PREVENTING INTERSECTION COLLISION ACCIDENTS BY INTELLIGENT MOTION CONTROL OF IN-WHEEL-MOTOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Small size electric vehicles require active safety technology to prevent road accidents as well as protect drivers and passengers from severe damages. This paper proposes an intersection collision avoidance system by automatic electric braking utilizing in-wheel-motors of electric vehicles. The proposed vehicle control system focuses on the risk assessment in consideration of pedestrians. Consequently, a risk avoidance algorithm based on Potential Fields theory is described to handle the hazardous situations which change dynamically with pedestrian motion. Finally, the effectiveness of the autonomous driving system is verified by the experiments using the micro-scale electric vehicle. The results show that the proposed autonomous vehicle can accomplish the right turn with negotiating a moving pedestrian.