General Motors luxury car unit Cadillac is claiming a US industry first for its XTS luxury sedan, which goes into production this spring, and uses directional tactile sensation – vibrations of the driver’s seat bottom – to warn of crash threats while driving and parking.
PSA’s Citroen has previously offered a similar warning method in conjunction with a lane departure warning system.
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The patented ‘Cadillac safety alert seat’ generates vibrating pulse patterns on the left and/or right side of the lower bolster to alert the driver of potential dangers, such as drifting from a traffic lane or toward nearby objects while parking. Threats from the front and rear trigger pulses on both sides of the seat.
“It’s good to see automakers experimenting with new technology to help communicate to drivers when their driving is about to get them into trouble,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “We commend GM for their innovative use of haptic feedback and hope that drivers find it helpful.”
The system works in tandem with other visual alerts, and research shows that it can quickly and accurately focus driver attention to the direction of potential dangers.
“It’s akin to someone tapping on your shoulder in a crowd to get your attention,” said, General Motors active safety technical fellow Raymond Kiefer. “Using the tactile sense to communicate crash threat direction provides an effective and intuitive way to cut through the clutter of visual and auditory sensory information that drivers routinely experience.”
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By GlobalDataThe seats are part of driver awareness and driver assist packages, a combination of active safety systems designed to help drivers avoid crashes.
According to Kiefer, GM research shows that the seat may direct driver attention to the location of a crash threat more quickly and accurately than beeping alerts.
“Vibrating alerts also may help drivers who do not hear beeping alerts due to hearing loss or competing noises and may be preferred by drivers and passengers who might be annoyed by beeps and shut crash avoidance features off,” he said. “The last thing we want is for drivers to turn off features with safety benefits.”
The seat works with a variety of sensors and cameras installed in the car that help intelligently decide when to activate warnings. For example, if a turn signal is on, lane departure warnings are not presented.
Safety alert seat vibrations can be selected by the driver, via an in-vehicle menu, to replace the audible beeping alerts used across much of the industry.
The seats also will be connected to the park assist system and rear cross traffic alert system to help make parking in tight spaces easier.
Using exterior cameras, drivers can see the outside of the car along with dynamic parking guides on the eight-inch LCD screen, located on the centre instrument panel. As the car backs up, the seat provides a few quick pulses to both sides of the seat when an object is first detected directly behind the car, and then provides repeated pulses when an object is closer. Meanwhile, the cross traffic alert system looks for approaching cross traffic behind the vehicle that is signaled with either left or right pulses to the driver.
