Narrowing the Focus

1.  Creating a system that allows the driver to digest more information allowing him/her to make better decisions at intersections.

-empowering the driver through this information, ie. the car lights up internally when pedestrians are around, increasing the presence of pedestrians

2.  Increasing the awareness of the pedestrian by manipulating the environment so that he/she becomes more sensitized to make better decisions at intersections.

-ie. the external part of the car tells the pedestrian whether the driver is speeding up or slowing down

-ie. the crosswalk lights as pedestrians cross

3.  Creating a system that increases the driver and pedestrian communication during difficult visibility, ie. night-time and dusk

Note:  during our meeting Friday we addressed the driver and pedestrian responsibilities on the road and perhaps another issue we could look at would be environmental structures, ie sidewalk space and using lighting systems to act as interface between the driver and the pedestrian.  

4.  Sidewalks, crosswalks, and intersections can be used as an interface to increase the communication between the driver and the pedestrian. 

What do you think of this angle?  We feel it hasn't been addressed in anybody's group yet and could get really creative... manipulating the environment of the intersection 

Volvo Researches Locust Swarms

Volvo is looking at locust swarms for inspiration on how to protect pedestrians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKvMtcFgaU

Intelibeam

Intellibeam system consists of a digital light sensor that is located in a separate module that is mounted to the back of the inside rearview mirror.

The digital sensor detects light, not vehicle movement.

The Intellibeam system will turn OFF the high beam headlamps when other vehicles' headlamps or taillights are detected by the digital sensor.

Intellibeam modulates the high beam headlamps by gradually fading the high beam headlamps ON or OFF.

In the illustration above, vehicle "A" headlights are in the sensing area of Intellibeam (dashed green line), so the sensor will command the module to dim the high beams. When the oncoming vehicle reaches point "B" the high beams will come on again. When the sensor detects taillights like those on car "C", it will also turn off the high beams. (Click on the picture to get a better view)

Adaptive Front Lighting Through Diagrams

Two Images from the First Week

These images are from the first week we met in New York. I thought they were strong images we should keep in mind throughout our research.

Head-up Display

I stole this information from another groups blog, food for thought:

A head-up display, or HUD, is any transparent display that presents data without requiring the user to look away from his or her usual viewpont. The origin of the name stems from the user being able to view information with their head "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments.

Although they were initially developed for military aviation, HUDs are now used in commercial aircraft, automobiles, and other applications

Audi Side Assist System

This systems is great for our focus - intersections. If we could find a way to use this technology for the safety of pedestrians. Please take a look at this video it is brilliant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HkeApU0kxs

Dusk

I am reading a report and I am not done reading it. One important fact I learned was that most accidents happen between 12:00 – 18:00. I believe we should look further into this. The natural lighting at dusk can be very tricky for drivers. It is a problem I have heard many drivers in the US complain about. It is heard to distinguish objects because all the colors become very similar to one another (grey).

google: Deliverable 5.2: In-depth Accident Causation Data Study Methodology Development Report

Rinspeed (Future Cars)

http://www.rinspeed.com/pages/content/frames_e.htm

Rinspeed is a concept car company based in Switzerland. They have very entertaining videos about new cars.

Please take a look at the video for SQuba, there is a section in the video that deals with pedestrian safety that is beneficial and will help us look further into the future.

Research Results - ADAS

ADAS –
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

"The research area on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems comprises driver needs and acceptance of in-vehicle support systems and the evaluation of the effects of such systems on driver behaviour, traffic safety, flow and environment.

The main types of applications that are being looked into are support systems for speed and distance keeping within the framework of various European projects, such as SASPENCE/PReVENT, PROSPER, MASTER and national Swedish trials on ISA – Intelligent Speed Adaptation.

The research area on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems comprises driver needs and acceptance of in-vehicle support systems and the evaluation of the effects of such systems on driver behaviour, traffic safety, flow and environment."

Examples of such a system are:

* In-vehicle navigation system with typically GPS and TMC
for providing up-to-date traffic information.
* Adaptive cruise control (ACC)
* Lane/road departure detection/warning system
* Lane departure warning
* Lane change assistance
* Collision warning system
* Intelligent speed adaptation or intelligent speed advice (ISA)
* Night vision
* Adaptive light control
* Pedestrian protection system
* Automatic parking
* Traffic sign recognition
* Blind spot detection
* Driver drowsiness detection
* C2C communication
* Hill descent control



Conclusion: Need for Pedestrians:

The only ADAS, which helps to protect pedestrian ist the Pedestrian Protection System, which is only helpfull in case of a crash but not preventing. There are allready some good existing ADAS which help preventing crashes with other cars, which could be adepted to pedestrian safety too:

* Adaptive light control - also for corners for not just seeing the street
but also the pedestrians crossing the street

* Night vision - Or "Heat Vision" for pedestrians

* C2P communication - Interaction between cars and pedestrians


Referred to:
ADAS @ Wiki (eng)
ADAS @ LUND University
ADAC (ger)
eSafety (eng)
eSafety Videos (ger & eng)

Research Results - Pedestrians

Research Topic 1

Variety of Injured Body Locations

fig 1: »The street accident of the Pedestrian«,
by M. Weinreich, Springer Verlag, 1979, p.2

- Most injured persons have one particular injury - 41,8%
- the most common injury is located at the legs - 16,5%
- second most injury is at the head (isolated skull brain trauma) - 16,2%
- third most injury is the isolated arm fracture - 4%
- one quarter of the persons have combinations of injuries (complex injuries)
- most common injury is here the head- leg- combination - 8,1%

Here you can download the whole PDF (German).



Research Topic 2

Scene of an Accident

»More than one third of the accidents occur in the area of hubs, whether or not on T-junctions, Crossroads or Intersection points«

cf. Dr. Dieter Ellinghaus & qualified engineer Jürgen Steinbrecher, page 22


fig 2: »Pedestrians - a Special Problematic Group of Traffic Participants«, by order of the Uniroyal-Engelbert-Inc., Aachen, By Dr. Dieter Ellinghaus & qualified engineer Jürgen Steinbrecher, IFAPLAN, Köln/Aachen, 1992, p.22

The PDF »Pedestrians« (Download Number 17) contains very good information about the age of injured people, the kind of streets where accidents happen, the location of the accidents (more midtown or extramural), or the different conditions of weather. It is unfortunately in German.


My Conclusion

During my research I realized that one of the major scene of accidents are hubs, which include T-junctions, Crossroads or Intersection points (fig.2). Because of this our group will focus on these situation.
Besides I discovered statistics about the major injured body locations, which will help us to develop different approaches to safe the body of the pedestrian in different accident situations.

Other References:

PDF about Traffic Accidents from the Statistical Federal Agency Germany (German)

Federal Highway Research Institute Germany (German)

Traffic Accident Research of the Insurancies (German)

Skype Conclusions (Sept 22th)

Intersections are areas that most pedestrian/vehicle accidents occur.

We would like to continue exploring scenarios pedestrian vs. car vs. environment.

We would also like to look at increasing the safety of pedestrians crossing at intersections.

This may entail making the car more sensitive to pedestrians and increasing communicating between the car and pedestrian.

We are still looking at driver visibility. (what the driver cannot see)

In the next week we will research further into these subjects of interest, and post a summary of our research.

Skype Conclusions (Sept 22th)