Improving Vehicle

Safety Through

Advanced

Technologies

Tim Johnson, Director, NHTSA Vehicle Research and Test Center

Fleet Technology Expo

October 18, 2016

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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) mission is:

to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic

crashes, through education, research, safety standards, and enforcement

activity.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/

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Fatalities and Fatality Rate, by Year

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010Fatalities

30,246

Fatalities Fatality

Rate

35,092

Motor vehicle crashes cost nearly $836 billion

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• Behavioral Safety

– Grants for safety programs

– High visibility enforcement

– Research on behavioral issues

– Driver education assistance

• Vehicle Safety and Fuel Economy

– Vehicle safety standards (crashworthiness and crash avoidance), fuel

economy standards

– Vehicle Safety Research – Enforcement (e.g., recalls)

– Data collection and analysis

– Consumer Information (e.g. New Car Assessment Program, etc.)

What NHTSA does

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INJURY MITIGATION MEDICAL ATTENTION

HUMAN / PRE - EVENT

SEVERITY REDUCTION PREVENTION

Volvo forward collision warning

New Technologies and The Crash Timeline

“Driver Assist” Technologies

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• 94% of police reported crashes involve some type of driver error

• Data indicates safety benefits for driver assistance systems, i.e. “smart” technologies

• Government perspective – Motivation remains strong for safety programs

• Crash problem remains – leading cause of death for some age groups

• Industry: – Integration of functions, cost reduction, and tech savvy drivers

will make it attractive for OEMs to say “yes” to advanced technologies

Advanced Driver Assist Systems:

What’s Motivating Implementation?

Safety Technologies/Systems

in PRODUCTION Today

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Electronic Stability Control

• Light Vehicle:

– Prevent crashes due to loss

of control

• Mandated via FMVSS 126

– Potential to save thousands of

lives per year

• Heavy Vehicle

– Mandated via FMVSS 136 for

tractor semi trailers and

motorcoaches

– Straight trucks and buses

• Additional research

underway

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Continental Automotive Systems USA

Forward Crash Warning and Auto Braking

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• Radar and Camera Sensors

• Provides warnings to drivers

based on closure rates

between vehicles—and can

apply brakes automatically if

driver does not react.

• Audio, visual, and haptic

warnings

• Forward Crash Warning

(FCW), Dynamic Brake Assist

(DBA), Automatic Emergency

Braking (AEB)

Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)

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• Dynamic Brake Support (LV only) – Supplements the vehicle’s brake output when the system believes that

the driver has not applied enough brake pedal force (66% of LV rear-end

crashes)

• Crash Imminent Braking (LV and HV) – Applies the vehicle’s brakes when the driver makes no avoidance

attempt (33% of LV rear-end crashes)

• Agency Actions – Voluntary agreement with LV automakers

– LV AEB proposed for the agency’s NCAP program

Heavy Vehicle Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)

Systems

• NHTSA Actively Researching AEB for Trucks

– Assess the performance of next-generation collision avoidance systems

(CAS)

– Investigate whether driver performance and overall driving behavior

changes over time while using CAS technology

– Developing Test Procedures and Performance Criteria

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Pedestrian Detection Systems

• Pedestrian Crash Avoidance/Mitigation (PCAM)

– Systems warn a driver of a potential pedestrian collision or apply

automatic emergency braking

• NHTSA activities:

– Developing safety benefit estimates

– Completing objective test procedures

Scenario Cases % All FYL Fatalities

Crossing path 115,000 84% 7,000

Right turn 2,000 1% 16

Left turn 9,000 1% 0

Parallel paths 13,000 10% 1,000

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Rear Backup Safety

• Rear Visibility/Backup Systems:

– Camera Sensors

– Final regulation issued for LVs

(all LV by 2018)

• Rear Automatic Braking Technology

– New, limited market penetration

– NHTSA activities:

• Characterizing rear automatic braking system technology performance

• Develop objective test procedure and performance criteria

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Lane Departure Warning/Lane Keeping Support

• Video camera technology detects lane markings and warns driver of unintentional

lane drift. Some systems add slight brake torque or steering assist

• Technology is commercialized in both the light and heavy duty sectors

• Agency action – LDW included in New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)

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Blind Spot Warning and Monitoring

• Blind Spot Warning and Monitoring:

–LV: typically radar-based, warns driver of presence of vehicle in the

blind spot

• Different warning schemes from different automakers (visual,

audio, haptic)

–HV: Various systems – camera and radar-based systems tested by

NHTSA

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Lateral Deviation Support

• An active version of blind

spot warning

• Functions when the driver is

making a lane change

• Presently has limited market

penetration

• Safely performing test track

evaluations requires use of a

realistic 3D surrogate POV

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Next Generation Technologies

• Alcohol Detection

• Vehicle Communications

• Highly Automated Vehicles

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Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety

(DADSS)

• Background

– Every day, nearly 30 people in the United

States die in motor vehicle crashes that

involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This

amounts to 1 death every 51 minutes

• Objectives

– Non-invasive, seamless breath-based and

touch-based technologies to measure driver

BAC and reduce incidence of drunk driving

– Measure alcohol accurately, precisely, and

reliably in a very short time so the sober

driver is not inconvenienced

– Devices intended to prevent alcohol-

impaired drivers (BAC ≥ 0.08) from driving

their vehicles

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Alcohol Detection (www.dadss.org)

Distant Spectrometry

A breath-based approach which allows measurement of alcohol in the driver’s exhaled breath, and uses carbon dioxide in breath to estimate breath dilution.

