If we talk about automobiles, cruise control is not a new thing, and while it might lead to full automatic control someday, the current technologies which aid the driver rather than taking total control of the car, look very interesting. Popular Japanese carmaker Subaru is planning to update its “EyeSight” driver assist system, so let’s take a look at what the next version will offer.The original version of the system was announced in 2010, while the upgrade comes next year, that is in 2015. Available in a couple of Subaru cars, the system used two cameras to detect vehicular traffic and pedestrians in front of it. The information was then sent to the car’s on-board computer, and consequently the brakes were applied automatically, without any intervention from the driver.

Come 2015, and Subaru will bring the next generation version of EyeSIght to its cars, the first being the Subaru Legacy. The new system, will continues to use the camera based system, and not the popular radar and laser sensor based version. Unlike the original EyeSight which used black and white cameras, the upcoming system uses two color cameras to detect pedestrians, slow traffic, and can sense if the car in front brakes. The new system can automatically apply brakes at speeds up to 30mph, unlike the earlier system which did the same only till 19mph.

As mentioned in the report by Road&Track, radar and laser systems do have an edge in low light but they fail to differentiate between pedestrians and vehicles, which means the movement of obstacles/traffic in front cannot be easily predicted. With the advent of high quality camera sensors, which can “see” in low light too, Subaru thinks that cameras can do a better job than radars, and hence the Japanese carmaker is going to continue using the same technology.

The video below shows the Eyesight system working in order to avoid what could be a fatal accident:
http://youtu.be/TqDe47807OA