Daimler readying cow-tracking tech
for cars
Daimler Chrysler cars may be able to identify cows on the road.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
January 5, 2006
Look what Daimler Chrysler is upto. Safety features have all along been a much talked about advantage when one goes for a Daimler buy. The car giant is now adding to the charm by putting a surprise package into its radar.
DaimlerChrysler in fact had been in the habit of facing challenges and overcoming them by packing its mean machines with the best of safety features. However, tracking cows is one aspect that even Daimler radar engineers never had imagined.
The carmaker has equipped its cars with technology that detects any metal objects such as truck or cars and activates safety features such as automatic slowing. However, as cows aren't made of metal, this is one of the numerous challenges that the auto major is working on at the moment. The company , according to reports, might resort to effect coupling of the radar technology with camera which will detect cows.
The cow-on-the-radar concept is believed to be taking shape at its Bangalore centre. For the record, the Bangalore centre is the largest Daimler Chrysler lab outside of Germany, and has been working on areas of active safety such as road condition sensing, accident-free driving, IT for engineering and logistics besides advanced vehicle engineering. The centre also engages in advanced vehicle engineering, passive safety, virtual manufacturing processes and alternate propulsion such as fuel cell and battery, according to reports.
Meanwhile, DaimlerChrysler is also lining up its latest BlueTec diesel models, but is wary about the quality of diesel available in India. Though the technology runs in vehicles in the US as the quality of fuel is pretty good, the Indian scene is different. The quality of diesel in the country doesn’t come up to global standards. Daimler now looks forward to government intervention in the issue.
The company doubled its sales growth in India in 2006 selling 2,121 cars in 2006, a growth of 11 per cent over the previous year. Seeing India as a future market, Daimler may go in for more value additions on the Indian road.
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