I chose to look at what new advances have come about in the area of systems that would detect and warn drivers of excessive movement of their vehicles, and prevent a driver from head-on collisions or running off the road.
When I looked at lane departure systems, I found an article that an S. Glaser of the French National Institute of Transportation Research; Laboratory of Interactive Vehicle Infrastructure Conduct, Versailles, France had determined that road-departure warning systems are possible. (co-authors, 2010) The systems would take into account the forward (longitudinal) motion and lateral (side-to-side) motion of the vehicle and compute or analyze whether or not the vehicle was within safe parameters or was showing signs of lane or road departure. (co-authors, 2010) Glaser and colleagues talked about Time to Lane Crossing (TLC) calculations. The only way I knew what these calculations were was to go to another source to find that the TLC is an algorithm that takes measurements of the longitudinal and lateral motion of the vehicle and calculates the TLC used to issue warnings to the driver or to enable steering intervention. (Ulsoy, 1996)

Glaser and co-authors of new findings of advances in vehicle technology explained that the system has to take into account when the vehicle dynamics of forward and side-to-side motion are not excessive. When some of the necessary data for detection algorithms are not available from measurements, then an extended Kalman filter is used. (co-authors, 2010) I proceeded to find an article that explained the Kalman filter, and I would say that when it is applied to the Glaser et al article, I see how the filter is a set of mathematical equations that occur in an ongoing, circular fashion where the equations consider time and measurements and help to determine variances in what can be predicted from the forward and side-to-side movements over time and distance and whether to alert the driver to make the necessary course corrections or if the system intervenes and makes the necessary course corrections without the help of the driver. (Bishop, 2006) After testing the road-departure warning system on a test track using a prototype vehicle, Glaser and colleagues concluded that the system “is found to be efficient and robust.” (co-authors, 2010) I think the authors of the article had done a great job of outlining and discussing the overall description and performance of a road departure warning system and how it may lessen the number of highway accidents that occur when a vehicle goes off the road due to driver error, inattention or incapacitation. (Ulsoy, 1996) I believe that an accident that occurred on Sunday, September 25, 2011 where the driver, Max Miller was distracted by another crash and veered into oncoming traffic, causing the death of his 14-year-old daughter, Susanna Miller, could have been avoided had his car been equipped with such technology as a road departure warning system. (Schieber, 2011) So, there is something to be said for further development and employment of such systems that have been under development since the 1990’s. (Ulsoy, 1996)