Blind spot is not blind
While the driver quickly checks his endoscope and horoscope and perhaps takes a glance back to overtake, he hears a loud warning from the left. It is easy for drivers to miss vehicles approaching rapidly from behind in the passing lane or cars in blind spots alongside their cars, especially in heavy traffic on multi-lane highways or arterial highways and urban traffic. The blind spot detection system (BSD), developed by Continental, can relieve much of the driver’s stress and avoid dangerous situations by monitoring areas that are hard to see. If lane change assistance indicates no proper spacing to overtake, the driver’s attention is drawn forward — because you never know if the car in front of you is breaking unexpectedly.
Basic technology
A radar sensor or camera monitors the road space behind and on the side of the vehicle and displays a visual signal on the outside rearview mirror to indicate a moving car in the blind spot area. Some models also provide additional tactile warning, i.e. vibration of the seat, if the driver wants to change lanes (by using a turn signal) despite a vehicle in the blind spot area. Although each car maker has a different design for warning drivers, an indicator near the outside rearview mirror is necessary.
Advantages and disadvantages of the blind spot monitoring system
When learning your driver’s license, your instructor will tell you that you need to look back when you change lanes because the side mirrors have blind spots and don’t fully cover the road behind you. And when you’re too busy to see things, that’s the job of the blind spot detection system. The system can sense the presence of a vehicle in the blind spot area behind the car and alert the driver when the turn signal is switched on. A small light flashes in the side mirror as a warning, as well as a steering wheel vibration or sound alarm. If the driver does not turn on his turn signal, the warning light will remain when the vehicle is detected rather than flashing.
Blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and parking sonar
Blind spot monitoring system, lane departure warning, and parking sonar will provide comprehensive protection from side and rear collisions.
Volvo Cars developed the first blind spot monitoring system, BSD, ten years ago. Blind-spot monitoring works based on ultrasonic or radar sensors on the side and rear of the vehicle. The system monitors the rear and side rear vehicle conditions. The blind-spot detection system will no longer be activated if there is no vehicle behind the adjacent lane. The system is not responsible for detecting if a car has deviated from its original road.
The blind spot is the rear view that is blocked by the B-pillar of the vehicle. When the system detects danger, A yellow warning light in the side mirror or inside pillar A will start flashing.
Different car companies have other names for the system, divided into blind spot monitoring system, blind spot detection, and blind spot information system. Still, they are all the same system. The first two are used quite frequently, and only Ford, Volvo and Lincoln refer to such systems as blind spot information systems. Mr Audi calls it SideAssist.Some automakers call it active blind spot detection. Accordingly, passive blind-spot detection is followed by active blind spot detection, and the detection ability is inferior to the former. Some passive systems can only detect when the car behind them passes the car’s bumper, which means that the car behind them is already on the vehicle’s side. Others can notice when the car is three to five blocks behind them.
Blind spot detection systems are used in cars and commercial vehicles such as trucks and trailers and even in motorcycles and bicycles.
Lane departure warnings are responsible for detecting whether the vehicle remains in its current lane. A forward-looking camera mounted behind the windshield is used to collect information from the front. Drivers will receive a visual warning on the dashboard display when the owner changes lanes.
Parking sonar uses ultrasonic or electromagnetic sensors installed behind or in front of the vehicle to detect the distance between the car and obstacles. Sometimes, some sensors are used for blind spot monitoring systems and reversing side warning systems.
What can blind spot detection do?
While the user is backing the car out of the parking space, the system will detect a vehicle behind it and alert the driver.
Sensors on the side of the system will help owners find parallel parking spaces. The sensor also acts on the automatic parking system. Press the button on the center console, and the vehicle will enter automatically. When a parked car is a test, the sensor automatically measures the distance between two stopped cars. If the distance between two cars is detected to be more than 3-5 feet from the car’s length, the system determines that there is a parking space and directs the driver into it.
Rear and side sensors are also available for rear parking sensors. Not all rear sensors are used for blind-spot detection systems. If the vehicle has back parking assistance, there is no need for a blind spot detection system.
Some cars have a signal indicator on the dashboard that stays on when the blind spot monitoring system is idle. Part of the industry believes that the indicator light is redundant. However, there is another factor to consider: some safety assistance systems, especially stability control systems, may not be observed while driving, but the user needs to know when the relevant course is on/off when necessary.
The blind spot detection system is not 100% reliable, and sometimes it can give false alarms, especially when a vehicle is passing through a tunnel wall, and the system mistook it for its truck.
Honda has developed a unique blind spot detection system that requires the driver to make a judgment call. In Honda Accord models, the LaneWatch system is a rearview camera system based on the car’s rearview mirror. When the right turn signal is turned on, an image appears on the center console screen with three horizontal lines in the picture. If the image is between the center line and the close line, there is no need to change lanes. If the image is between the center line and the distance line, it is necessary to judge whether to carry out a lane change.
