Publication

In 2004, the US police reported 6 million light vehicle crashes that resulted in an estimated  loss of 2.8 million functional years at a cost of $120 billion. The statistics can be found in “Pre-Crash Scenario Typology for Crash Avoidance Research” (DOT HS 810 767) from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), also called “37 crashes report”. The report is a good starting point when proposing research work for future active safety systems, because the report can be used as a guide to limit the scope of a new project to manageable proportions. Also, it helps to estimate the effectiveness of the proposed technology. The car industry is striving hard to find technical solutions to be able to offer crash mitigation systems in future car products. Those solutions must fulfil a variety of legal, technical and economical requirements before introduction onto a mass market. This project had its focus on Intersections. Chalmers review of the Crash statistics shows that the most frequent accidents in urban crossing are: “straight crossing path“, “left turn over the path – opposite direction” and “left turn over the path – crossing direction”. The speeds involved are relatively low, normally below 50 km/h for both vehicles involved in the crash. A self propelled target vehicle has been designed which is able to run at 50 km/h and follow the paths described above. Since the steering design is based on following a plastic profile which is “glued” on top of the ground it gives the possibility to design most driving paths documented, provided that the available space is enough to achieve the target speeds. The Target Vehicle weight was set to max 50 kg to allow for impacts without any danger to either the Test Vehicle or the Driver. In order to reach such a low weight, an inflatable design has been chosen. However, the final weight of the Target Vehicle was 90 kg. A redesign is ongoing to reduce weight. The Target Vehicle is controlled by an on-board computer and an electric motor, rated at 11kW. Power is provided by a Li-Pol battery. Remote control from the control room is provided via wireless network (WiFi). The software is developed in LabView 8.6. The Test Vehicle is normally also controlled by an on-board Driving Robot to provide the best synchronization between the Target Vehicle and the Test Vehicle. Two scenarios have been implemented and documented by video.