Challenges to Human Drivers in Increasingly Automated Vehicles

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Hancock ◽  
Tara Kajaks ◽  
Jeff K. Caird ◽  
Mark H. Chignell ◽  
Sachi Mizobuchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Road Transport ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Free Enterprise ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Critical System ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Vehicle Automation ◽  
Driver Acceptance

Objective We examine the relationships between contemporary progress in on‐road vehicle automation and its coherence with an envisioned “autopia” (automobile utopia) whereby the vehicle operation task is removed from all direct human control. Background The progressive automation of on‐road vehicles toward a completely driverless state is determined by the integration of technological advances into the private automobile market; improvements in transportation infrastructure and systems efficiencies; and the vision of future driving as a crash‐free enterprise. While there are many challenges to address with respect to automated vehicles concerning the remaining driver role, a considerable amount of technology is already present in vehicles and is advancing rapidly. Methods A multidisciplinary team of experts met to discuss the most critical challenges in the changing role of the driver, and associated safety issues, during the transitional phase of vehicle automation where human drivers continue to have an important but truncated role in monitoring and supervising vehicle operations. Results The group endorsed that vehicle automation is an important application of information technology, not only because of its impact on transportation efficiency, but also because road transport is a life critical system in which failures result in deaths and injuries. Five critical challenges were identified: driver independence and mobility, driver acceptance and trust, failure management, third-party testing, and political support. Conclusion Vehicle automation is not technical innovation alone, but is a social as much as a technological revolution consisting of both attendant costs and concomitant benefits.

scholarly journals The Way Forward for Indirect Structural Health Monitoring (iSHM) Using Connected and Automated Vehicles in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Gkoumas ◽  
Kyriaki Gkoktsi ◽  
Flavio Bono ◽  
Maria Cristina Galassi ◽  
Daniel Tirelli
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽  
Intelligent Transportation ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Civil Infrastructures ◽  
Vehicle Automation ◽  
Labor Requirements

Europe’s aging transportation infrastructure requires optimized maintenance programs. However, data and monitoring systems may not be readily available to support strategic decisions or they may require costly installations in terms of time and labor requirements. In recent years, the possibility of monitoring bridges by indirectly sensing relevant parameters from traveling vehicles has emerged—an approach that would allow for the elimination of the costly installation of sensors and monitoring campaigns. The advantages of cooperative, connected, and automated mobility (CCAM), which is expected to become a reality in Europe towards the end of this decade, should therefore be considered for the future development of iSHM strategies. A critical review of methods and strategies for CCAM, including Intelligent Transportation Systems, is a prerequisite for moving towards the goal of identifying the synergies between CCAM and civil infrastructures, in line with future developments in vehicle automation. This study presents the policy framework of CCAM in Europe and discusses the policy enablers and bottlenecks of using CCAM in the drive-by monitoring of transport infrastructure. It also highlights the current direction of research within the iSHM paradigm towards the identification of technologies and methods that could benefit from the use of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs).

scholarly journals Impact of External Human–Machine Interface Communication Strategies of Automated Vehicles on Pedestrians’ Crossing Decisions and Behaviors in an Urban Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8396
Author(s):  
Marc Wilbrink ◽  
Merle Lau ◽  
Johannes Illgner ◽  
Anna Schieben ◽  
Michael Oehl
Keyword(s):  
Urban Traffic ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Automated Vehicle ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Road Users ◽  
Vulnerable Road Users ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Vehicle Automation

