NEWS
AssistWare awarded $3M contract to develop crash avoidance technologies
Lane Departure Warning and Collision Warning System to be Key Element in Both Automotive and Commercial Vehicle Platforms
Pittsburgh,
PA
– January 9th, 2006 – AssistWare Technology, a pioneer in the
field of intelligent vehicle safety systems, today announced they have
been awarded a $3M contract by the US Department of Transportation as
part of a $25M program to test and develop technologies to help drivers
avoid crashes.
AssistWare, along with partners The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Eaton Corp., Visteon Corp., Honda R&D Americas Inc., Battelle Memorial Institute and the Michigan Department of Transportation, will develop, deploy, and test a new integrated crash warning system on a fleet of passenger cars and heavy-duty commercial trucks.
In addition to supplying lane departure warning technology, AssistWare will be supplementing radar-based forward collision warning with image data. With a single Driver-Vehicle Interface (DVI) unit located inside the vehicle, drivers will be able to quickly recognize hazards while minimizing the confusion that would result from multiple displays and sounds.
“Both lane departure and forward collision warning systems have been proven to reduce accidents and save lives,” said AssistWare Technology CEO Mike Formica. “It is a natural evolution to merge these systems to maximize the safety benefit. This combined system will offer improved warning accuracy against a greater variety of conditions while also reducing the number of false alarms.”
“Our experience with autonomous vehicle control, particularly merging vision with other systems such as GPS, radar and data recording makes AssistWare uniquely qualified to execute this program,” added AssistWare founder and CTO Dean Pomerleau, a recognized world leader in intelligent vehicle systems.
The program, Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) Program Field Operational Test, is a cooperative agreement with three offices of the U.S. Department of Transportation: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of the Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
"This system will help address the crash types that account for 67 percent of all vehicle crashes in the United States," said UMTRI’s Jim Sayer, the project’s director.
About Assistware Technology
AssistWare was founded in 1995 by researchers from Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute with the goal of improving highway safety through a suite of driver assistance aids. In 1999, AssistWare introduced SafeTRAC making it the industry’s first commercially available Lane Departure Warning System. Today, SafeTRAC can be found on commercial truck and passenger vehicles worldwide. Assistware is committed to making the nation’s highways a safer place and will continue to introduce new products to support that goal.
For more information, visit: www.assistware.com or contact Mike Formica at 724-449-7235.
Assistware Technology l 724-449-SAFE (7233) l safetrac-sales@assistware.com