[VIDEO] Corvette Racing’s New Collision-Avoidance Radar System in Action

Two new videos posted by Pratt & Miller show off an innovative new rear-racing radar system that made its debut for Corvette Racing at the recent 12 Hours of Sebring.

With just a glance, the driver can tell how many cars are trailing him and by how much, and whether or not they are a faster class.

“The system uses a rear-facing radar sensor to track up to 32 objects and runs on a custom-built Linux PC with a Core i3 CPU,” says Chris Hammond, Embedded Systems Engineer for Pratt & Miller.

On the first video, you can see how the radar can pick up other cars even when visibility is limited, which is especially important in an endurance race like Sebring. A color-coded system makes it easy for the drivers to take just a brief moment to tell what their opponents are doing. For example, a yellow marker shows a car that is moving at the same speed as this car, green denotes a car that is falling back, and red indicates a car that is gaining rapidly. Once the car is overtaken, a large arrow flashes to point the direction in which the opponent has passed. A line graph at the side of the screen estimates how many seconds behind the opponents are.

A second video is from a camera that shows us the point of view of driver Tommy Milner as he walks through the facility and then climbs into his car and takes off around the car. It shows how he’s able to use the system while he’s on the track.

Pratt & Miller is the only company to have such a system for racing and there are plans to sell the technology to other teams, though they haven’t decided how much to charge.

Source:
Autoblog

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