Continental has expanded its CoSmA digital access system with a Child Presence Detection (CPD) function to further enhance passenger safety. When outside temperatures reach 30 degrees Celsius, the temperatures inside the car reach 45 degrees within half an hour. This has the potential to be life-threatening to children researched by the University of Georgia.
As a result, nearly 40 children in the US die in car crashes each year, according to the National Safety Council. Continental’s child presence detection feature uses ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to prevent such tragedies in the future. It detects the child in the edit and sends a warning within seconds. The CPD office also needs vehicle manufacturers to meet passenger compartment safety targets in light of upcoming Euro NCAP safety ratings and US regulations imposing new child safety requirements in the passenger compartment. Vehicle from 2015
“We were the first to market ultra-broadband for digital vehicle access. Now we see using this technology to save lives of children left in the vehicle. With this approach we also increase the value for our customers”, says Jean-Francois Tarabbia, Head of Architecture and Continental Business Networks .
The CPD framework integrates the existing CoSmA UWB digital access solution, allowing drivers to use the car key for hands-free access. In order to detect children who have been left behind, the UWB system works in a so-called reflective mode. therefore, it receives its UWB signals emitted by the smallest movements of the object. By detecting a change in frequency or phase in the returned signal, the distance and speed of a moving target can be measured. Even the smallest movement, such as the movement of the baby’s chest while breathing, can be detected by the sensors.
Based on the unique rates of breathing and on the smallest body movements, the CPD with the UWB system can identify the passengers as babies, children or adults. If children are left in the car, the CPD system can send an audible, visual or tactile alert to the driver after a maximum of ten seconds. UWB-based CPD can also detect infants and children in any sitting position, whether they are covered with a blanket or buried at the foot of the room.
Through CoSmA UWB transceivers are not only used for access solutions, but also for DPCs by adding redundant hardware and saving and simplifying the overall system costs. As a pioneering solution, CoSmA continues to improve and innovate the user experience in vehicles in the digital age.
