Utilizing Driving Simulators in the Development and Evaluation of Advanced Safety Systems

This paper describes research that we have conducted in developing, prototyping, and evaluating active safety systems. Because driving simulators can be used to produce a rich variety of situations that are critical to the testing of active safety systems without compromising participant safety, they may be an excellent tool in the development and evaluation of active safety systems. Specifically, we present basic research on context aware systems that can be applied to driver assistance systems; we discuss the Driver Advocate^™, an active safety system which has been implemented in our driving simulator as well as with limited functionality in a real-world vehicle; and finally, we discuss the results of evaluations of a lane change warning system and a system that can suspend phone conversations during demanding driving situations.