Continental's Collective Perception system lets drivers look around corners

A new product designed by German supplier Continental could give vehicles and their drivers several additional sets of eyes.

Continental says its Collective Perception system allows vehicles to bring together image data from other vehicles and from sensors in roads and buildings to improve a driver's field of sight.

For example, by using images from other vehicles or nearby traffic cameras, the system would allow a driver at a city intersection to see around the corner of a building that a bicyclist is coming their way.

Robert Gee, senior manager for portfolio development in connected vehicle solutions and V2X at Continental's operations outside Chicago, said the company has been working on Collective Perception for about two years. The goal, he said, is to find real-world ways to use connected-vehicle technology to protect people — including people who are not connected at the moment, such as pedestrians, bicyclists or scooter users.

"We somehow need to protect these folks that are unconnected while leveraging what's already being installed on vehicles," he told Automotive News.

Gee said that because sensors such as cameras and radar systems are tuned differently in every vehicle, data shared between vehicles "is not necessarily going to be easily interpretable." Collective Perception could help to translate that information between vehicles, as well as between vehicles and infrastructure.

By giving a vehicle access to more data from the vehicles and infrastructure in its area, blind spots can be removed for driver-assist systems, and drivers can be easily warned about potential dangers.

"It allows for one vehicle to be able to use its own sensors to detect a vulnerable road user and send that data to other vehicles and let them calculate if this is going to be in my path," Gee said.

Collective Perception provides a glimpse into the types of future products Continental, a 150-year-old legacy supplier, is developing to maintain its position in an era of rapidly changing auto technologies.

It also shows how the R&D timeline is changing for suppliers that are accustomed to developing physical parts, from tires to engine components. Suppliers are being forced to look beyond their current product horizon for innovations.

But it remains unclear when Continental will be able to roll out Collective Perception as a real-world product. Gee said the supplier is waiting on government vehicle-to-infrastructure standards to be released, among other factors. Continental hopes to launch Collective Perception for use within a year of those standards being established.

"We want to make sure these things are locked and loaded from a standards and cross-company agreement perspective first," Gee said. "Anything like this that requires communication between all different manufacturers of parts or vehicle manufacturers, you need to have one standard that you're working toward."

In the meantime, the company continues to develop the technology and test it.

Gee said Continental is working with multiple automakers, which it didn't name, including five in Germany and two in the U.S., on the system's in-vehicle trials.

Continental sees Collective Perception becoming a vital vehicle feature to help reduce road deaths and injuries.