The development of automated vehicles (AVs) and their integration into traffic are seen by many vehicle manufacturers and stakeholders such as cities or transportation companies as a revolution in mobility. In future urban traffic, it is more likely that AVs will operate not in separated traffic spaces but in so-called mixed traffic environments where different types of traffic participants interact. Therefore, AVs must be able to communicate with other traffic participants, e.g., pedestrians as vulnerable road users (VRUs), to solve ambiguous traffic situations. To achieve well-working communication and thereby safe interaction between AVs and other traffic participants, the latest research discusses external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs) as promising communication tools. Therefore, this study examines the potential positive and negative effects of AVs equipped with static (only displaying the current vehicle automation status (VAS)) and dynamic (communicating an AV’s perception and intention) eHMIs on the interaction with pedestrians by taking subjective and objective measurements into account. In a Virtual Reality (VR) simulator study, 62 participants were instructed to cross a street while interacting with non-automated (without eHMI) and automated vehicles (equipped with static eHMI or dynamic eHMI). The results reveal that a static eHMI had no effect on pedestrians’ crossing decisions and behaviors compared to a non-automated vehicle without any eHMI. However, participants benefit from the additional information of a dynamic eHMI by making earlier decisions to cross the street and higher certainties regarding their decisions when interacting with an AV with a dynamic eHMI compared to an AV with a static eHMI or a non-automated vehicle. Implications for a holistic evaluation of eHMIs as AV communication tools and their safe introduction into traffic are discussed based on the results.

Issues in Heavy Vehicles

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 579-579
Author(s):  
F. Renae Bowers-Carnahan ◽  
Rhonda Kinghorn ◽  
Alvah Bittner ◽  
Syd Reynolds ◽  
Anne-Marie Feyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Heavy Vehicle ◽  
Heavy Vehicles ◽  
Driver Fatigue ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Fitness For Duty ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Operational Practices ◽  
Operational Issues

The heavy vehicle industry includes medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and buses. Vehicle size, driver location relative to the road, and duration of time in the vehicle distinguish heavy vehicles from the passenger car and light truck industry. During the past decade, the industry has been changing. Technological advances, as well as political, economic, and cultural forces, have combined to create a new environment. The driver has become more important in this new environment. A driver shortage and safety issues have heightened the interest in human factors and ergonomics in the heavy vehicle industry. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight some of the current human factors research in the field of heavy vehicles. While there are many possible topics to discuss, the first two papers will address vehicle design issues and the second two papers will address operational issues. Ms. Kinghorn will discuss a technique to estimate the current population of US Truck Drivers. She proposes that some of the shortcomings of the available data, such as changes in the population over the last decade and dimensions for which no data are available, can be overcome by estimating the current truck driver population from data on the general population. Mr. Reynolds will discuss the discrepancies observed between a design eyellipse location and actual driver eye locations in a small exploratory study. He will describe the primary contributor to the discrepancy, the H-point, and suggest several other potential contributors. Ms. Feyer will discuss a study on the effects of operational practices on driver fatigue. She will compare and contrast the operational practices of various segments of the long distance passenger and freight hauling industries. Her results indicate that different strategies must be applied to the passenger and freight industries to combat fatigue, even though the causes of fatigue are the same. Ms. Freund is from the US Federal Highway Administration's Office of Motor Carriers. She will discuss their plans for research concerning truck and bus driver operational regulation. Specific areas that are of interest include proficiency testing, fitness for duty, and substance abuse. She will elaborate on the program, addressing driver fatigue and loss of alertness.

Collective Bargaining and Trade Union: A Decision Imbroglio at UPSRTC

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-243
Author(s):  
Archana Sharma ◽  
Sachin Kumar Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
State Government ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Major Player ◽  
The Government ◽  
Intention To Change

Any fundamental change in structures, processes or business operations is bound to trigger reactions from stakeholders’ perception about the intention to change. These reactions need to be addressed with due consideration to the stakeholders’ interest or else may prove detrimental to all. Resolving disputes and trade unions roles are crucial in establishing peace and safeguarding the interest of employees. Trade unions initiate dialogues, organize collective actions and use the dispute machinery for resolving conflicts to bring an agreeable solution satisfying all. Collective bargaining is a major tool towards a mutual consensus and agreement through bipartite measures. Continuous efforts at arriving at a mutual agreement may fail and resorting to the third-party intervention may hold the key to arriving at an agreeable and a peaceful end to problems. This has been demonstrated in the given case. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is a major player in roadways transportation with very low competition from private transporters. The corporation provides comfortable and economical services to the passengers and holds a monopoly position with the private operators relying heavily on infrastructure support of the corporation. The state government decided to introduce public–private partnership (PPP) model on which UPSRTC model would work. Such a move by the government was not acceptable to the unions and the employees. Major agitations and intervention of the court forced the government to withdraw some of its decisions perceived as a threat and detrimental to the corporation.

