The CornerGuard: Seeing around Corners to Prevent Broadside Collisions

Abstract

Nearly 3700 people are killed in broadside collisions in the U.S. every year. To reduce broadside collisions, we created and tested the CornerGuard, a prototype system that senses around a corner to alert a car driver of an impending collision with a pedestrian or automobile that is not in the line of sight (LOS). The CornerGuard leverages a microwave-transceiving radar sensor mounted on the car and a curved radio wave reflector installed at the corner to sense around the corner and detect a broadside collision threat. The car’s speed is constantly read by an onboard diagnostics (OBD) system to allow the sensor to differentiate between static objects and objects approaching around the corner. Field testing demonstrated that the CornerGuard can effectively and consistently detect threats at a consistent range without blind spots under broad weather conditions. Our proof of concept study shows that the CornerGuard can be enhanced to be readily integrated into automobile construction and street infrastructure.