|
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
|
| Vehicle Research and Test Center |
|
| Updated |
Jun 3, 2004 17:43:22 |
| Rating |
 347 ( -45 -12.96% ) |
|
|
Description:
CRASH AVOIDANCE RESEARCH
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Research
NHTSA PROJECT ENGINEERS: Elizabeth N. Mazzae (emazzae@nhtsa.dot.gov) Frank S. Barickman (fbarickman@nhtsa.dot.gov) TRC PROJECT ENGINEER: Duane Stoltzfus Intelligent Transportation Systems Projects at VRTC:
DRIVER WORKLOAD Introduction: With the recent completion of NHTSA’s workload evaluation protocol development program, carried out within the context of heavy vehicles operations, there is a need to transfer this technology to the automobile environment. Implicit in the development of the protocol was a link between the evaluation process and safety implications. Given the broad range of high-technology products being developed and marketed for use in both cars and trucks, the potential importance of examining the workload imposed on the driver by these different systems is obvious from the standpoint of safety. These technologies include navigation systems, motorist information systems, in-vehicle computer systems, cellular communications technologies, crash avoidance systems, and the like. Variations in the driver interfaces (display and controls) can vary considerably for any given function. While future system architectures may involve the integration of various functions along with some degree of standardization of the interface, existing systems represent discrete functionality most often installed as "third party" systems. An evaluation of existing products to assess the applicability of the protocol to automobile environments, and the analysis of "workload" and its implications for driver acceptance of the various designs would therefore be useful. This assessment will provide an empirical basis to identify design features and attributes that minimize driver distraction and will help identify strategies for optimizing the interface. For example, different manufacturers of navigation systems approach selection of destinations very differently. This research program can compare the efficacy of the different approaches, defined, a priori, in terms of salient system features that distinguish the systems from a operational standpoint (e.g., display format, mode(s) of communication, etc.). Objectives: The overall objective of this project is to measure the device-related demands placed on drivers by in-vehicle devices and determine, in a comparative fashion, workload minimization design features. The classes of in-vehicle devices to be evaluated include route navigation systems and cellular phone systems. These two classes of technology span a range of cognitive, auditory, and visual demands, may impose significant distraction on the driver, are likely to be simultaneously present and used, and are being actively marketed and developed to have greater functionality. It is for these reasons that route guidance systems and cellular phone systems have been selected as the technologies to be examined in this program of research. Driver Behavior Baseline Data Collection in Support of ITS Crash Avoidance Countermeasure Performance Specification Programs NHTSA has a program to develop performance specifications for crash avoidance countermeasure systems for rear-end, road departure, lane change/merge, backing, and intersection crashes. For example, forward-looking collision avoidance systems (FCAS), which are intended to prevent rear-end crashes, monitor the zone in front of the host vehicle and provide warnings to the driver if the headway to a lead vehicle presents a potentially dangerous situation. In order to determine how these systems should present warnings to drivers it is important to first determine how drivers normally conduct themselves while driving, in the absence of any technological collision avoidance support. NHTSA will be conducting a series of studies to collect data to characterize such things as driver car following behavior, driver lane keeping behavior, and driver lane change/merge behavior. Testing will be performed to measure the baseline behavior and performance of a representative sample of the licensed driving population unaided by any collision avoidance systems.
The first study to be conducted deals with driver car following behavior. Rear-end crashes account for approximately 23% of all police-reported crashes in the United States, the vast majority of these being associated with driver inattention (Knipling, Mironer, Hendricks, Tijerina, Everson, Allen, and Wilson, 1993). One possible means to reduce the incidence or severity of such crashes is through Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) crash countermeasures. Such Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) would sense the lead vehicle and provide a warning to the driver in the event that a collision was probable or imminent. Development of rear-end CAS technology would benefit by a better understanding of driver inattention during car following, particularly in the management of nuisance alarms. VRTC has been asked to develop a model that predicts Eyes-off-Road-Time (EORT) or some variant of it (e.g., probability of at least one glance away from the road scene) as a function of car following parameters. Informal observations indicate that drivers spend more time with their eyes on the road scene as they get closer to a lead vehicle. There is also scientific evidence that suggests a relationship between car following distance or time headway and following vehicle driver attention to the road scene. Lee (1971) reported that in high-density traffic, headway gaps averaged 0.8 seconds, with some as low as 0.5 seconds. However, reaction times were also shortened to approximately 0.6 seconds during platoon build-ups, suggesting that attention levels to the forward view were also higher. This might be one motivation behind the assumption made by Farber and Paley (1993) that mean response time and variability are reduced at shorter headway distances.
