F2010D009
Benefit Analysis of an Advanced Emergency Braking System based on End User Tests in a Driving Simulator
In the recent years various new driver assistance systems were introduced into the market with the goal to increase traffic safety. Today such systems like Lane Departure Warning or Advanced Emergency Braking Systems, i.e. systems that have crash avoidance or collision mitigation respectively in focus, are no longer found in upper class vehicles only.
It is generally assumed that through such new driver assistance systems a general increase in traffic safety and therefore also an economical benefit can be achieved. Main problem in proving the benefit of these systems today is the small population due to the small number of vehicles with such systems in the field. A statistical analysis based on real world data is therefore nearly impossible. A simple analysis based on a comparison of fatalities or injuries in statistical traffic databases is therefore not meaningful.
To verify these systems' benefit there are two main approaches. First through a field test an existing system could be investigated, main advantage would be the good applicability to the real world. Studies based on driving simulators in contrast have the advantage of experimental control und comparability, in addition they minimize the risk for the test persons in case of a system failure. In addition, applicability to the real world can be improved by using a dynamic driving simulator.
Therefore at Robert Bosch GmbH for the first time a quantitative analysis study of the benefit of such a new driver assistance system through end user tests in a driving simulator was conducted. In this paper the approach used in this study shall be explained and results shall be presented.
A Predictive Collision Warning Systems consists of an intelligent warning function that warns the driver of a critical rear-end crash situation and shall initiate him to brake accordingly. Within this study in the enclosed, objectively reproducible environment of a dynamic driving simulator this function in its commercially available version of Bosch was emulated. A number of test persons were confronted with a critical driving situation, one group driving with, the other group without system support. By comparison of the drivers' behavior with and without system support respectively we could compute an estimation of the benefit of a Predictive Collision Warning System. In addition a new evaluation method for benefit of driver assistance systems was developed and applied. The results show proof of a traffic safety benefit for Advanced Emergency Braking Systems.
This abstract is supplemented by a PDF, which can be viewed here.
Session: Active Safety Issues