Driving assistant protects small children

Driving assistant protects small children

It's hard to believe, but every year young children die from heat stroke because they are left alone in parked cars. Child Presence Detection (CPD) systems are designed to prevent exactly that. These systems use various sensors to detect the presence of a child in the vehicle and to inform and warn the driver if a child is left in the vehicle. With the newly developed CPD dummy, which has the shape and size of a newborn, a reliable and standardized check of presence in the vehicle is possible. The baby dummy measuring ring realistically reproduces the breathing impulse and the presence of a sleeping newborn child.

For obvious reasons, real people cannot be used in functional tests to evaluate such systems. Sensors should be able to record the movements of children between the ages of 0 and 6 years. The less they move, the more difficult it is to detect. The most challenging scenario is a sleeping newborn whose upper body only moves through breathing. This can now be simulated with the CPD measuring ring. The dummy meets the breathing frequency of 30bpm required by the Euro NCAP protocol and has a realistic amplitude of movement in the chest and abdominal area. “In this way, human lives can be saved with comparably simple means,” says Igor Doric, Managing Director of Messring Active Safety GmbH.