Drowsy Driver The NHTSA Vehicle Research and Test Center is completing a unique observational study of drowsy and inattentive driving on public roads. Eight test participants were selected from populations thought to be at heightened risk for drowsy driving (e.g., shift workers, military personnel on weekend leave, college students on breaks). The volunteers had their personal vehicles instrumented with the Micro-DAS system of unobtrusive data acquisition. Steering, lane keeping, travel speed, and other engineering measures were recorded along with road scene video and video of the driver's face to capture eye closure and eye glance behavior. These data are being analyzed post hoc with the drowsy driver detection algorithm developed by W. W. Wierwille and his colleagues at Virginia Tech. In addition, algorithm false alarms will be analyzed to determine if they might be attributed to increased driver inattention to the driving task, as evidenced by eye glances away from the road scene or distracting in-vehicle activities. This field study provides real-world data collected on passenger car drivers rather than commercial truck drivers, driving their own vehicles rather than a test vehicle, driving on trips of their own choosing rather than experimental routes, and driving on public roads rather than on a test track or in a simulator. Data Acquisition System for Crash Avoidance Research (DASCAR) DASCAR: The Data Acquisition System for Crash Avoidance Research (DASCAR) is a tool that has been developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). DASCAR allows data collection from a broad range of vehicle models and types and provides researchers with the ability to record information on driver behavior and performance, vehicle performance, and roadway environment. The tool also makes it possible to measure driver performance in relation to any vehicle design characteristic and allows updating of existing models of driver/vehicle behavior and performance to reflect the characteristics of vehicles of current manufacture. Further development of the DASCAR has led to the development of the Micro DAS. The Micro DAS is a smaller system with extended capabilities of the DASCAR The system features easy installation, small form factor, greater than 22 hours of full-motion video data collection, event triggering, pre/post-triggering, and is low cost. Because the system is portable and easily installed, The Micro DAS permits the measurement of driver behavior and performance in-situ, using drivers’ own vehicles, ensuring "real world" naturalistic data collection, thus eliminating concerns about vehicle familiarity.
Side Collision Avoidance System (SCAS) Driver Acceptance, Behavior, Performance, and Adaptation Introduction: A major NHTSA research contract, which is being performed by TRW, is developing specifications for an effective countermeasure for the lane change/merge crash problem. The Vehicle Research and Test Center is providing support for this contract, primarily in the human factors and instrumentation areas. The success of a side-crash avoidance system (SCAS) depends upon the hardware (sensors, CPU), software, and driver interface (driver displays, controls, and system logic with which the driver interacts). Driver acceptance of the technology and performance with it is important to a safe and effective crash countermeasure deployment. Once deployed, the manner in which driver behavior changes to determine SCAS effectiveness is also currently poorly understood. Driver acceptance, performance, and behavior, particularly as they evolve over time with exposure to such technology must be factored into SCAS design, development, deployment, and evaluation. This program of research will run in parallel with TRW’s test bed development and interact with it as appropriate to further the state of the art in crash avoidance system design. Objectives: The overall objective of this project is to determine the impacts of SCAS technology and driver interface alternatives on driver acceptance, safety-relevant driver performance, and driver risk-adaptation behavior over time. This program of research will provide original empirical data with which to guide SCAS design, SCAS implementation, and SCAS benefits estimation. The most immediate applications will be in the TRW lane change/merge crash avoidance system specifications project and in SCAS effectiveness or benefits estimation.
Haptic Feedback / Rear-End Collision Avoidance System Research An examination of the performance and effectiveness of haptic driver feedback for Rear-End Collision Avoidance Systems (RECAS) will be conducted. Data will be collected to assess the effectiveness of RECAS equipped with haptic driver feedback in helping drivers to avoid rear-end crashes. Drivers’ acceptance of these systems and the manner in which they may take control of the vehicle to avoid a collision with a vehicle of obstacle ahead will be assessed. Drivers’ behavior and reactions to the RECAS in general, and the haptic feedback specifically, will be recorded using a MicroDAS. Questions such as whether haptic feedback is beneficial and elicits appropriate driver responses in terms of crash avoidance and whether drivers are comfortable with the manner in which the RECAS takes control of the vehicle will be assessed. Follow this link for information on an upcoming NHTSA Symposium on RECAS including Intelligent Cruise Control to be held on October 22-23, 1998. NHTSA Symposium on Rear-End Collision Avoidance including Intelligent Cruise Control Variable Dynamics Test Vehicle (VDTV) Construction has begun on the Variable Dynamics Test Vehicle (VDTV), a test bed vehicle featuring adjustable ride and handling characteristics, and the capability for on-board control through computer systems. The system will feature steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, throttle-by-wire, software controlled roll stiffness, programmable damping rates, four-wheel-steering, and a yaw stability augmentation system. This test bed will provide critical information on driver-vehicle interaction that will impact crash avoidance technology development. The initial needs study and preliminary specifications have been completed. |
| Similar news: | - Stocks End Lower After Profit Warnings - NEW YORK (Reuters) - US stocks sagged on Thursday as a warning from Pfizer Inc. hit the blue-chip Dow and nagging worries about slowing growth in corporate profits and the economy kept the market under pressure.
- Ittiam launches IP video phones - Ittiam Systems, the Bangalore-based technology product company focussing on digital signal processing (DSP) systems in media and communications, has announced the launch of IP video phones.
- Ittiam Integrated Platform For IP Video Phones - BANGALORE: Bangalore-based Ittiam Systems has launched a complete solution for IP video phones that offers voice and video communication over broadband networks, including wireless LANs.
| | Find all news similar on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) |
|
