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Invisible pedestrians and cyclists are a big problem for drivers. It often happens that if such a person could be noticed earlier, a tragedy could be avoided. Ford is investigating new smartphone-based communications technology that has the potential to help alert drivers of pedestrians, cyclists and more.
A concept smartphone app running on a pedestrian’s phone uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) messages to communicate their location to the connected Ford car. If according to vehicle if there is a risk of an accident, Ford Sync can alert drivers by displaying pedestrian graphics or cyclists on the vehicle screen or use sound prompts. Ford, Commsignia, PSS, Ohio State University, T-Mobile and Tome Software presented this technology at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) World Congress in Los Angeles.
BLE can complement other technologies by communicating with other similarly equipped devices with sufficient range for warnings, potentially increasing safety. BLE is not based on an image in the line of sight like cameras or radars, which means that pedestrians can also be detected if they are obstructed by obstacles such as buildings. This is particularly important in the event of the stress of driving in a large city on roads used by pedestrians in addition to cars, bicyclesscooters or scooters.
This technology is widely used in personal electronic devices including smartphones, fitness trackers, location services, entertainment and many more. It uses very little battery power, so it can last a very long time. Consumer applications using BLE typically involve the pairing of two devices. The Ford concept uses this technology to detect many other similarly equipped devices within range without pairing.
The system interprets how a person uses the device, so it distinguishes pedestrians from cyclists and others based on their the rapidity movement, then assesses the risk based on the direction in which they are moving. BLE devices quickly change communication channels – called frequency hopping – in the 2.4 GHz radio band to minimize interference.
