The vision of accident free driving:​ how efficient are we actually in avoiding or mitigating longitudinal real world accidents

Schittenhelm, Helmut

Affiliations

Abstract

Advanced technologies in environmental sensing, situational perception and new actuators that allow individual situational based interventions in braking, steering or controlling the chassis characteristics are giving new option for the enhancement of automotive safety. Especially primary and pre-crash safety systems profit from these new opportunities and their potentials. The vision of an “accident free driving” was born. In a first wave advanced systems for mitigating or avoiding longitudinal accidents were developed and were actually penetrating into the market. Therefore the question of the safety benefit that is achievable with these systems in real world accidents arises. The paper tries to find an answer for actual Mercedes-Benz primary and pre-crash safety systems.

Primary safety systems are designed to help to avoid accidents or, if that is not possible, to stabilize respectively reduce the dynamics of the vehicle to such an extent that the secondary safety measures are able to act best possible. The effectiveness is a measure for the efficiency, with which a safety system succeeds in achieving this target within its range of operation in interaction with driver and vehicle. Based on Daimler’s philosophy of the “Real Life Safety” the reflection of the real world accidents in the systems range of operation is both starting point as well as benchmark for its optimization.

Development objective for primary safety measure is the avoidance of accidents. But avoided accidents are not contained in an accident data base. Thus the efficiency of a primary safety measure in contrast to a secondary safety measure can not be determined directly from accident data. Up to now, the effectiveness of a primary safety system has usually been determined in retrospect, through changes in the accident statistics, or prospectively by appropriate tests such as, for example, driving simulator tests with test persons or driving tests in the field e.g. naturalistic driving studies. All methods have advantages, but also disadvantages. Challenge is to extract components needed and reassembling them in a new method to be able to estimate the safety benefit of the advanced systems usually consisting of warning and reacting components. This paper discusses the future requirements on these components, their establishment and on the accident data and its collection.

This paper deals with the methodology to perform assessments of statistical representative efficiency of primary safety measures. To be able to carry out an investigation concerning the efficiency of a primary safety measure in a transparent and comparable way basic definitions and systematic were introduced. Based on these definitions different systematic methods for estimating efficiency were discussed and related to each other. The paper is completed by estimating the safety benefit in real world accidents of purchasable Mercedes-Benz safety systems for assisting the driver in longitudinal accidents.

Links

URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv/esv21/09-0510.pdf

Cited Works (3)

Year	Entry
2003	Schöneburg R, Baumann K-H, Justen R. PRE-SAFE: the next step in the enhancement of vehicle safety. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 19-22, 2003; Nagoya, Japan.
2009	Seeck A, Gail J, Sferco R, Otte D, Hannawald L, Zwipp H, Bakker J. Development of the accident investigation and data handling methodology in the GIDAS project. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 15-18, 2009; Stuttgart, Germany.
2005	Schoeneburg R, Breitling T. Enhancement of active & passive safety by future PRE-SAFE® systems. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 6-9, 2005; Washington, DC.

Cited By (11)

Year	Entry
2011	van Rooij L. Effect of various pre-crash braking strategies on simulated human kinematic response with varying levels of driver attention. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 13-16, 2011; Washington, DC.
2013	Anderson R, Doecke S, Mackenzie J, Ponte G. Potential benefits of autonomous emergency braking based on in-depth crash reconstruction and simulation. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2013	Schittenhelm H. Advanced brake assist: real world effectiveness of current implementations and next generation enlargements by Mercedes-Benz. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 27-30, 2013; Seoul, South Korea.
2015	Page Y, Fahrenkrog F, Fiorentino A, Gwehenberger J, Helmer T, Lindman M, op den Camp O, van Rooij L, Puch S, Fränzle M, Sander U, Wimmer P. A comprehensive and harmonized method for assessing the effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems by virtual simulation: the P.E.A.R.S. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2015	Cutcliffe H, Brolin K, Östh J, Ólafsdóttir JM, Davidsson J. Gender differences in occupant posture and muscle activity with motorized seat belts. In: Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). June 8-11, 2015; Gothenburg, Sweden.
2013	Ólafsdóttir JM, Östh JKH, Davidsson J, Brolin KB. Passenger kinematics and muscle responses in autonomous braking events with standard and reversible pre‐tensioned restraints. In: Proceedings of the 2013 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 11-13, 2013; Gothenburg, Sweden.602-617.
2011	Jermakian JS. Crash avoidance potential of four passenger vehicle technologies. Accid Anal Prev. May 2011;43(3):732-740.
2017	Cicchino JB. Effectiveness of forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking systems in reducing front-to-rear crash rates. Accid Anal Prev. February 2017;99(pt A):142-152.
2012	Östh J, Brolin K, Carlsson S, Wismans J, Davidsson J. The occupant response to autonomous braking: a modeling approach that accounts for active musculature. Traffic Inj Prev. 2012;13(3):265-277.
2015	Östh J, Brolin K, Bråse D. A human body model with active muscles for simulation of pretensioned restraints in autonomous braking interventions. Traffic Inj Prev. April 3, 2015;16(3):304-313.
2014	Östh J. Muscle Responses of Car Occupants: Numerical Modeling and Volunteer Experiments Under Pre-Crash Braking Conditions [PhD thesis]. Götenburg, Sweden: Chalmers University of Technology; 2014.