Rapid Detection of Fast Objects in Highly Dynamic Outdoor Environments using Cost-Efficient Sensors

In recent years driver-assistance systems have emerged as one major possibility to increase comfort and even more important safety in road traffic. Still, cost is one major hindrance to the widespread use of safety systems such as lane change or blind spot warning. To facilitate the widespread adoption of such safety systems, thus increasing safety for all traffic participants, the use of cost-efficient components is of crucial importance. This paper investigates the usage of cost-efficient, widely used ultrasonic sensors for blind spot warning at high velocities. The normative aspects as well as the functional requirements originating from considerations on human-machine interaction and user-experience are discussed. A fuzzy-markov-chain based approach for the detection of fast objects is outlined. The proposed procedure is implemented on a regular electronic control unit (ECU) and qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated in real road traffic scenarios.