As the number of accidents in which a bicycle is hit by a car continues, the government has added an item to confirm the automatic braking function for a bicycle to the "automobile assessment" that evaluates the safety of a car, and has begun testing.
The "Automobile Assessment" is a test conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and NASVA = National Agency for Automotive Safety and Victims to evaluate the safety of each vehicle type, such as the function to prevent accidents and the function to mitigate the impact of accidents. We are encouraging the development of safe cars.
Among the test items, the function that detects obstacles in front and automatically applies the brakes has been targeted for detection of cars and pedestrians, but the percentage of bicycle users among the victims of death or serious injury is high. Since it has stopped, bicycles will be included from this year, and the test will start from this month.
The test is conducted in multiple patterns, such as a car chasing a bicycle or a bicycle crossing in front of it, and it is evaluated whether the sensor correctly detected it or whether it quickly decelerated to avoid a collision.
It is technically difficult to detect a bicycle with speed compared to a pedestrian, but in the test on the 17th, when the bicycle jumped out from the side of the road, the car stopped in front and avoided a collision. ..
Kenji Sato, General Manager of Planning Department of NASVA, said, "I want to contribute to accident prevention by" visualizing "the safety performance of automobiles and disseminating new technologies."