OREANDA-NEWS. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, has developed its next generation "EyeSight" advanced driving assist system to enhance safety performance and further reduce burden on the driver. FHI has fully revamped the stereo camera system from current version of EyeSight for significantly improved recognition accuracy and added steering assist control features.

The next generation EyeSight adopts the revamped stereo camera system enhanced with color recognition technology combined with an approximately 40% increase of viewing angle and visibility distance, expanding visible range, improving object recognition accuracy, and allowing it to recognize brake lights and red signals. The changes are an upgrade to all the basic EyeSight functions of avoiding collisions, reducing collision damage and reducing driver's workload.

A new feature "Active Lane Keep System" has two functions. One is "Lane Keeping Assist" which recognizes the lines on both sides of the lane and has steering assist controls to keep the driver in the middle of the lane. The other one "Lane Departure Prevention Assist" will apply force to the steering wheel to suppress the deviation if the vehicle almost strays over the lane lines, enabling to further reduce the burden of driving. In addition, with color recognition for the stereo camera, EyeSight can detect brake lights of the vehicle ahead and link it to "Adaptive Cruise Control", allowing even faster deceleration when following vehicles compared to current performance.

The current EyeSight is a system that uses only stereo cameras to measure distances and recognize objects. Just as a driver senses much information visually, it can recognize things like other vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles and lane lines, and also control the vehicle. Moreover, it includes multiple driver assistance features, such as "Pre-Collision Braking Control" to slow or stop the vehicle with automatic braking. Affordably priced at 100,000 JPY (tax excluded), EyeSight is a very popular feature with customers. The accumulated sales of the EyeSight-equipped models have surpassed 150,000 units*1 in Japan.

FHI is advancing the development for an achievement of "autonomous driving" as a safety technology to prevent traffic accidents aiming for zero accidents by automobiles. FHI is now one step closer to this goal with the new EyeSight system. Under the "Confidence in Motion" brand statement, FHI will continue to offer Subaru's distinctive "Enjoyment and Peace of Mind" driving experience through its commitment to safety represented in the EyeSight technology as well as its continued pursuit of driving excellence.

The functions of newly-developed next generation EyeSight will be employed on new vehicles scheduled for release in Japan in 2014, rolled out to all models sequentially.