The number of safety systems in automobiles is constantly increasing. The more comprehensive the passenger safety package, however, the more exacting are the demands made on the developers of such features. All the different technologies offered in a vehicle need to harmonise as effectively as possible. Crucial assistance in this area is provided by an “intelligent” mathematical method called “CISS”, which will be used in the future development of Volkswagen and Audi series models.

CISS stands for Core-Competence Integrative Safety Systems and combines different methods of computer-based intelligence. The computing processes which form the foundation of this system are oriented on biological models such as the human brain. Using these processes, developers are able to create hundreds of vehicle prototype applications, inter-network huge numbers of safety systems and test how they harmonise – all in a fraction of the time required in the past and all strictly by means of computation. The system uses data generated by crash tests and simulations as well as the collected knowledge of experienced engineers. It allows developers to assess whether or not safety sensors are ideally positioned in a vehicle and how they interact with ambient components and vehicle body parts, and to do so in a much more time-efficient and comprehensive fashion.

The airbag control device ideally exemplifies the complexity involved in vehicle safety features. Depending on how an accident transpires, the device will activate the respective restraint system which, in the event of a head-on crash, consists of the driver and passenger airbags, seat belts, headrests, seat-belt tighteners and mostly seat-belt pressure limiters. While this control device originally functioned strictly on the advice of a central crash sensor, it nowadays gleans the information it needs from as many as ten sensors. And in future, systems for accident prevention – such as the electrical stabilisation program or automatic distance control – will serve as a further source of information in situations of accident risk, so as to prepare restraint systems as optimally as possible for impending impact. CISS allows developers to reliably predict how safety systems will interact with one another and to coordinate them in such a way that they will harmonise.