Drowning in data: Satellite oceanography and information overload in the Earth sciences

2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIK M. CONWAY
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Oceanographic Data ◽  
Access To Data

ABSTRACT In the late 20th century, remote sensing from space offered a means of resolving one of the principal challenges plaguing physical oceanographers, poor spatial sampling. But in fact, remote sensing offered an opposing problem––so much data that the traditional oceanographic institutions were not equipped to cope with it. NASA decided to resolve this problem by having the Jet Propulsion Laboratory construct an oceanographic data center at its Pasadena facility. This represents a new kind of scientific institution, whose purpose is the development, validation, and distribution of scientific data to third-party users. Since 1990, NASA has established several such facilities, each rooted in a subset of the Earth science disciplines and each making its data publicly available via the Internet. In so doing, it reversed a decades-old policy that had given an instrument's science team proprietary privileges. Agency leaders did this to expand scientific demand for NASA's capabilities, thus buttressing the agency's political support; because they believed remote sensing could enable great scientific strides; because they thought open access to data would foster competition and thus produce better scientific results; and because they believed that publicly-funded data should be public. In the process, they created a ““market”” for oceanographic data far larger than that represented by professional oceanographers.

scholarly journals Will Automated Vehicles Negatively Impact Traffic Flow?

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Calvert ◽  
W. J. Schakel ◽  
J. W. C. van Lint
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Flow ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Mixed Traffic ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Vehicle Automation ◽  
Capacity Drop

With low-level vehicle automation already available, there is a necessity to estimate its effects on traffic flow, especially if these could be negative. A long gradual transition will occur from manual driving to automated driving, in which many yet unknown traffic flow dynamics will be present. These effects have the potential to increasingly aid or cripple current road networks. In this contribution, we investigate these effects using an empirically calibrated and validated simulation experiment, backed up with findings from literature. We found that low-level automated vehicles in mixed traffic will initially have a small negative effect on traffic flow and road capacities. The experiment further showed that any improvement in traffic flow will only be seen at penetration rates above 70%. Also, the capacity drop appeared to be slightly higher with the presence of low-level automated vehicles. The experiment further investigated the effect of bottleneck severity and truck shares on traffic flow. Improvements to current traffic models are recommended and should include a greater detail and understanding of driver-vehicle interaction, both in conventional and in mixed traffic flow. Further research into behavioural shifts in driving is also recommended due to limited data and knowledge of these dynamics.

scholarly journals CURRENT TRENDS OF AUTOTRANSPORT INSURANCE IN UKRAINE

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Olena MARTSENIUK
Keyword(s):  
Civil Liability ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Liability Insurance ◽  
Insurance Market ◽  
World Community ◽  
Land Vehicles ◽  
The World ◽  
Car Insurance

