Driving Assistance

From Capsil Wiki

Disclaimer: This Wiki is a work in progress and it has not yet been evaluated through a process of external review. No responsibility is accepted for errors or omissions or for any loss or damages which may result from the use of the information contained in the Wiki.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Issues 3 Justification 4 Related Elderly Aspects 5 Enabling Technologies 5.1 Research 6 Funding 7 Commercial Products 8 Players 9 Gaps In technology 10 Future Vision 11 References 12 Navigation

Introduction

Assisted driving systems are a type of safety or extra-sensory device that provide various types of support to drivers, ranging from unobtrusive displays providing useful information to systems that directly control the steering of the vehicle. Part of maintaining an active elderly life is driving. In places where public transit is well developed, this need may be lessened, but in most locations, the loss of driving privileges can be crushing to an elderly person. Often, it can bring about feelings of loss of independence.

One excellent example of Driving Assistance systems is that of the Anti-lock Braking System, or ABS, available on most modern cars. By pulsing the brakes to prevent the locking of wheels, ABS has been shown to greatly reduce stopping distances on most surfaces. These types of systems could serve elderly drivers by providing support to the areas elderly people often suffer a loss of visual and aural acuity and motor skills.

In general, these systems are broken up in to one of three categories; Passive, Partial Control, and Full Control systems. Essentially, they are broken up based on how much direct influence they have on the driver. Passive systems simply provide the driver with more information than are normally receiving, but have no physical actuation. Partial and full control systems on the other hand involve the system directly influencing the maneuvering of the vehicle, i.e. velocity and steering.

Issues

The topic of elderly drivers is one often debated. However, the issues involved with assisted driving systems are not only limited to those of elderly rights. There are a number of concerns associated with assisted driving systems:

• Systems should not actuate the vehicle in such a way that injures the driver. This includes the steering wheel and pedals.
• Some drivers will feel a loss in confidence and perhaps embarrassment at needing the system.
• Some systems may provide real-time tracking of the vehicle for monitoring purposes. Additionally, some systems may monitor health conditions of the driver. This information should be kept confidential.

Justification

Under test conditions commercially available Driving Assistance systems have shown to improve driver safety and even reduce the number accidents.

• Drivers are often unaware of how to use Driving Assistance systems properly, or are lulled into a false sense of security, leading to reckless driving assuming that the system will cover their mistakes.
• For systems involving communication between vehicles, it is necessary for all vehicles to have the system implemented.

Related Elderly Aspects

• Activity Monitoring

Enabling Technologies

Research

Research in Driving Asssitance systems and intelligent transportation systems is being conducted by universities and institutes the world. Some prototypical exmaples are:

• Kuroki et al. ^[1] - Multimodal cruising assist system that uses wide angle cameras and an in-dash display to enhance visibility for drivers.
• Kamal et al ^[2] - Using fuzzy logic and driver modeling, the system detects/avoids abnormalities in driving as preventive measure against accidents.
• Mutoh et al ^[3] - This system avoids traffic accidents by mutually communicating with other vehicles using camera vision, wireless networking, and GPS .
• Tsugawa et al ^[4] - wireless networking, camera vision, inter-vehicle communication Elderly driver assistance system which assists driver using cooperative driving between two vehicles.

Funding

There are a variety of funding sources and projects currently available in this field. Some examples are: Japan:

• National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology
• New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

Commercial Products

There are a variety of Driving Assistance systems available on modern vehicles, such as ABS, ESC, and TCS. Recently, various systems have been developed to help avoid collisions or to help mitigate damage when a collision is deemed unavoidable. Common elements involve the priming of braking systems and the tightening of seat belts just prior to collision.

Players

Most major automobile manufacturers are involved in the development of Driving Assistance systems.

Gaps In technology

• Wireless networking approaches often require the installation of system specific antenna. The scale required for a viable system makes this unfeasible. A standard for pan-national networking, or systems that use already existing wireless communication antennas, is needed before systems requiring wireless networking are realistically possible.

• Vision systems often have a trade-off of speed vs. accuracy. For Driving Assistance systems, both are necessary. Faster hardware as well as algorithms are required in order for real-time, accurate vision systems to be usable.

• Obstacle detection sensors such as laser range finders and millimeter wave radar have become increasingly accurate, however, there is still room for improvement. Again, there is a trade-off between speed and accuracy.

Future Vision

The ultimate goal for Driving Assistance systems would be one that not only monitors the attention and condition of the driver, but also monitors navigation, road condition, and the presence of obstacles. The system could ensure the driver is paying attention to the road and could detect if the driver is having physical complications. Navigation could be monitored via GPS or wireless networking. Not only could the real-time position be monitored by loved ones, but the system could notify the driver if they have strayed from a desired course. This could also incorporate updates about inclement weather or adverse road conditions. Finally, the system would ideally monitor surrounding obstacles and take action to avoid collisions when possible. In the event a collision is unavoidable, the system would prepare the vehicle for an impact, reducing the risk to the driver.

References

1. ↑ Kuroki, Y., Okino, T., Haraikawa, T., Sakane, Y., and Takebayashi, Y. 2007. Multimodal Cruising Assist to Enhance the Drivers' Abilities to Perceive Surrounding Contexts Using Panoramic Presentation with Dynamic Multiple Windows. In Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE international Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (March 19 - 23, 2007). PERCOMW. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, 429-434.
2. ↑ M.A.S. Kamal, T. Kawabe, J. Murata, and M. Mukai, Driver-Adaptive Assist System for Avoiding Abnormality in Driving, Proc. of the 2007 IEEE Conference on Control Applications, Singapore, Oct. 2007
3. ↑ Mutoh, N.; Sasaki, Y.; Kusatani, M., "A Driver Assisting System for Eco-Vehicles with Motor Drive Systems Which Avoids Collision with Running Vehicles by Using Inter-Vehicle Communications," Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, 2007. ITSC 2007. IEEE , vol., no., pp.508-513, Sept. 30 2007-Oct. 3 2007
4. ↑ Shin Kato, Naoko Minobe, Mayumi Kawai, Sadayuki Tsugawa, Driver Assistance System with Cooperation between Vehicles - A Proposal and Fundamental Experiments -, Proceedings. JSAE Annual Congress S0434A, VOL. 53-05, pg. 7-12 (2005)

Navigation

• Back to Interventions
• Back to Main Page