves, but no trustworthy studies from 3rd parties.

I don't disagree with you at all, but I'm leaning towards traction control being "in general" a good thing purely from personal experience.

I generally drive sports cars and that's what I'm used to. So, when being used to a "harder" feeling of the road and excellent handling at high speeds; I need to be significantly more careful when I get behind the boat of larger "family" or "luxury" cars (to me, most feel like piloting a boat rather than driving a car).

I had such a monster vehicle as a company car once. I wanted to see exactly what the traction control was doing for me, so I gave it a test on a wet road going around a small roundabout (after taking all necessary safety precautions regarding other vehicles). First time through, with traction control, at 40km/h; no problem. Second time, without traction control, 40km/h, same amount of steering; I spun around around 270 degrees before stopping.

Of course, even WITH the traction control I wouldn't normally take a tight roundabout on a wet road at 40km/h in such a vehicle. But, at least it gave me a very good feeling for what it does. Once I got used to it in that car, I knew exactly when it would kick in and what it felt like when doing so.

In my own sports car, I leave it on for normal city driving and am also now used to the feel of it and know when/how it behaves. Before having done those tests in my old company car though, I never turned it on. I only turn it off when racing or otherwise driving the car in a "sportier" manner.

All of that said, I'd also like to see some real trustworthy studies to back up my feeling and anecdote (or refute it). And also all of that said, I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of the car actually steering for me as described in TFA. I'd definitely want an even higher level of evidence for that than I would for traction control.