Benefits

Safety

Safety Problem Imagine
  • 33,963 deaths/year.
  • Direct economic cost of $230.6 billion.
  • Leading cause of death for ages 4 through 34.
  • Your vehicle can “see” vehicles you can’t see.
  • Your vehicle informs you of roadway conditions and hazards that you can’t see.
  • Your vehicle knows the speed and location of approaching vehicles.

IntelliDriveSM safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness and reduce crashes through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) data transmission that supports driver advisories; driver warnings; and vehicle and/or infrastructure controls.

Results of a recent high-level NHTSA analysis of the potential of V2V and/or V2I to address crash types indicate that V2V has the potential to address a large proportion of crashes involving unimpaired drivers. In imminent crash situations, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology is uniquely capable of addressing forward collisions and lane change/merge collisions. At very high market penetration levels V2V can also be effective for intersection collisions.

Imagine the number of crashes that might be averted if vehicles were equipped with the following V2V applications, which are currently being explored by a consortium of vehicle manufacturers in partnership with the U.S. DOT:

  • Blind Spot Warning, which warns a driver when they try to change lanes if there is a car in the blind spot.
  • Forward Collision Warning, which alerts and then warns a driver if they fail to brake when a vehicle ahead of them is stopped or traveling radically slower.
  • Electronic Emergency Brake Lights, which notifies driver when a vehicle ahead that they can’t see is braking hard for some reason.
  • Intersection Movement Assist, which warns the driver when it is not safe to enter an intersection—for example when something is blocking a driver’s view of opposing traffic.
  • Do Not Pass Warning, which warns the driver if they attempt to change lanes and pass when there is a vehicle in the opposing lane within the passing zone.
  • Control Loss Warning, which warns the driver when they are about to lose control of the vehicle.

Minimizing driver distraction is a major factor in the design of all IntelliDriveSM applications, whether the application is for safety, mobility, weather or the environment. It is important to remember that well designed IntelliDriveSM applications can reduce driver distraction by alerting drivers to hazards that they may not see, or to which they have failed to respond. The ITS Strategic Research Plan includes a research program to study driver distraction issues specific to IntelliDriveSM. In addition to sponsoring research targeted at an increased understanding of driver behavior and enhanced driver assistance technologies, this program will develop interface guidelines. Based on user-centered design, the guidelines will steer development of new IntelliDriveSM products and applications to leverage new technology by reducing driver distraction.

V2I is uniquely suited to address intersection and road departure crashes around sharp curves

Further research is required to explore V2I application development, testing, and validation of effectiveness. The V2I research program in the ITS Strategic Research Plan includes just such research. Stakeholders are particularly interested the potential to equip traffic signals with DSRC communications to emit a frequent message about signal status — which is termed “SPaT” (signal phase and timing) — the equivalent of a traffic signal “Here I Am” message.

Intuitively, SPaT data appears to provide the basis for several applications that would support safety and mobility. Additionally, it may provide early benefits for infrastructure-based technologies and spur their implementation.

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