Worldwide, most traffic-related fatalities are pedestrians. In the European Community alone, pedestrians account for more than 19% of road fatalities. Pedestrian protection of all kinds is therefore high on the traffic safety community's list of priorities. In the European Union, the Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) now includes AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking) systems in vehicle safety ratings; starting this year, vehicles without AEB cannot earn a top 5-star NCAP rating. So far, the NCAP requirement covers only collisions with other vehicles, but within two years they'll have to include pedestrians.

If it were easy to make a car spot and avoid colliding with VRUs (Vulnerable Road Users) like pedestrians and cyclists, these systems would be common on the roads—but there are difficulties. The first is spotting VRUs, not just in daylight but also in darkness and poor weather. One technology that might help here is ADB (Adaptive Driving Beam). It puts as much light on the road as possible but dips the beam whenever it senses that it might dazzle other road users. By simulating ADB, a team from Japan's National Traffic Safety and Environmental Lab concluded that for typical pedestrian collision scenarios, ADB can greatly reduce the number of pedestrian collisions at night, compared with the usual low-beam lighting. This week's in-depth article presents the current status of today's second-generation pedestrian-detection and collision-avoidance systems.

I can't close the editorial without congratulations to the German football team which has done a wonderful cup. As in automotive lighting industry, Germany is leading the football in the world.

Sincerely yours

DVN Editor in Chief