Tissue Spectrometry

A touch-based approach which

measures alcohol in tissue through

detection of light absorption at a

particular wavelength from a beam

of near-infrared light reflected

from within the driver’s tissue

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Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communications

Vehicles “talk” to each

other exchanging

information such as

vehicle size, position,

speed, heading,

lateral/longitudinal

acceleration, yaw rate,

throttle position, brake

status, steering angle,

wiper status, turn signal

status, enabling safety and

mobility applications

• High safety benefit potential – many different crash types can be addressed

• Technology: Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) at 5.9GHz

• Range: About 300 Meters

• DSRC augments or replaces onboard sensors (radar, camera, etc) 20

Crash warnings to the driver

• Intersection Movement Assist

• Left Turn Across Path Warning

• Forward Crash Warning

• Blind Spot/Lane Change

• Do Not Pass Warning (prevent head-on

collisions)

• Emergency Braking (warn driver if hard

braking ahead of them)

• Curve Speed Warning

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V2V Safety Applications

Automated Vehicles

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

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Level 5

No sustained lateral or longitudinal control Examples: • Crash

warning systems,

• ESC • AEB

Sustained lateral or longitudinal control, but not both Examples: • Adaptive

Cruise Control (ACC)

• Truck Platooning

Sustained lateral and longitudinal control • Driver responsible for monitoring driving environment and retaking control immediately Example: Tesla Autopilot

Sustained lateral and longitudinal control • Driver expected for occasional control • Driver can cede full monitoring and control authority

Sustained lateral and longitudinal control • Driver NOT expected for control • Responsibility for safe operation solely with the vehicle • Restricted to certain operating domains

Same as L4 but operates EVERYWHERE

Levels of Automated Vehicle Systems (SAE J3016)

Automated Vehicles: Research

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Human Factors Research

• Human factors evaluation of Level 2 and Level 3 automated driving concepts

• Initial human factors design principles for L2/L3

Electronic Control Systems Safety (including Cybersecurity)

• Functional safety of safety-critical automotive systems and extensions to L2-L4

• Cybersecurity threats, vulnerabilities, countermeasures assessment

System Performance Requirements

• System performance requirements framework

• Objective test procedures

Benefits Assessment

• Target crash population estimation for automated vehicles L2-L4

• Multi-modal benefits framework development

Testing and Evaluation

• Controlled test track studies

• Field operational tests

• Current Production Systems

Include (Level 2):

− Low Speed Driving Systems (traffic jam

assist)

− Highway Driving (e.g. Tesla Autopilot)

• NHTSA activities:

− Developing Performance Tests

− On-Road Field Studies to better

understanding of how drivers interact

with automated vehicle systems that

control both longitudinal and lateral

motions of the car

Automated Vehicle Technologies

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Testing Advanced Tech

3D Surrogate Vehicle

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Simulation Automated controllers

Automated Vehicles - Policy

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• Federal Automated Vehicles (FAV) Policy

– Released September 2016

www.transportation.gov/av

• 60-day public comment period

– Request for Comments (RFC) published on Sept

23, 2016

– Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0090 (Document No.

2016-22993)

– Comment period closes November 22, 2016

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Adv Tech Addresses Real World Crashes!

Vehicle Failure

1%

Control Loss

9%

Road Departure

10%

Backing

3%

Animal

5%

Pedestrian/Pedalcyclist

2% (17% fatals)

Lane Change

13%

Opposite Direction

2% (11% fatals)

Rear-End

30%

Crossing Paths

20%

Other

5%

2014 GES

Rear Visibility

Rear Auto Braking

- Forward Crash Warning

- Automatic Emergency Braking

- Emergency Braking Alert (V2V)

Intersection crash warning

(V2V)

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

Pedestrian Auto Braking

Blind Spot Warning/Avoidance

Lane Departure Warning

Lane Centering

Do Not Pass Warning (V2V)

Crosscutting Technologies:

Automated Vehicles

Alcohol Detection

V2V/V2X communications

Future Vision: The Vehicle That Doesn’t Crash

Onboard Sensors + VtoV communications

enables 360 degree awareness for the vehicle

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Thanks for your Attention!

• Contact Information

– Tim Johnson, NHTSA

– Ph: 937-666-3310

– E-mail: tim.johnson@dot.gov

– www.nhtsa.gov

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