Citroën is working on parking sensor technology, which will enable Double Chevron cars to virtually park themselves, and fly-by-wire components that will make a steering wheel and pedals redundant, a report says.
Citroën is working on parking sensor technology, which will enable Double Chevron cars to virtually park themselves, and fly-by-wire components that will make a steering wheel and pedals redundant, a report says.
According to , Citroën has equipped a C3 prototype with parking sensor technology that can measure gaps between parked cars to assess whether a space is large enough to squeeze into. The car can reportedly park itself by automatic operation of the steering and brakes. All the driver has to do to operate the system is to engage the car’s forward and reverse gears!
One of Citroën’s other new advanced-technology projects is a version of the “fly-by-wire” systems used in aircraft, which takes drive-by-wire electronic throttles a stage further to integrate all throttle, brake and steering elements into a joystick. Acceleration and braking are via hand controls and work in conjunction with the speed limiter/cruise control system, the report said. The system eliminates the need for either a pedal-box or a steering column, which will help improve front-end crash protection in cars of the future.
Meanwhile, a team at Leeds University is said to have achieved early success in a pilot scheme using GPS-guided speed limiter devices. Twenty volunteers, driving modified Skoda Fabias, are participating in a two-year, R24-million project into intelligent speed adaptation (ISA). The cars are equipped with digital devices containing mapping with details of speed limits on all the roads in the Leeds area, and GSP satellite tracking to identify each car’s position. If the system detects that a car is travelling above the speed limit of a particular area, signals are sent to the accelerator- or braking systems of the vehicle, automatically slowing it to within the limit.
The British Department of Transport is apparently planning to create a digital map of all the United Kingdom’s roads with details of their speed limits, which would enable a nationwide ISA system.