Major Initiatives > IVBSS > Overview

Examples & Scenarios

The intent of this initiative is to work cooperatively with private sector partners in industry and academia to accelerate the introduction and commercialization of integrated vehicle-based safety systems for light vehicles, heavy trucks, and buses. These systems will assist drivers and reduce the number and severity of injuries resulting from rear-end, run-off-road, and lane change crashes. Integration will increase the system effectiveness by improving system performance, and improving the driver system interface.

Scenarios for how this initiative can be applied to the three noted crash types are given below.

Rear-End Collision Avoidance

This problem area requires the ability to sense the presence and speed of vehicles and objects in the vehicle's lane of travel. Integrated collision avoidance systems will provide driver warnings and possibly limited control of vehicle speed to minimize the risk of collisions with vehicles and objects in front of the equipped vehicle. The proposed system may extend current Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) capabilities to areas such as detection and classification of stationary objects and improved determination of lane geometry and occupancy in front of the vehicle. It may also include increased longitudinal control through vehicle braking, and, ultimately, the capability to perform coordinated lateral control and braking actions.

This is a significant category of crashes, accounting for one in four of all crashes. Rear-end crashes are generally reported as either "lead vehicle stationary" or "lead vehicle moving." This can over-simplify the interpretation because there are many situations that are inconsistently reported; for example, such as when a rapidly decelerating vehicle stops and then is quickly struck by a following vehicle. The incidence of lead vehicle being stationary occurs twice as often as a moving lead vehicle.

Road Departure Collision Avoidance

This problem area can be addressed by a system that provides warning and control assistance to drivers through lane or road-edge tracking, as well as advice on safe vehicles speeds that consider the road geometry in front of the vehicle. The system warns the driver when the vehicle is deviating from the intended lane of travel and may provide advice on the appropriate driver steering or braking response to correct the problem. An integrated system may also include an integrated ACC function where vehicle speed could be adjusted on the basis of road geometry (based on inputs from an enhanced map database and navigation system). Furthermore, information from the infrastructure (or in-vehicle sensors) regarding road surface conditions (wet, icy, etc.) could also serve to adjust vehicle speed. Methods of addressing driver inattention may also be incorporated into these systems as part of the integration of warnings.

This type of crash is dominated by the single-vehicle incident – the vehicle leaving the road prior to the first harmful event, not as the result of a collision on the roadway. Based on recent statistics, nearly one in five of all crashes was reported as a Single Vehicle Road Departure (SVRD) crash. SVRD crashes are the most likely crash type to occur at night, on high-speed roads, and to involve alcohol. Second only to opposite direction crashes, SVRD crashes are also most likely to be fatal.

Lane Change and Merge Collision Avoidance

This problem area can be addressed by providing various levels of support for detecting and warning the driver of vehicles in adjacent lanes. Such systems monitor the lane position and relative speed and position of any vehicle, beside and to the rear of the subject vehicle, and will advise the driver during the decision phase of a lane change maneuver through an appropriate driver/vehicle interface.

Lane change and merge crashes account for about 1 in 10 of all crashes; nine out of 10 of the crashes in this category are due to lane changing, and 1 out of 10 to merging. These crashes consist primarily of angle/sideswipe impacts, with less than 5 percent due to rear-end collisions following a lane change maneuver.

Updated August 15, 2008 11:03 AM