Horse behind cart ....

Since early 2009, the SaveCAP consortium, led by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, has been developing in-car intelligence to protect cyclists and pedestrians in crashes with passenger cars. The method consists of a sensor on the vehicle which operates a windscreen airbag or the application of automatic braking. According to the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands crash tests and computer simulations show that a cyclist often sustains serious injury in a crash with a car when his head hits the windscreen. The airbag will therefore cover the most important parts of the windscreen. The airbag inflates automatically when the cyclist or pedestrian makes contact with the front of the car. SaveCAP is conducting a yearlong sensor field test. Five passenger vehicles participate that are fitted with video cameras that register the different types of interactions and near-crashes with cyclists and pedestrians. The sensor algorithms that are developed will be used for both the airbag and the automatic braking system. A prototype of the airbag is expected to be introduced in the course of 2012. Several parties, among whom car manufacturing industry and EuroNCAP, have already shown an interest in the method.