A rapid development of passive and active pedestrian safety systems is in progress. Using real-life accident data, this study shows that a combination of both these concepts offers a considerably increased potential for head protection compared to either of the two systems alone. The passive countermeasure considered in this study was designed to mitigate head injuries caused by the bonnet area, A-pillars, and the remaining windscreen area up to 2.1 m wrap around distance. The active countermeasure was designed to autonomously activate the brakes one second prior to impact if the pedestrian was visible to a forward-looking sensor.
Keywords:
pedestrian; head injury; integrated safety; deployable devices; autonomous braking