Lasers help guide cars

Posted on Nov 29, 07 11:07 PM PDT

Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are working on a laser-based system to improve the performance of car collision warning systems. Sounds like a pretty advanced way to help save lives by preventing car accidents - hopefully the final product will be cost effective enough to be introduced into all vehicles. The entire system consists of "a camera and microphone in the cab to detect the driver warning, a suite of calibrated cameras to measure the distance to lane boundaries and laser scanners to measure the distance to obstacles forward and to the side of the vehicle. The system can be mounted on cars or trucks with trailers and requires no modifications or connections to the warning system being tested. The NIST system can detect an object to within about eight-tenths of a meter from up to 60 meters away at speeds up to 25 m/s (within 33 inches at a distance of 197 feet and speeds up to 56 mph.)". Best to just stay alert and fresh whenever you're driving - never mind about technology.

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