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Using friction brakes for long time can increase easily its temperature and lower vehicle brake performance in the downhill process. The drivers' hysteretic perception to future driving condition could mislead them to stop untimely the engine brake, and some other auxiliary braking devices are designed to increase the brake power for reduction of the friction brake torque. The decompression engine brake has complex structure and high cost, and the application of eddy current retarder or hydraulic retarder on the commercial vehicles is mainly limited to their cost and mass. In this paper, an innovative brake guidance system for commercial vehicles with coordinated friction brakes and engine brake is introduced to guide the drivers to minimize the use of the friction brakes on the downhill with consideration of future driving conditions, which is aimed at releasing the engine brake potential fully and controlling the friction brake temperature in safe range.

Studies show that driving in foggy environment is a security risk, and when driving in foggy environment, the drivers are easy to accelerate unconsciously. The safety information prompted to the driver is mainly from fog lights, road warning signs and the traffic radio. In order to increase the quality of the safety tips to prevent drivers from unintended acceleration and ensure the security of driving in foggy environment, the study proposes a safety speed assessment method for driving in foggy environment, combining the information of driving environment, vehicle’s speed and the multimedia system. The method uses camera which is installed on the front windshield pillar to collect the image about the environment, and uses the dark channel prior theory to calculate the visibility. And by using the environment visibility, the safety speed can be calculated based on the kinematics theory. And it is appropriate for vehicles which have different braking performance.