Auto Engineers Figure Future at SAE Conference

Someday, cars will see beyond the road that lies within the headlight beams. They'll have cameras that detect what is happening all around it. And eventually they'll talk to each other. Those are the predictions of nine auto executives in charge of safety at automakers and suppliers during a conference held Monday by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The annual conference, which ends Thursday and is expected to attract more than 35,000 people to Cobo Center in Detroit, features ways automakers and suppliers can improve vehicles' safety, comfort and performance.

From Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — Someday, cars will see beyond the road that lies within the headlight beams.

They’ll have cameras that detect what is happening all around it. And eventually they’ll talk to each other.

Those are the predictions of nine auto executives in charge of safety at automakers and suppliers during a conference held Monday by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The annual conference, which ends Thursday and is expected to attract more than 35,000 people to Cobo Center in Detroit, features ways automakers and suppliers can improve vehicles’ safety, comfort and performance.

Demand has accelerated safety technology, said Josef Haberl, director of vehicle safety at luxury automaker BMW AG. The latest technology to go into production includes the use of sensors to control vehicles that are about to tip and keep cruise control under control.

But as the technology progresses, the industry must be careful not to alienate the driver, said Robert Rivard, vice president of marketing and advanced technological development at Robert Bosch Corp. “We really have to think through how the driver is going to use the system.”

That includes standardizing the signals — lights, bells and vibrations — that will warn drivers that danger is ahead or that they’re falling asleep. Drivers also need to understand the value, Rivard said.

“Over time there has to be a payback recognized by the insurance companies. The accident that didn’t happen is not always understood by the driver,” he said.

A technology that race car designers use is finding its way to the automakers. Austria-based AVL Powertrain Engineering Inc., with U.S. headquarters in Plymouth, Mich.,sells a program that could cut the time and cost of production.

“The idea is to be able to stop having to build a vehicle to find out how it drives,” said Steve Gibson, director of business development at AVL North America. The technology would cut out the need for numerous prototypes by rating more specifically how one prototype reacts to a driver, measuring, for instance, how it brakes.

“We can generate a rating for the car based on how the vehicle performed and how it made the driver feel,” said Philip Marson, senior project engineer for AVL’s electronic systems engineering. Marson said two automakers have signed on to use the technology, which hit the market in 1999.

“You could cut millions out of the project, and you can build a better product in the end,” he said.

As for comfort, there are some firms in the industry worried about what a couple of hours of driving does to your back. AnyBody Technology, based in Denmark, released software last year that simulates the driving experience based on a driver’s bones, muscles and joints.

The software maps out the position of driver, even after some time behind the wheel, to see which configuration requires the least amount of movement and offers the most comfort.

The software also offers suggestions. “Perhaps it might be simple things, like moving the steering wheel a little bit,” said Arne Kiis, sales manager for AnyBody.

Ford Motor Co. uses the technology in Germany and Australia. The technology is already catching on in the medical field to design wheelchairs, Kiis said.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman was to speak to the congress Thursday but Monday canceled his keynote speech. There was no immediate word of a replacement.

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