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Subaru updates EyeSight system with color-detecting cameras

Subaru is giving its EyeSight driver assistance camera system a major upgrade for the 2015 model year with new color cameras, as well as reducing its size by 15 percent over the rather bulky original system.
Subaru locates its EyeSight hardware inside the vehicle at the top of the windshield, which is unlike most other camera-based systems that have their hardware mounted somewhere in the front fascia. The benefit is that these rather expensive components are protected from any detritus that may hit the car, but the original system's size ate up a chunk of the driver's outward view. Thus, the shrinkage should be appreciated by new owners.
The upgraded stereo cameras have a 40-percent longer and wider detection range than the original system's cameras, and their ability to see color allows the system to recognize brake lights at a speed differential of 30 miles per hour, instead of 19 mph before. And as before, EyeSight continues to offer adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and pre-collision breaking that can slow the car automatically if an imminent accident is detected, even bringing the vehicle to a complete stop.

Subaru gunning for 500,000 US sales by 2015

For the last four years in a row, Subaru has experienced incredible sales growth including record sales of 336,441 units in 2012. This trend is all but guaranteed to continue this year with 281,652 on the books so far, but Automotive News is reporting the automaker has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
The report says that Subaru is gunning for around 500,000 sales in the US by 2015, which doesn't seem like too far of a stretch considering 2013 sales totals are expected to top 400,000 units. Through August, Subaru's sales are up 29.3 percent compared to 2012, thanks to popular models like the Forester, Outback and, surprisingly, the WRX.
A new WRX is headed for an LA Auto Show reveal while an all-new Legacy is due out next year, and AN adds that Subaru is planning to significantly increase its media spending next year and start production of the Impreza sedan in the US in 2016.

BTW: Subaru's SHARC won the 2012 Design Challenge

Part of the festivities that encompass the LA Auto Show is the annual LA Design Challenge. This year's winner was the Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept, or SHARC. It envisioned automated, zero-emission highway patrolling.
The 2012 edition of the challenge was to envision the future of highway patrol in the year 2025. The goal was to conceptualize a vehicle that would account for the needs of "dynamic urban environments." In addition to Subaru's participation in the contest BMW, General Motors, Honda and Mercedes-Benz, all took part in the challenge.
The SHARC is essentially a law enforcement land-drone. It is entirely automated and runs on renewable energy. Subaru envisioned a future where the Hawaiian Islands are connected to each other by a large highway system. Such an expansive area would require considerable manpower to patrol. The concept of an autonomous patrol vehicle would eliminate the need for a good number of full-time personnel.