Technologies like Telenav’s SmartHorizon, are helping industry leaders like Ford improve vehicle safety, enhance the driver experience – and meet changing regulations.
SmartHorizon augments a vehicle's Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) with functions like Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA), which will become an essential for new vehicles in 2022.
The road ahead requires ISA
An important part of improving road safety is reducing the likelihood of speeding. That’s the focus of Intelligent Speed Assist, which is estimated to help reduce collisions by 30%, according to EU legislators. Starting in July 2022, European regulation mandates the ISA feature for all new vehicles (cars, vans, trucks, and buses). By 2024, ISA will be required in all existing carlines in Europe.
ISA informs drivers of the current speed limit so they can adjust speed manually or let the vehicle do it automatically. SmartHorizon dramatically enhances the accuracy and efficiency of ISA. By continuously predicting the most probable path (MPP) the driver might take, the system prepares speed limit information for the road ahead.
SmartHorizon chosen by Ford
Keeping drivers safe on the road is business-critical for automotive OEMs, and Telenav plays an important role in making it happen. Industry leader Ford Motor Company has chosen our SmartHorizon solution to enable ISA and support other ADAS features for Ford vehicles in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Beyond meeting ISA requirements, SmartHorizon also increases responsiveness of other ADAS functions to give drivers greater peace of mind. For example, by helping to optimize Adaptive Cruise Control, drivers can enjoy higher safety and comfort as their vehicle constantly adjusts its speed to the road and traffic ahead. Or, as their car shows pertinent road condition alerts on the head-up display, drivers can safely anticipate their next maneuvers.
Combining innovation and flexibility
SmartHorizon reliably predicts probable paths using robust algorithms and multiple data sources (e.g., car sensor data, map and navigation details, historical destinations, learned driving patterns). With constant predictive detection, the system proactively prepares map, traffic, and navigation data, enabling ADAS features to respond more rapidly to changes in road conditions or routes.
In this way, SmartHorizon helps drivers safely prepare for the road ahead for conditions such as changing speed limits, low visibility, heavy traffic, and blocked lanes. It also enables vehicles to continuously anticipate upcoming driving situations enhancing safety and comfort for the end-user.
In addition to providing automotive OEMs with a powerful, safety-first solution, SmartHorizon is engineered for flexibility:
- Reliable performance using both cloud and onboard data. SmartHorizon leverages Telenav’s hybrid navigation model that ensures seamless support using always-fresh cloud data or embedded data for resiliency if connectivity is lost.
- Flexible configuration for various vehicle types. OEMs can adapt the functionality for various tiers of cars, from high-end to basic. For example, luxury vehicles might support multiple ADAS adaptive controls and require numerous data inputs about the road ahead like speed, slope, curvature, number of lanes, etc. For entry-level cars, OEMs might only need to meet ISA requirements with a lightweight solution running on a cost-optimized processor and memory configuration.
- Integrated with VIVID Nav or standalone. SmartHorizon is an important component in Telenav’s VIVID Navigation system, but it’s also available as a standalone solution. That’s helpful for OEMs that already have a navigation system, or have vehicles with ADAS features that need eHorizon support.
Shaping the future of connected cars
Predictive, machine learning technologies have become a game changer. As innovative tech keeps raising the bar of what’s possible for connected vehicles, competition is growing for automotive OEMs. Meeting consumer demand for safety-first, personalized driving experiences is now business-critical to stay ahead.
For more than 20 years, Telenav has been at the forefront of connected car innovation with navigation and location-based solutions such as SmartHorizon.
See SmartHorizon in action: Request a demo >
What’s ahead
Stay tuned for our follow-up blog on SmartHorizon, with a deeper dive on how the solution works with other ADAS features, real-world use case examples, and more.