The research of the article is aimed at highlighting the essence and features of the functioning of the car insurance market in Ukraine. The study found that motor insurance is associated with profound economic and social changes in society due to mass motorization, the growth of the car fleet and traffic intensity, as well as huge material losses as a result of road accidents. It should be noted that freight transport is developing quite rapidly both within the country and abroad. At the same time, an increase in the number of intercity bus transportation, excursion and tourist bus services has been established, and as a result, international motor tourism is growing. It is proved that these factors contribute to the growth of accidents, losses in the transportation of goods, increase accidents with passengers and pedestrians on highways and, accordingly, material and social losses of society, population, commercial and government agencies. It is substantiated that insurance in general and civil liability insurance, as its integral part, is an infrastructure that helps to increase the efficiency of all areas of business. This determines the importance of the development of all types of insurance in Ukraine, taking into account the process of integration into the world community. It is established that the development of insurance market in our country should be based on the study and balanced use of experience of industrialized countries with long traditions in the insurance market, legal regulation of insurers and diversification of various types of insurance. However, it should be borne in mind that the world community has invented universal means of compensation, which is the most popular type of liability insurance worldwide – is the insurance of civil liability of owners of land vehicles. It provides for the payment of monetary compensation to the victim in the amount that would be collected from the owner of the vehicle on a civil lawsuit in favor of a third party for damage to life and health, as well as for damage or loss of property due to an accident or other road – transport accident due to the fault of the insured. Given the state and prospects of motorization in our country, as well as foreign experience in insurance market, we can say with confidence that liability insurance is one of the leading areas among other types of insurance. However, in its organization and implementation there are many different problems of legal, social, economic and organizational type. Recommendations on the prospects for the development of civil liability insurance of owners of land vehicles in Ukraine are given.

scholarly journals A Vendor-Independent Mobile Health Monitoring Platform for Digital Health Studies: Development and Usability Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thijs Vandenberk ◽  
Valerie Storms ◽  
Dorien Lanssens ◽  
Hélène De Cannière ◽  
Christophe JP Smeets ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Remote Monitoring ◽  
Health Research ◽  
User Authentication ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Research Platform

BACKGROUND Medical smartphone apps and mobile health devices are rapidly entering mainstream use because of the rising number of smartphone users. Consequently, a large amount of consumer-generated data is being collected. Technological advances in innovative sensory systems have enabled data connectivity and aggregation to become cornerstones in developing workable solutions for remote monitoring systems in clinical practice. However, few systems are currently available to handle such data, especially for clinical use. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to develop and implement the digital health research platform for mobile health (DHARMA) that combines data saved in different formats from a variety of sources into a single integrated digital platform suitable for mobile remote monitoring studies. METHODS DHARMA comprises a smartphone app, a Web-based platform, and custom middleware and has been developed to collect, store, process, and visualize data from different vendor-specific sensors. The middleware is a component-based system with independent building blocks for user authentication, study and patient administration, data handling, questionnaire management, patient files, and reporting. RESULTS A prototype version of the research platform has been tested and deployed in multiple clinical studies. In this study, we used the platform for the follow-up of pregnant women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia. The patients’ blood pressure, weight, and activity were semi-automatically captured at home using different devices. DHARMA automatically collected and stored data from each source and enabled data processing for the end users in terms of study-specific parameters, thresholds, and visualization. CONCLUSIONS The increasing use of mobile health apps and connected medical devices is leading to a large amount of data for collection. There has been limited investment in handling and aggregating data from different sources for use in academic and clinical research focusing on remote monitoring studies. In this study, we created a modular mobile health research platform to collect and integrate data from a variety of third-party devices in several patient populations. The functionality of the platform was demonstrated in a real-life setting among women with high-risk pregnancies.

scholarly journals Review of Modern Vehicle Powertrains and Their Modelling and Simulation in MATLAB/Simulink

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
Attila Szántó ◽  
Gusztáv Áron Szíki
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Combustion Engines ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Matlab Simulink ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Drive Systems ◽  
Dynamics Simulations

Thanks to technological advances and environmental standards, as well as changing usage patterns, road vehicles are constantly developing. Electric and hybrid vehicles are playing an increasingly important role in today’s road transport. The most significant changes are probably in the powertrain of vehicles. The efficiency of internal combustion engines increases while their emissions continue to decline. In addition, high performance electric motors, batteries and even fuel cells play an increasingly important role in hybrid and electric vehicles. In this publication, we review the drive systems of current modern vehicles and the types and characteristics of their major components. We also review the available models and computer programs for their simulation, focusing mainly on MATLAB/Simulink applications. Based on this, we can develop our own models and simulation programs which will help us to perform different driving dynamics simulations and to compare the performance, dynamic and energetic characteristics of these powertrains and their components to each other.

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