Research programme

CARISSMA's research programme aims to continuously improve car safety in the overall context of road safety, i.e. the safety of all road users.
The primary goal is the realization of a global safety system which, by networking environment-based sensors using the bionic principle, emulates the human senses of "seeing", "feeling", "hearing" and "communicating" and, based on this information, recognizes and averts potential dangers from the environment.

[Translate to English:] Globales Sicherheitssytem besteht aus 1) Sehen 2) Hören 3) Fühlen 4) Kommunizieren

What technology can learn from nature: from the bionic principle to the global system

Our human senses are perfectly attuned to the environment. Thus we react to potential dangerous situations in a fraction of a second. With the help of sensory impressions we perceive the environment, process this information in the brain and act or react to a wide variety of situations. CARISSMA research is based on this scheme, which has been refined in the course of evolutionary history.

CARISSMA is based on the assumption that nature develops optimised structures through evolutionary processes from which man can learn. Using the bionic principle, evolutionary biological phenomena are transferred to automotive engineering.


How should this transfer take place?

While today's safety functions are mainly/primarily implemented as individual systems, CARISSMA's "global safety system" is based on the networking of active and passive safety functions. Based on the bionic principle, an imminent danger in road traffic is first perceived by the "global safety system" via sensors and then processed in a computer unit. The "global safety system" communicates with the environment and, if necessary, initiates measures to prevent accidents.

  •  Perception: seeing (e.g. radar, camera, lidar), hearing (e.g. CISS structure-borne sound system), feeling (e.g. motion sensors, PTS pressure measurement systems, acceleration and rotation rate sensors)
  • Information processing: algorithms for accident avoidance (e.g. warning elements, brakes) and mitigation of accident consequences (e.g. airbag, seatbelt tensioner)
  • Communication with the environment: Car2X (e.g. WLAN, mobile radio, LTE).