Potential Regulatory Approaches For Occupant Safety In Automated / Autonomous Vehicles With Unique Seating Configurations – Part 2: Interior Safety Sensing and Messaging Proposals

This paper contains Part 2 of a three-part paper series proposing potential regulatory approaches for occupant safety in Automated / Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) with unique seating configurations (stagecoach and campfire seating). Part 2 focuses on interior safety sensing, associated messaging, and ride control approaches both prior to and during a ride. Assessments are also proposed after significant vehicle braking and crash events. The proposed conditions are to be assessed in a static vehicle environment with people segmented by occupant size and an infant dummy. On the vehicle seat and on the vehicle floor occupant detection conditions are proposed along with restraint usage detection conditions for vehicle seatbelt usage, Child Restraint Seat (CRS) usage, CRS seatbelt usage, and Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system usage. These conditions may be detected by sensors / computer algorithms and human monitoring and thus are technology agnostic. The topics of animal detection and cargo detection are also discussed. Part 1 of this paper series proposed using interior safety sensing as a replacement option for the FMVSS-208 unbelted occupant compliance conditions. This paper proposes the replacement conditions which involve seatbelt restraint usage detection. This evaluation approach strives to prevent unbelted occupants and is an improvement over restraint countermeasures for unbelted occupants. This paper also discusses and proposes visual and audible safety messaging for prior to the ride occupant education and for the resulting occupant and restraint usage detection outcomes. Vehicle level ride control actions are suggested such as preventing a ride when improperly restrained occupants are detected. These approaches can be used in industry-wide regulatory next step contemplation and deliberation for unique interior seating arrangement AVs. When adopted, these approaches would likely reside in an expanded version of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 (FMVSS-208) Occupant Crash Protection.