Safety

Prior to the introduction of tire pressure monitoring systems, it was very difficult to perform a comprehensive study of tire pressures and tire pressure maintenance on our customer’s vehicles.  Using GM’s OnStar system and GM’s tire pressure monitoring system (which is now installed on a wide range of vehicles to meet FMVSS 138 requirements), we are able to survey a large number of customers, in real-time, on a continuous basis. This study is limited to subscribers of OnStar Vehicle Diagnostic monthly email service who have vehicles with a tire pressure monitoring system. It provides insights on the tire pressure maintenance behavior of owners relative to seasonal temperature variations, oil changes, accumulated miles, vehicle age, and vehicle type.

Chassis Electronics, General Motors

Vehicle Data Services, OnStar by GM

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The  novel  concept for multi-party management of child protection  confronts the diversities and complexities  characterizing the discipline of  motor  vehicle child  protection. The  intelligent motor vehicle child protection system is configured to provide children with an integrative protection suit, or protection envelope,  in response to  the complete cycle of operation of a vehicle. The  new concept  promotes efficient  coordination  between the involved parties,  and  the vehicle systems. It  offers to  unravel the identified child-safety paradigm and to provide a driver with real-time assistance. This is a first ever introduction of intelligence to motor vehicle child protection and discipline to the ITS world.

Safe To Ride, Inc.

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The Advanced Crash Avoidance Technologies (ACAT) program will develop a Safety Impact Methodology (SIM) tool with the capability to assess benefits of vehicle crash avoidance technologies.  Four project teams were selected to develop a SIM to assess safety benefits of the following technologies: Advanced Collision Mitigation Braking System; Lane Departure Warning Technologies; Backing Crash Countermeasures; and Forward Pre-Collision Safety Systems.  Safety impact assessment for these vehicle crash avoidance systems will utilize a combination of national crash databases; data gathered from previous projects, data that will be collected from test track and driving simulator experiments, and data that will be generated from computer simulation.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

A  plethora  of  rear  collision  avoidance  or  warning  systems  have  recently  been
developed  in  order  to  assist  drivers  in  demanding  driving  situations  and  weather
conditions. However vehicle’s controllability through human decision-making is often
sacrificed  due  to  unambiguous  interface  designs.  Our  effort  focuses  on  the
development  of  a  system  that  could  complement  human  senses  instead  of  replacing
them,  and  improve  user’s  response  times  under  adverse  weather  and  traffic
conditions. To this end we developed a prototype Head-Up Display (HUD) interface
that could effectively convey the crucial information in a timely manner. The system
was evaluated through trials with 40 users in a driving simulation environment. In this
paper  we  will  present  a  succinct  brief  overview  of  the  HUD  system  and  we  will
elaborate  on  the  relation  of  the  users’  age  with  collision  occurrence  results  derived
from  the  comparative  study  of  the  HUD  against  the  contemporary  instrumentation
panel.

University of Glasgow

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

With rapid advancement of wireless communication technologies, it has become
possible to develop cooperative systems/services where individual drivers, traffic operators
and service providers can communicate with each other.  Road-vehicle communication based
cooperative systems can be used to improve transport performances in many aspects including
safety, efficiency and environment.  This paper explores functionality and technology
feasibilities of cooperative systems/services which are focused on improving road safety.  In
addition, technical issues related to large scale implementation for such systems, as well as
related policy issues are discussed.

University of Southampton

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York