Technical Session 9 Summaries
Please note: Some summaries have been edited for space and clarity. The conference proceedings will contain complete abstracts and papers.
Friday, August 17, 2001
1:45 PM – 3:10 PM
Manufacturers will continue to incorporate additional advanced technology in vehicles, year after year, for some time to come. But for all the sophisticated equipment that may reside in an autonomous vehicle, there are limitations to what can be expected from that "stand-alone" technology. For instance, take the case of a driver of an autonomous vehicle who is approaching an intersection and feels that he/she has the right-of way. That driver may have no way of knowing (due, for example, to buildings blocking the view) whether the cross-traffic is approaching on a collision course or not. In turn, the other driver also may be oblivious to the impending danger. Infrastructure technology can help alert both drivers that the possibility of a collision exists by providing through-the-windshield information and/or by communicating with in-vehicle technology. The objective of this session is to discuss, through a series of presentations, how infrastructure can increase roadway safety by enhancing the advanced technology that will reside in the vehicle. The first paper “Developments in Cooperative Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems and Human Factors Implications” discusses the advantages of cooperative systems with an international flavor. The author has aggregated information from a variety of countries on this topic. The next paper “Infrastructure Systems for Intersection Collision Avoidance” discusses the conceptual outline of potential infrastructure intersection collision avoidance system. The infrastructure concepts represent countermeasures for crossing path crashes at intersections. The third paper “Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperative Systems for Intersection Collision Avoidance: Driver Assessment Challenges” describes driver behavior issues associated with the countermeasures presented in the preceding paper. Emphasis is placed on assessing driver performance and behavior with these countermeasures before the systems are fielded. Various assessment techniques are discussed in association with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The last paper, “Effects of Traffic Control Devices and Road Scenes on a Driver's Judgment of Curve Sharpness” will focus on implementation of an infrastructure system related to driver behavior.
(1) Developments in Cooperative Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems and Human Factors Implications Richard Bishop, Richard Bishop Consulting ; USA
Cooperative vehicle-highway systems offer the potential to enhance the effectiveness of active vehicle safety systems which have entered the marketplace for light vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. Cooperative intelligent vehicle-highway systems (CIVHS) offer an improved level of overall functionality. These systems are cooperative in that the vehicles can receive information from the roadway and respond appropriately, and vehicles can detect and report hazards to the roadway, for dissemination to other travelers. The systems are intelligent in that the ultimate response is determined by algorithms which weigh multiple parameters. This paper describes the results of a study to collect information on the various forms of cooperative IVHS worldwide, and assess R&D activities, deployment issues, standards development, and government policies. An extensive set of parameters which may pass between the vehicle and its external environment are listed. Potential human factors implications are identified, resulting from the emergence of these driver assistance systems into the marketplace.
(2) Infrastructure Systems for Intersection Collision Avoidance Robert A. Ferlis (Federal Highway Administration ; USA)
This paper will describe conceptual outlines of possible infrastructure intersection collision avoidance systems. The infrastructure concepts represent countermeasures for crossing path crashes at intersections.Crossing path crashes involve one vehicle cutting across the path of another, both initially traveling from either perpendicular or opposite directions, in such a way that they collide. Infrastructure-based intersection collision avoidance systems use roadside sensors, processors, and warning devices; roadside-vehicle communication devices; and traffic signals to provide driving assistance to motorists.
(3) Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperative Systems for Intersection Collision Avoidance: Driver Assessment Challenges Vaughan Inman, Ted Shafer (Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) ; USA)
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1998) data, there were 37,280 crashes that involved fatalities in 1997. Of these crashes, 8,571 were related to intersections. The fatal crashes at intersection were about evenly divided among non-controlled intersections, signal controlled intersections, and stop sign controlled intersection. In addition to fatal crashes, almost 1 million injury crashes occur at intersections annually, and there are about 1.7 million police reported crashes at intersection each year. Various programs have proposed alternative countermeasures to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities at intersections. Conventional countermeasures such as protected left turn signals are effective and fairly well understood. However, these countermeasures alone will not eliminate intersection crashes because they do not address factors such as willful and unintentional red-light and stop sign violations, gap acceptance problems associated with older drivers, and sight distance problems at intersections that may not warrant traffic signals. The Federal Highway Administration is pursuing infrastructure based ITS solutions to address crashes at intersections. Initially these solutions will not require changes to vehicles. It is anticipated that in the future, some of these solutions could be integrated into in-vehicle ITS systems to enable either in-vehicle warnings or automated crash avoidance systems. Four types of intersection-infrastructure systems are envision: (1) traffic signal violation warning, (2) stop sign violation warning, (3) traffic signal left turn assistances, and (4) stop sign movement assistance. Each of these systems is described briefly, and a preliminary list of the driver behavior issues associated with each is identified. The challenge for the design of these systems is similar to that for other areas of highway and vehicle design – how to assess driver performance and behavior with these systems before the systems are fielded. Various assessment techniques are discussed in association with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The FHWA human-centered research approach for intersection-infrastructure solutions is presented.
(4) Effects of Traffic Control Devices and Road Scenes on a Driver's Judgment of Curve Sharpness Kenta Suzuki, Takashi Uchida, Toru Hagiwara (Hokkaido University ; Japan), Takahiro Ohmi, Roberto A. Tokunaga, Motoki Asano (Civil Engineering Research Institute, Hokkaido Development Bureau ; Japan)
The effects of traffic control devices and road scene on a driver's judgment of curve sharpness were investigated by field experiments on a 12-km section of rural highway running through a hilly area in Hokkaido. The configurations of traffic control devices at 36 curves were obtained from the road maintenance database. The favorableness of the road scene was determined subjectively. Each of the six subjects drove a vehicle installed with instruments. The subject estimated the sharpness of the target curve before that curve and assessed the accuracy of that judgment subjectively after the target curve. Cluster analysis detected groupings of the 36 curves in terms of driver assessment of sharpness. The chevron sign and the curve radius had a strong positive effect in daytime and at night on judgment of the target curve. In addition, there were some dangerous curves where the subjects underestimated the sharpness before entering the curve. The chevron signs were verified as important cues in driver assessment of curve sharpness. Traffic control devices to provide information on curve depth should be installed to increase the accuracy of sharpness judgment.
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