You have just parked your car in the side of the road. To get into on the sidewalk, you cross a cycle path, but in the move you won’t get informed you behind.
When you open the car door, hit a cyclist into the car door.
There is no specific Danish statistics on how often exactly the type of accident happens, but figures from the Uk show that the accident with open bildøre can have fatal consequences. Here, each year, on average, registered 60 cases of badly injured or at worst dead cyclists as a result of a collision with an opened car door. Figures from Germany also shows that the 3,500-bildørsuheld took place in the country in 2018.
Now will car giant Ford try to prevent car crashes with a newly developed technology, which Ford calls the ‘Exit Warning’.
the Technology provides both a check – in and external warning with audio and light-signalling devices, when a cyclist or other two-wheeled road user approaching the vehicle. The system can also prevent the car door from being fully opened, if the detected risk of collision.
It informs Ford in a press release.
See also: Will have the same rules by accident: ‘Do as on the island of Funen’
the System works such that if it detects that there is a risk of collision by opening the car door, a loud sound to warn the driver or the passenger. At the same time, the red LED light on the car’s side mirror will blink as a visual warning for the two-wheeled road user who is approaching.
If the car door still opened, will even more red LED light will blink as a warning on the edge of the inside, so the two-wheeled road user can react in time.
Exit Warning-the technology makes use of the already existing sensors and førerassistanceteknologier, as the newer Ford models have. That is, systems which can scan for vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians, just as cars are equipped with blindvinkelsassistance, which makes the driver aware of whether a second vehicle located in the vehicle’s blind spot.
Ford’s engineers have also tested a mechanism that prevents the car door to open fully before the Exit Warning-technology has confirmed that there is no danger of collision. The system must now prototype-tested among both cyclists and drivers under various driving conditions in countries with both left – and right-hand traffic.
See also: Can you see the difference? BMW has a new logo
