Life-saving skid control for cars: Anton van Zanten named European Inventor Award 2016 finalist
- Van Zanten nominated for EPO prize for his invention of ground-breaking automotive safety system
- Electronic stability control (ESC) technology prevents loss of control and skidding while driving
- Invention has prevented nearly 260 000 traffic accidents and saved some 8 500 lives in Europe alone
- ESC now mandatory for all new cars in Europe
- EPO President Battistelli: "Van Zanten's invention has made the roads a safer place and saved thousands of lives around the world."
Munich, 26 April 2016 - When an obstacle, such as a deer or a fallen tree, suddenly appears in front of a moving vehicle, every millisecond counts in saving lives. But when drivers hit the brakes too hard, conventional cars run the risk of skidding and veering off the road - with potentially fatal consequences. An innovative safety system, now a mandatory feature in all new cars in Europe, solves the problem. Invented by Dutch and US-educated Robert Bosch GmbH engineer Anton van Zanten (75), the electronic stability control (ESC) system automatically adjusts the course of automobiles in dangerous situations, thus preventing them from spinning out of control and causing fatal crashes. Over a lifetime of advancing automotive safety systems, the prolific inventor has also brought several follow-up inventions to market.
For these achievements, the European Patent Office (EPO) has named Anton van Zanten one of three finalists for the European Inventor Award 2016 in the category "Lifetime Achievement". The winners of the 11th edition of the EPO's annual innovation prize will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon on 9 June.
"Anton van Zanten's invention of the electronic stability control system has made the roads a safer place and saved thousands of lives around the world," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli announcing the European Inventor Award 2016 finalists. "Now mandatory in all new European cars, the system is a great example of how a patented technology can change manufacturing standards across an entire industry."
Safer roads, safer drivers
In the realm of automotive safety, the impact of van Zanten's technology is second only to the seatbelt in life-saving effects. Since its launch in 1995, the electronic stability program has prevented nearly 260 000 traffic accidents and saved some 8,500 lives in Europe alone, according to an accident research study by Robert Bosch GmbH. According to estimates by the US National Highways Traffic Safety Administration, ESC prevents one-third of what would otherwise be fatal traffic accidents. The system has been mandatory in the European Union for all newly registered cars and light commercial vehicles since 2014. In the bigger picture, the life-saving technology offers a significant benefit compared to seat belts and airbags: ESC actually prevents crashes, while seat belt and airbag "only" lower injury risks in a crash. This puts the "guardian angel" technology in league with the likes of fire alarms, smoke detectors and other unsung heroes of technology that safeguard society while working quietly behind the scenes.
A guardian angel, powered by sensors
The problem of "locking" wheels and loss of control when drivers engage the brakes suddenly has puzzled automotive engineers for decades. As a young researcher, van Zanten already suspected that the effect could be prevented by adjusting the force of braking pressure for each individual wheel, based on feedback from sensors measuring factors such as driving speed and intended direction. In order to achieve his breakthrough, van Zanten and his team at German engineering firm Robert Bosch GmbH developed the on-board ESC computer system - also known as ESP® (Electronic Stability Program). Calculating feedback from sensors placed across the vehicle, ESC springs into action when it detects a significant divergence between the direction the car is intended to drive in - indicated by the position of the steering wheel - and dynamic factors such as wheel alignment, acceleration, and surface contact. In dangerous situations, the system compensates for imbalances by automatically applying brakes to individual wheels, thereby controlling the car's lateral dynamics - all within a hundredth of a second, faster than a human can respond. Although the system was successfully tested in 1987, the computers occupied almost the entire interior of the car, and it would take until the mid-1990s for microprocessor technology to allow for miniaturising the components. As a follow-up invention, Van Zanten has helped advance the technology into the second collision mitigation (SCM) system that automatically applies brakes to all four wheels once a vehicle has been involved in a collision.
A lifetime of improving automotive safety
Anton van Zanten was already contemplating the future of automotive safety systems early his career. After studying mechanical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, he earned a doctorate at Cornell University in 1973, where he began working on the ideas that led to the development of ESC. Van Zanten joined German company Robert Bosch GmbH in 1977. He was a member of a team working on the anti-lock braking system (ABS), a predecessor to ESC that prevents the wheel from locking when the vehicle is braking, reducing the danger of swerving off the road, which paved the way for successful testing of ESC in 1987. During the testing stages of ESC, the inventor himself drove a test car jam-packed with electronics on icy roads, confident in his safety system.
"You only become an inventor when you're not satisfied," says van Zanten. "When you're satisfied with everything, you have no urge to create anything new."
Van Zanten has certainly been propelled by this urge to create. With a career in automotive safety technologies spanning over 40 years, van Zanten is the author of some 180 granted patents - 36 relating to automotive safety - with tremendous market impact. Retired since 2003, the winner of major industry awards such as the Henry Ford II Distinguished Award for Excellence in Automotive Engineering (1995) and the Ferdinand Porsche Prize (1999) now lectures at several universities and also consults leading automotive companies.
Building the car of the future with patented technologies
The ESC system is not the first automotive invention nominated at the European Inventor Award. In 2008, a team of engineers from German automotive company Audi won the Award in the "Industry" category for bringing a lighter and safer automobile frame crafted from aluminium into mass production. A team of French scientists from Thales Systèmes Aéroportés were also nominated in 2011 for their development of a car radar for adaptive cruise control.
Read more about automotive technology and patented inventions.
Additional resources
View the patent: EP0883537, EP0339056
Building the car of the future with patented technologies
The ESC system is not the first automotive
invention nominated at the European Inventor Award. In 2008, a team of engineers from German
automotive company Audi won the Award in the "Industry" category for
bringing a lighter and safer automobile frame crafted from aluminium into mass
production. A team of French scientists from Thales Systèmes
Aéroportés were also nominated in 2011 for their development of a car radar for
adaptive cruise control.
Read more about automotive
technology and patented inventions.
About the European Inventor Award
About the European Patent Office (EPO)
Contacts at the EPO in Munich, Germany:
Jana Mittermaier
Director External Communications
Rainer Osterwalder
Press Spokesperson
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1820
Mobile: +49 (0)163 8399527
rosterwalder@epo.org