GM took advantage of the structure of the Brooklyn Bridge to test the Driver Awareness and Driver Assist active safety technologies that have been developed for Cadillac's 2013 XTS and ATS models.
Jim Nickolaou, an engineer for Cadillac's "Sensor Fusion" program, said in the car giant's announcement of the program that metal structures often serve to confuse radar systems.
Engineers from the car giant used the bridge's heavy traffic volume and elaborate metal design to refine the technologies so that the radar sensors could be made to distinguish between stationary objects and moving vehicles.
"The camera, sensors and radar technology act as the 'brain' behind all the safety features, feeding data 25 times per second into the car's computer network," Nickolaou said in the release. "We found that the best way to test the system's accuracy was to gauge its performance in stressful driving conditions that could confuse it, like those conditions found on the Brooklyn Bridge."
The engineering team tested the sensors and radars along nearly 2,000 potential scenarios. Factors taken into account included weather, traffic, lighting, and "radar reflections". Data was collected with an eye toward fine tuning the software.
"We have to try and anticipate every scenario, especially those that really challenge the technology," Nickolaou said. "We tune the systems to discern actual obstacles from other things in the vicinity that should not cause a warning or braking action."
The Driver Assist Package also includes an automatic collision preparation system, a lane departure warning system, and a front and rear automatic braking system.
"We're bringing the future forward for today's drivers," said Don Butler, vice president, Cadillac Marketing. "The Driver Awareness and Assist technologies are tailored for intuitive use in the rigors of daily commuting."
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