Browse Topic: Vehicle drivers
Avoiding and mitigating any potential collision is dependent on (1) road user ability to avoid entering into a conflict (conflict avoidance effect) and (2) road user response should a conflict be entered (collision avoidance effect). This study examined the collision avoidance effect of the Waymo Driver, a currently deployed SAE level 4 automated driving system (ADS), using a human behavior reference model, designed to be representative of a human driver that is non-impaired, with eyes on the conflict (NIEON). Reliable performance benchmarking methodologies for assessing ADS performance are an essential component of determining system readiness. This consistently performing, always-attentive driver does not exist in the human population. Counterfactual simulations were run on responder collision scenarios based on reconstructions from a 10-year period of human fatal crashes from the Operational Design Domain of the Waymo ADS in Chandler, Arizona. Of 16 simulated conflicts entered, 12
Despite remarkable advances in vehicle technology - enhancing comfort, safety, and automation – productivity of transportation over the road continues to decline. Stop-and-go driving remains one of the most persistent inefficiencies in modern mobility systems, leading to greater travel delays, energy waste, emissions, and accident risk. As vehicle volumes rise, these effects compound into systemic challenges, including driver frustration, unstable flow dynamics, and elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To address these issues, an extensive data-driven evaluation was performed characterizing the underlying causes of traffic instability and uncovering hidden behavioral parameters influencing traffic flow. This research led to the identification of a previously unrecognized metric - the Driver Comfort Index (DCI) - which quantifies an inter-vehicle spacing behavior that reflects intrinsic human driving behavior. Building on this discovery, mixed traffic is explored to identify its
In order to achieve fully autonomous driving, point to point autonomous navigation is the most important task. Most existing end-to-end models output a short-horizon path which makes the decision process hard to interpret and unreliable at intersections and complex driving scenarios. In this research, we build a navigation-integrated end-to-end path planner on top of an openpilot open source model. We created a navigation branch that encodes route polyline geometry, distance-to-next-maneuver, and high-level instructions and combines with path plan branch using residual blocks and feed-forward layers. By adding minimal parameters, new model keeps the original openpilot tasks unchanged and have the path output based on the navigation information. The model is trained on diverse urban scenes’ intersections, and it shows improved route performance in vehicle testing. The proposed model is validated in a Comma 3x device installed on a 2025 Nissan Leaf test vehicle. The road test results
As the adoption of electric vehicles continues to accelerate, the demand for their development and testing using chassis dynamometers has also increased significantly. Compared with internal combustion engine vehicles, chassis dynamometer testing for electric vehicles typically requires test durations several to several dozen times longer, resulting in substantially increased labor requirements. In addition, low-temperature testing is often required, further intensifying the workload associated with vehicle testing. To address these challenges, this study developed and evaluated a pedal robot designed to enable unmanned and automated testing. The pedal robot developed in this study weighs only 12 kg and can be installed within a few minutes. It is, to the authors’ knowledge, the world’s first pedal robot that mimics human driving behavior by using a single foot to operate both the accelerator and brake pedals. Unlike conventional driving robots, the actuators of the proposed system do
Autonomous vehicle navigation requires accurate prediction of driving path curvature to ensure smooth and safe trajectory planning. This paper presents a novel approach to curvature prediction using deep neural networks trained on GPS-derived ground truth data, rather than model predictions, providing a more accurate training signal that reflects actual vehicle motion. We develop a multi-modal neural network architecture with temporal GRU encoders that processes vision features, driver intent signals, historical curvature, and vehicle state parameters to predict curvature. A key innovation is the use of GPS-based actual curvature measurements computed from vehicle motion data (κ = ωz/v) as training supervision, enabling the model to learn from real-world driving patterns. The model is trained on 5,322 samples from real-world driving data collected on The University of Oklahoma’s Norman Campus using a Comma 3X device and a 2025 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. Experimental results
This paper presents a novel AI-based parking management system designed to enhance efficiency, reduce manual intervention, and optimize operational costs in modern parking facilities. By integrating computer vision with infrared (IR) sensors, the system continuously monitors parking areas in real time, accurately detecting vehicle occupancy and dynamically updating the space availability. The hybrid approach minimizes reliance on conventional sensors, improving accuracy and environmental robustness. Additional features include intelligent navigation assistance guiding drivers to available spots and integrated video surveillance for enhanced security through AI-driven suspicious activity detection. The user interface provides real-time updates ensuring a seamless and convenient parking experience. Overall, this system offers a comprehensive solution that advances parking technology through automation, real-time monitoring, and secure, user-friendly operation.
