BMW and Volkswagen demonstrate safety technology
The technology being demonstrated this week by BMW and Volkswagen in Germany is what resulted from a government funded project.
That would be what the two companies have been at work on for the past four years, the Adaptive and Cooperative Technologies for Intelligent Traffic (AKTIV) project.
AKTIV includes a group of German automakers, suppliers and communications companies to develop and test systems that will improve traffic flow, safety and fuel efficiency. In order to achieve these improvements BMW and VW have been hard at work and the cars involved in this project have been bundled with various technology such as cameras, radar and laser sensors.
All of these are developed to automatically brake the vehicle to prevent collisions and to warn the driver of pedestrians or vehicles coming from around a corner.
The Bavarians over at BMW has even incorporated the communications systems into motorcycles to allow riders to be more aware.
With the Active Safety project, the experts from BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH have made an important contribution to improving road traffic safety. In addition, specialists from the BMW Group brought to the Traffic Management project their insights about smooth traffic flow and developed innovative navigation functions. Also, in dialogue with industry specialists, they established the basis for acceptance and implementation of the road traffic technologies and applications.