Pedestrian protection using laserscanners

This paper presents a prototype system for the early detection of a car-to-pedestrian accident that has been tested in a passenger car. To obtain an absolute reliable pedestrian classification - and thus a reliable pedestrian protection - a region of no escape (RONE) is determined, where it is impossible for the pedestrian to escape the impending vehicle-pedestrian crash. Every pedestrian colliding with the car´s frontal region would enter this RONE in a certain time before the crash. Therefore, the time to collision (up to 300 ms) and the point of first contact can be estimated with a high confidence level within this RONE. The results are evaluated based on a database of recorded real data of a laserscanner integrated in a passenger car.