It is estimated that blind spots kill or injure about 15,000 pedestrians each year in the U.S. Harman International Industries is seeking to help eliminate or reduce this number with a new safety system it has designed to make blind spots virtually non-existent in vehicles.
Harman’s reverse pedestrian detection technology uses computer vision and a fish eye camera and fuses it with data from ultrasonic sensors. Source: HarmanReverse pedestrian detection uses data from a range of existing Harman technologies fitted to a car, like rear camera and sensors in order to detect pedestrians behind the vehicle. Harman says the technology is able to detect smaller children aged between 12 and 23 months, who are the most vulnerable to being hit. According to Danny Atsmon, senior director of machine learning at Harman, of the back-over accidents “over 70% of incidents involving children are caused by a parent or relative behind the wheel."
Harman believes that the rising popularity of bigger vehicles like SUVs has increased the blind spot problem in vehicles. This is exacerbated by the use of sensors and cameras that drivers are placing too much reliance on. Combining real-time sensory data with driver attention is one way that blind spot detection or avoidance can be improved.
Harman’s reverse pedestrian detection technology uses computer vision methods along with a fish eye camera to detect those behind the vehicle and fuses it with data from ultrasonic sensors for close pedestrian verification. The technology uses the steering wheel angle and speed for calculating probable collision trajectories, the company said.
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