Research

VRU MAP

Researchers at VTTI and North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T) are collaborating on an innovative project sponsored by the Center for Advanced Transportation Mobility (CATM) Tier 1 UTC. The goal of the Vulnerable Road User Mobility Assistance Platform (VRU-MAP) project is to improve the safety and efficiency of mobility for people with disabilities who walk and use transit in urban and suburban environments. To accomplish this, the research team is developing an application platform that will provide highly personalized guidance using a smartphone or tablet. Unlike existing apps, this platform will provide routes that are custom-tailored to an individual's unique needs and capabilities. For example, a wheelchair user needs to avoid stairs, while a person who is frail may require a place to sit and rest at regular intervals. The platform will combine relevant personal capability information, such as stamina and ability to traverse uneven terrain, with publicly available information about route nodes, elevation changes, weather, transit, etc., along with crowd-sourced information about such factors as route impediments, facilities, and rest opportunities in order to provide personalized route guidance for users.

ROAD TRIP

Sponsored by NSTSCE and the CATM UTC, the objective of this ongoing effort is to develop and evaluate ROAD TRIP, the Rural Older Adult Driver Tailored Research-Integrated Plan. Rural areas present mobility challenges for those who live there, and these may be greatly magnified for older adults. The idea of the current effort is to identify and mitigate the driving risks of older adults in rural areas by assessing them as individuals and observing their driving using naturalistic techniques. A variety of tools and countermeasures exist today that have the potential to extend the ability of such individuals to drive their own vehicles. However, these tools have not been extended to rural older adults, nor integrated and tailored specifically to a particular individual's needs. This study's approach is to apply these and future capabilities in an integrated and systematic way based on their assessed needs. This will help to allow rural older drivers to prolong safe driving, thus assuring independence and the ability to age-in-place for as long as feasible. The ROAD TRIP program is one of the founding examples of the division's larger Giving Back initiative, where we strive to not only conduct research which saves lives, time, money and preserves the environment, but where we also hope to touch individuals' lives in a positive way.

Driver Adaptation to L2 Partially Automated Vehicle Technologies

This project evaluated driver adaptation in the hours, days, and months after the introduction of level 2 (L2) advanced driver assistance system features into the driving task. Three existing naturalistic driving study databases were analyzed: the L2 Naturalistic Driving Study, the Virginia Connected Corridor Elite Naturalistic Driving Study, and the Older Driver Naturalistic Driving Study. To best assess driver adaptation, the analysis identified three phases of exposure time to L2 features: Phase 1 (under 3 hours), Phase 2 (3 to 8 hours), and Phase 3 (over 8 hours). The results suggested that driver adaptation was present for high-risk secondary tasks, as significant increases in engagement were observed over the three phases, but only when L2 features were active. Additionally, drivers set their vehicle speed above the speed limit more frequently between Phases 1 and 2, with higher speeds set when L2 features were active as opposed to when they were inactive.

Impact of Automated Vehicle External Communication on Road User Behavior

Road users communicate with one another in various ways; for example, with hand gestures or eye contact. There is growing concern in the industry about whether highly automated vehicles (HAVs) will be able to communicate intent to other road users in the same ways, and to the same benefits, that a human can. The investigation of potential HAV external communication systems is underway by numerous stakeholders in many countries. There is a desire by many automotive OEMs to adopt a common implementation across the automotive industry to prevent road user confusion regarding signal meaning and maintaining safety on the roadways. While some systems show promise, design parameters remain that stakeholders cannot agree on and their implications are misunderstood (e.g., location on vehicle, color). This research study will evaluate these HAV external communication design parameters in dynamic settings to assess pedestrian and road users' perspectives.

Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke

In 2018 and 2019, pediatric vehicular heatstroke was the leading cause of nontraffic child fatalities in the United States, according to the safety organization Kids and Cars. VTTI has released new research sponsored by NSTSCE about technologies that are designed to prevent child hot-car deaths.

In a previous study, also sponsored by NSTSCE, researchers evaluated the common circumstances that can lead to child hot-car deaths, as well as the rear seat reminder technologies (RSRTs) currently on the market. To build on those findings, the team conducted a technical evaluation of manufacturer and aftermarket RSRTs in their latest study for three hot car death scenarios: (1) a child is knowingly left in vehicle, (2) a child is unknowingly left in vehicle, and (3) a child gains access to an unattended vehicle. Based on their findings, the team provides several recommendations for rear seat occupancy detection alert systems.

Teen Feedback Application

This project focuses on evaluating types of driving feedback for teens and their parents. The ultimate goals of this work are to optimize the effectiveness of this feedback at improving teen driver safety, and to provide useful feedback that improves parental involvement in the driving education process. To accomplish this, teen drivers participate in a one-month driving study that yields comprehensive data on several driving performance measures. This data will provide the basis for driving feedback that will be provided to teens and their parents throughout the study. (The feedback is made available on a website provided by the research team.) Two versions of incentives for teens and their parents are being evaluated along several dimensions. The effectiveness of each type of incentive is being measured by examining teen driver safety (e.g., kinematic risky driving events, speeding). The usability and acceptability of this feedback is also measured by analyzing the number of website logins and the duration of time spent on the website. Parent and teen focus groups and/or interviews are also conducted to obtain qualitative data on user preferences and acceptability.