The European Commission JRC confirms the unique benefits of the Lynred/Umicore thermal technology for the protection of pedestrians in day and night traffic situations
Once a luxury, today a necessity.
Olen, Belgium and Grenoble France, 14th September 2023 - The joint efforts of Lynred and Umicore in co-developing a cost-compatible uncooled thermal imaging solution to enhance next-generation PAEB (Pedestrian Autonomous Emergency Braking), have reached a significant breakthrough, underpinned by the affirmative findings from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) – the European Commission's impartial scientific service dedicated to unbiased research and independent advice for EU policies.
This milestone is a continuation of the earlier EU-funded “tHErmaL vIsion AUgmented awarenesS” project, the initial phase of the thermal sensing solution aimed at reducing pedestrian accidents in challenging visibility conditions. As the solution progresses to the empirical assessment stage, focusing on validating the thermal sensor's effectiveness, Lynred and Umicore are eager to present the encouraging findings from JRC's review at AutoSens on September 20th, Mezzanine Stage.
The importance of enhancing safety systems in vehicles becomes evident with the EU’s Vision Zero strategy, aiming to reduce fatalities by 50% by 2030 and achieve zero fatalities by 2050.
Today, global road traffic accidents still claim roughly 1.3 million lives annually, with over 50% being vulnerable road users like pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists. About 75% of these fatalities occur in conditions of poor visibility. In 2021, the European Union reported 19,800 road-related deaths, and more than half of pedestrian fatalities transpired between 4pm and midnight3. An AAA study revealed that the majority of current AEB systems demonstrated inconsistency and ineffectiveness during nighttime conditions.
The collaboration's innovative solution, built around Lynred's compact QVGA (320x240) & VGA (640x480 resolution) thermal sensors, is coupled with Umicore’s Tessella® chalcogenide wafer-level lens technologies. This potent combination offers a cost-effective and promising answer to road safety challenges for next-generation PAEB systems. For the purpose of the EU JRC testing campaign, the thermal camera was combined with an in-house AI-powered PAEB system detection algorithm for object classification.
Read the full press release here.