Keeping the right distance

Braking, accelerating, keeping your eye on other vehicles on the road: Driving on busy motorways forces you to constantly adapt your speed and driving style to suit the flow of traffic and the vehicles ahead. This requires a great deal of concentration.

Bosch has therefore developed the intelligent ACC system, which keeps the correct distance by monitoring the traffic and adapting the speed of your car accordingly. It therefore automatically maintains a safe distance from the car ahead.

Driving with ACC:

1. ACC accelerates the car automatically to the speed you have selected.
2. If your car approaches another slower vehicle ahead, ACC brakes automatically and follows the car ahead at a distance you have selected.
3. As soon as the road is clear, ACC automatically accelerates again to the speed you selected.

This means less stress and greater safety for you as the driver. Constant braking and accelerating and driving too close to the car ahead becomes history. ACC integrates your car harmoniously into the traffic flow. With the correct distance ahead and the space it gives you, you arrive safely and relaxed at your destination.

Radar monitors traffic

ACC allows your car to drive at the speed you select. The ACC radar sensor monitors the area in front of your car and analyses the traffic situation using the data. Automatic braking and accelerating integrates your car harmoniously into the traffic flow.

ACC can also calculate the route your car is taking in advance. Cars ahead of you can even be detected around bends. 

There is no need to fear that ACC might be like “driving by remote control”: The driver's wishes always take priority over the automatic controls. If you push the accelerator pedal, the car accelerates as usual. If you take your foot off the pedal, ACC takes control of the driving speed. A brief push on the brake pedal is enough to deactivate ACC.

ACC contains Bosch know-how from developing and manufacturing brake and active security systems. And it is one of many Bosch developments leading to “sensitive cars.” Using intelligent sensors and assistance systems, cars will be even safer and more comfortable in the future. Driver assistance systems from Bosch are an important contribution to the EU Commission's e-safety program, aimed at halving the number of road deaths by the year 2010.

More powerful, smaller and cheaper

The first ACC generation has been in serial production since early 2000 and is recognized as further evidence of Bosch competence in the field of driver assistance. Bosch is actively working towards making ACC more powerful, smaller and cheaper:

• The current ACC sensor control unit is already the smallest and lightest on the market. But the next generation, due for serial production this year, will be even smaller and can be integrated even more discreetly into the front of the vehicle.
• The ACC can detect complex traffic conditions in front of the car. The new generation will have a larger detection field to further improve driving situation analyses. Hence this convenient function can also be used on winding country roads.
• The current ACC operates from a speed of 30 km/h and is especially conceived for use on highways and well-developed country roads.
  The next stage of function extension facilitates stop and go driving in a traffic jam. The vehicle can be slowed to a standstill and, if the driver wishes, accelerated when the road is clear. In a further development stage, the ACC sensor will be combined with a short distance sensor to automate setting off and thereby provide full longitudinal guidance.
• Radar and integrated circuit technology has been further developed to make ACC ever cheaper. This will make ACC available to the mid-range and even compact car segments.

Tips for relaxed driving

Adaptive Cruise Control is only one way of lowering your adrenalin levels when travelling by car. The following tips can help you arrive more relaxed at your destination:

• Plan the best route before you set off, using either a navigation system from Bosch or route planners on the Internet. You save time and avoid unnecessary discussions with your passengers.
• Set off as well rested as possible and take a break every hour on long journeys. Relaxed drivers can concentrate much better.
• Use your breaks for some physical exercise: Stretch carefully, go for a short, brisk walk or jog.
• But you should not to exercise too strenuously, which can lead to stiffness after a long journey.