The advanced protection of vulnerable road users (APVRU) - project information sheet

Summary form only given. The aim of the APVRU project is to develop a sensor system capable of detecting a pedestrian (or other vulnerable road user) and to distinguish vulnerable road users from the road environment. This sensor system may eventually provide the technological link between detection and a driver warning system or activation of a suitable safety system on the exterior of the vehicle. The sensor system that is currently under development comprises radar units to determine the range and bearing of an object. Infra-red sensors then determine whether or not the object is a vulnerable road user by analysing the size, shape, position and distribution of the infra-red image. The information regarding the relative position of the vulnerable road user, as well as information on the car´s speed, will be processed using algorithms that will decide when an active safety system should or should not deploy.