Omron is poised to enter the active safety market with a system that demonstrates sensor fusion. It combines LIDAR-based adaptive cruise control system with camera-based lane departure warning. The firm has configured a demo vehicle – a Mercedes C320 – with a black and white camera and a dashboard display. The CMOS camera displays the road ahead, highlighting the lane markers in red. The dashboard displays two broken lines converging, plus an icon representing a vehicle ahead, when one is present. The Omron system, which operates on a CAN bus, links up with the Mercedes cruise control system, the speed of which can be set in one mile per-hour increments, so a driver can set a comfortable trailing distance. What’s especially cool about the system, however, is the way it nudges a driver with a clear but gentle tug on the wheel in the proper direction – toward the center of the lane – when the vehicle drifts over a lane marker. The haptic signal may not be firm enough to awaken a truly drowsy driver, but Omron also has an internal camera in development.