Severe rear-impact collisions can cause significant intrusion into the occupant compartment when the structural integrity of the rear survival space is insufficient. Intrusion patterns are influenced by impact configuration—underride, in-line, or override—with underride collisions channeling forces below the beltline through the rear wheels as a primary load path. This force concentration rapidly propels the rear seat-pan forward, contacting the rearward-rotating front seatback. The resulting bottoming-out phenomenon produces a forward impulse that amplifies loading on the front occupant’s upper torso, increasing the risk of thoracic injury even when the head is properly supported by the head restraint. This study analyzes a real-world rear-impact collision that resulted in fatal thoracic injuries to the driver, attributed to the interaction between the driver’s seatback and the forward-moving rear seat pan. A vehicle-to-vehicle crash test was conducted to replicate similar intrusion
Indian passenger car accident data indicates that approximately 44% of crashes are frontal impacts (Refer fig 1). Among the injuries sustained in these crashes, lower leg injuries are notably critical, contributing to nearly 25% of driver occupant injuries (Refer fig 2). To evaluate such injuries, the Bharat New Car Assessment Program (BNCAP) includes lower leg injury metrics as part of the Frontal Offset Deformable Barrier (ODB64) test. While the overall injury performance is assessed at the vehicle level, BNCAP also monitors vehicle interior intrusions—particularly pedal intrusions—as key contributors to lower limb injury severity. A major challenge in frontal crashes is the intrusion of the vehicle's front-end structure into the occupant compartment. Rigid components, particularly the brake pedal assembly, can be displaced rearward during a crash, significantly increasing the risk of lower leg injuries. Therefore, minimizing pedal intrusions into the driver foot-well is critical for
The rapid evolution of intelligent transportation systems has made drivers’ attentiveness and adherence to safety protocols more critical than ever. Traditional monitoring solutions often lack the adaptability to detect subtle behavioral changes in real time. This paper presents an advanced AI-powered Driver Monitoring System designed to continuously assess driver behavior, fatigue, distractions, and emotional state across various driving conditions. By providing real-time alerts and insights to vehicle owners, fleet operators, and safety personnel, the system significantly enhances road safety. The system integrates lightweight AI/ML algorithms, image processing techniques, perception models, and rule-based engines to deliver a comprehensive monitoring solution for multiple transportation modes, including automotive, rail, aerospace, and off-highway vehicles. Optimized for edge devices, the models ensure real-time processing with minimal computational overhead. Alerts are communicated
In-vehicle communication among different vehicle electronic controller units (ECU) to run several applications (I.e. to propel the vehicle or In-vehicle Infotainment), CAN (Controller Area Network) is most frequently used. Given the proprietary nature and lack of standardization in CAN configurations, which are often not disclosed by manufacturers, the process of CAN reverse engineering becomes highly complex and cumbersome. Additionally, the scarcity of publicly accessible data on electric vehicles, coupled with the rapid technological advancements in this domain, has resulted in the absence of a standardized and automated methodology for reverse engineering the CAN. This process is further complicated by the diverse CAN configurations implemented by various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). This paper presents a manual approach to reverse engineer the series CAN configuration of an electric vehicle, considering no vehicle information is available to testing engineers. To
In the Indian context, introduction of ADAS can play a positive role in improving road safety by assisting the driver and preventing unsafe driver behaviour. Technologies like Automated Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Keep System, Adaptive Cruise Control, Driver Drowsiness Detection, Driver Alcohol detection etc., if deployed safely and used in a safe manner can help prevent many of the current road deaths in India. Safe deployment and safe use of such ADAS technologies require the systems to operate without failure within their operational design domains (ODD) and not surprise the drivers with sudden or unpredictable failures, to help develop their trust in the technology. As a result, identifying test scenarios remain a key step in the development of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This remains a challenge due to the large test space especially for the Indian context due to the unpredictable traffic behaviour and occasional road infrastructure. In this paper, we introduce a
This paper presents the design of a cost-effective fuel injector driver designed for accelerated testing of injectors. The driver simulates injection patterns across a wide range of vehicle operating conditions and can be programmed with injection maps for different engines, test cycles based on drawing specifications, pre-defined engine running profiles, and manual control, where the user defines PWM frequency and duty cycle. It also enables remote operation through a Wi Fi access point. An injector driver-based test setup was developed to study wear and evaluate leakage tendency in an injector design. To simulate extended field usage in a short timeframe, an accelerated operating cycle was derived using telematics data. Injector samples were tested with periodic leak rate measurements. Conducting such tests at vehicle level or on engine test bench would involve significant time and cost. This setup is an effective tool for rapid comparative analysis across supplier design, enabling
In recent times, a standard driving cycle is an excellent way to measure the electric range of EVs. This process is standardized and repeatable; however, it has some drawbacks, such as low active functions being tested in a controlled environment. This sometimes causes huge variations in the range between driving cycles and actual on-road tests. This problem of variation can be solved by on-road testing and testing a vehicle for customer-based velocity cycles. On-road measurement may be high on active functions while testing, which may give an exact idea of real-world consumption, but the repeatability of these test procedures is low due to excessive randomness. The repeatability of these cycles is low due to external factors acting on the vehicle during on-road testing, such as ambient temperature, driver behavior, traffic, terrain, altitude, and load conditions. No two measurements can have the same consumption, even if they are done on the same road with the same vehicle, due to the
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