Towards eyes-off driving

What was earlier exclusive CE domain

Today lot of high- end electronics has became integral part of roads. Automati on is progressing from presently available Driver Assist systems to ‘hands-off ’ driving and will end up in ‘Eyes-off ’ driving within a decade. To be ‘Road-Ready’ to welcome this revoluti on, a feasible wish list of operati onal and safety devices on the road and inside the vehicle are presented here, from a user’s perspecti ve.

All-Weathers M2M Devices

The Machine to Machine (M2M) devices on the road to communicate with the devices in the vehicle should with stand low and high temperature and should be waterproof. The sensors should be durable and cost eff ecti ve. Devices have to provide feedback to the vehicle, informati on on visibility, wetness of the roads etc through conditi on monitoring systems.

Electronic Fencing and Lane warning

Control devices to prevent intrusion of vehicle out of the lane lines should be installed. Prior to lane changing, passengers should be alerted by height or sound to take precauti onary measures like seat-belt fastening etc. Dedicated lanes should be provided for self-driven cars, to avoid accidents. Laser based soluti ons for preventi ng collisions are feasible.

Devices for Monitoring Performance

Monitoring of tyre-air pressure, fuel level, oil quanti ty etc are already available in the present day vehicles. More features can be added by adopti on of IOT (Internet of Things) technology. Remote diagnosis of imminent problems are feasible and generati on of SOS calls should be possible, in case of emergencies V2I (Vehicle –to-Infrastructure) technologies are being introduced in new models of vehicles. Let us dream of drones to reach the accident spots, with necessary helps.

Self Parking

Technologies uti lizing ultrasonic wave sensors are available to do smart parking in the auto-pilot mode or It is also possible to arrange parking spot reservati on, as per availability. In many citi es it is found that up to 30% of vehicular traffi c is roaming around to fi nd parking spots.

Electronic Toll and Gate Opening

RFID based electronic toll collecti on is being implemented smart card based automati c opening of gates of houses and garages are also easily possible to enhance the comfort of passengers. Smart Signage’s and Street Cameras The future passengers expect not only signs from the signage. It can embed devices which can collect and analyse traffi c situati on and provide directi ons to change the lane etc either to the driver or the vehicle directly (in case of driverless vehicle). The street cameras can be equipped to read number plates etc.

Wireless Power Transfer While Running

Electricity storage problem is the main obstacle for the popularity of electric vehicles which are otherwise effi cient and eco-friendly. New technologies are emerging by which vehicles can be provided electricity by wireless mode, through the electro-magneti c systems embedded in the roads. If this is implemented, electricity can be directly supplied to the electric motor of the vehicle, so that size of the storage batt eries can be minimized and halts for charging can be avoided. Trials of this methodology are being done in some of the citi es of United Kingdom.

WAVE and 5G Technologies

In a fast running vehicle for any realti me acti vity, the response ti me is very criti cal. The latency can be minimized by adopti ng latest technologies like WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment), which is used in many countries. In a few years ti me, 5G technology will be launched, which

K V Varkey Pathimatt om

Managing Director Hindustan Anti bioti cs Limited

is the dream soluti on providing the highest reliability. Design of new devices can be done now itself to become the pioneer to embrace this powerful wireless communicati on technology.

Autonomous Hardware and Self Adapti ve Soft ware

The automobiles of tomorrow will be highly dependent or sophisti cated informati on and communicati on technologies. While moving on the road, it is convenient to avoid breakdowns for the aforesaid technological features which will make correcti ons and notifi cati ons automati cally without human interventi on in most of the cases.

Data Security

Imagine the situati on, if the control of the devices in a vehicle is taken over by a hacker. Anything can happen to the vehicle and passengers. Hence, it is very essenti al to provide best security system for the electronic devices and network in the vehicle.

Standardizati on & Certifi cati on

Millions of vehicles employing M2M faciliti es will run on roads of various countries. In order to avoid confusion to devices and to avoid accidents commonly accepted global standards