Multiple Alarms and Driving Situational Awareness

Abstract

There is increasing interest in actively mitigating safety in vehicles beyond that of improving crash worthiness. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 40,000 deaths on highways each year. This number may be decreasing with increasing active public concern and awareness for the use of safety restraints, but the numbers are still in excess of 40,000 deaths annually. Focusing on crash-worthiness as a measure of safety in vehicles will eventually reach a point of diminishing return, thus there is a need for automotive manufacturers to shift their safety focus to crash avoidance safety systems (Runge, 2002). In the public domain, significant progress and advancements have been made under the Intelligent Vehicles Initiative (IVI) set up by U.S. Department of Transportation to prevent motor vehicle crashes by assisting drivers in avoiding hazardous mistakes (U.S DOT, 1998). One IVI focus area is facilitating the rapid deployment of Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) in vehicles. Collision Avoidance Systems are a subset of Advanced Vehicle Control Safety Systems (AVCSS) which come under the umbrella of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). These Collision Avoidance Systems warn drivers of imminent collisions and can potentially help to save lives. Primary directions of research in CAS are determining implementation strategies and technologies in vehicles and roadway infrastructure, as well as optimizing the driving performance of different populations of drivers when using CAS. In CAS implementation, vehicles will communicate with other vehicles as well as with the roadway infrastructure via sensors and telecommunication networks. The data obtained can then be used in Collision Avoidance Systems. Vehicle-to-vehicle CAS include warnings that trigger when a vehicle is about to collide with another vehicle. Examples include Frontal Warning, Rear Warning and Blind Spot Detection Warnings. Vehicle-to-infrastructure CAS include warnings that trigger when a vehicle is about to have a collision with the roadway infrastructure. Examples include Intersection Warnings, Lane Departure Warnings, Curve Speed Warnings and Road-condition Warnings. Driving in a dynamic environment has become increasingly complex, such that drivers must visually track objects, monitor a constantly changing system, manage system information, to include the explosion of telematics, and make decisions in this dynamic and potentially high mental workload environment. Introducing Collision Avoidance Systems into vehicles could add to the complexity of this dynamic environment as different drivers will respond differently to Collision Avoidance Systems and there are many critical human factors issues that require investigation.