Mobis, a global producer of automotive components, announced the conceptual research of a new near-term autonomous safety function that could prevent more than 6,000 traffic fatalities each year, as estimated by a review of several independent studies from the North American region of departed driver scenarios. The Departed Driver Rescue and Exit Maneuver (DDREM) technology is being designed to detect situations where the driver departs from controlling the vehicle. DDREM mitigates the risk of a crash by taking control of the vehicle and guiding it to safety. Situations in which the system is intended to activate include falling asleep, suffering a heart attack, or experiencing other health conditions that prevent the driver from operating the vehicle.

According to Mobis, DDREM technology runs in the background of a vehicle; the level 4 autonomous technology will activate only upon detecting a critical situation. The concept aims to prevent more than 90% of departed-driver crashes, yet it is expected to cost much less and be simpler to verify than service-based autonomous systems.

By focusing its efforts on safety-specific autonomous functions, the company expects to ease the engineering challenge of putting autonomous functions on the road. The reduced complexity of this technology will reportedly allow for faster industry adoption, ultimately providing increased vehicle safety in consumers' vehicles sooner. Mobis says it has begun collaboration with key North American government agencies to share the concept and study the identified performance metrics. In addition, while the advanced research phase of the technology continues, the company is working on collaboration arrangements to partner with a global automaker.