You are driving in heavy traffic on a rainy evening when the brake lights on the car in front of you come on. Is the car just slowing down or is it going to stop abruptly? “The problem is that brake lights are yes and no – on and off,” says Mechanical Engineer John Hennage. “The driver behind does not know the speed at which the car in front is slowing or stopping. It’s not enough information for the following driver.”
The solution is an intelligent brake light system that communicates slowing and urgent stopping – rather than simply that the brake pedal is being touched. Hennage and other engineers at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering have developed a gravity or deceleration sensor control so that under normal braking – to slow or to stop slowly – the tail lights work in the normal fashion, when stopping speed crosses a threshold to urgent, red lights flash on either side of the amber lights, and if deceleration is rapid, all of the lights flash red.
The team now has a working prototype and is looking for a manufacturer to take the specifications and produce the circuit in mass quantities.
No comments:
Post a Comment