Automatic pre-crash collision avoidance in cars

In recent years, a number of European Commission funded projects have investigated how the objective of increasing pedestrian safety can be attained by means of intelligent driver assistance systems. The results already at disposal show that, while in the long range case, a warning system, to alert the driver as soon as a vulnerable road users (VRU) is detected and classified by the sensors, can be sufficient to reduce the number of accidents, an active intervention system is mandatory in pre-crash situations. In this paper, an automatic pre-crash collision avoidance strategy for cars is presented. It produces a collision avoidance manoeuvre, if feasible, or, otherwise, an emergency braking to reduce the energy at the impact.