TNO Developing
Models to Optimize Automated Driver Assistance Systems
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| IVsource.net appreciates this submittal
from Dr. Bart van Arem, a veteran researcher of driver assistance
and automated highway systems. The driver behavior and traffic flow simulation
tools they are developing could be a valuable piece of the driver assistance
implementation puzzle, allowing researchers to get a handle not only on
the safety and convenience benefits to the driver, but also on the public
benefits in terms of better traffic flow. TNO is a wide-ranging research
entity that performs investigations for the Dutch government and for private
and foreign interests. …Ed.
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The new generation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that is likely to follow the introduction of Adaptive Cruise Control will not only assist the driver in free flowing traffic conditions but will also support driving in congested traffic. From the point of view of traffic efficiency and safety, the development of these systems would benefit from deeper insight into all kinds of dynamic phenomena in (nearly) congested traffic flow ... including the behaviour of drivers in these circumstances. Although traffic engineers and scientists have been examining traffic flow and driver behavior for decades, a generally accepted theory describing the complex dynamic phenomena in traffic flow is not yet available. Such a theory would aim to consistently describe driver behavior in unstable traffic, using microscopic and macroscopic models of collective traffic dynamics. The Netherlands Organisation of Applied Research (TNO) and the TRAIL Research School for Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics have started a joint research project in which a consistent model of driver behaviour and traffic flow will be developed, validated, and applied to ADAS. The model focuses specifically on traffic flow before, during, and after the emergence of congestion (at different types of bottlenecks) with the special purpose of identifying opportunities to influence the properties of traffic flow by means of ADAS. Overcoming Human Limitations With the results of this project a new methodology can be developed for designing the functionality of ADAS systems – possibly for mixed traffic with and without the ADAS equipment – from the viewpoint of traffic safety and efficiency, rather than for the comfort of drivers only. Starting from the properties of driver behaviour and traffic flow that cause the instabilities in dense traffic, the leverage points of ADAS systems can be identified. With the traffic flow model, requirements for the ADAS system can be generated so that the shortcomings of human driving in those circumstances are overcome. Smoothing Shock Waves The expected effect of the introduction of the ADAS functionality at different penetration levels can also be analyzed by examining the adapted driver behaviour and traffic flow model. For example: from the new insights into the transition of freely flowing traffic to congestion, it may appear that instability is caused by the limited anticipation capacity of humans due to a limited range of vision. The ADAS system should then support anticipation to traffic conditions X meters ahead, for example, by automatically and gradually braking at an early stage. This may prevent an emerging "shock wave" from growing, thus delaying the transition to congested traffic. The four year research project, which started in January 2000, is carried out by two PhD students with expertise in traffic flow theory and cognitive psychology, respectively, under the supervision of the University of Technology Delft and the University of Groningen, as well as TNO. [Top] |
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For more information ... ... contact Dr. Bart van Arem at TNO Inro: bar@inro.tno.nl or visit the TNO website: www.tno.nl. [Top] |
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