Field effectiveness of general motors advanced driver assistance and headlighting systems.

This study examined the field effectiveness of General Motors advanced driver assistance and headlighting systems. A total of 8,311,707 Model Year 2013-2019 vehicles were matched to police-reported crashes from 12 states. The quasi-induced exposure method was used to compare system-relevant and system-irrelevant (control) crash counts for equipped and unequipped vehicles.

Direction coding using a tactile chair.

This laboratory study examined the possibility of using a car seat instrumented with a tactile display to communicate directional information to a driver. A car seat fitted with an 8 x 8 matrix of vibrators embedded in the seat pan was used to code eight different directions. Localization response time and angular accuracy were examined as a function of stimulus direction, presence of a tactile attention cue, temporal pattern, stimulus layout, age, and gender.

Lane change behavior with a side blind zone alert system.

This in-traffic study explored the effect of a side blind zone alert (SBZA) system on driver lane change behavior. Such a system may help drivers avoid lane change crashes by warning them with a side mirror display when a vehicle is detected in their blind zone. Participants drove with and without the SBZA system enabled, and were instructed to evaluate vehicle ride characteristics and only given an "incidental" system explanation.

Toward developing an approach for alerting drivers to the direction of a crash threat.

Objective: This study explored the potential for auditory and haptic spatial cuing approaches to alert drivers to the direction of a crash threat.

Background: For an automobile equipped with multiple crash avoidance systems, effective cuing of the crash threat direction may help the driver avoid the crash. Because the driver may not be looking in the direction of a visual crash alert, nonvisual crash alerts were explored as an additional means of directing attention to a potential crash situation.

Time-to-collision judgments under realistic driving conditions.

Objective: This study examined perceived time to collision (TTC) with automobile drivers under realistic approach, rear-end crash scenario conditions.

Background: TTC refers to the time before impact if prevailing conditions continue.

Method: In this test track study involving 51 drivers ranging from 20 to 70 years old, the driver's vision was occluded at either 3.

Design and evaluation of a prototype rear obstacle detection and driver warning system.

This study, concerned with the development of driver interface criteria for a rear obstacle detection system, assessed the appropriateness of alternative warning timing algorithms and evaluated various interface approaches for presenting warning information to drivers. Interface testing used a minivan and a passenger sedan equipped with a prototype rear obstacle detection system. Two different warning timing algorithms and four different interface conditions were examined.

Developing an inverse time-to-collision crash alert timing approach based on drivers' last-second braking and steering judgments.

Drivers were asked to execute last-second braking and steering maneuvers while approaching a surrogate target lead vehicle. This surrogate target was designed to allow safely placing naive drivers in controlled, realistic rear-end crash scenarios under test track conditions. Maneuver intensity instructions were varied so that drivers' perceptions of normal and non-normal braking envelopes could be properly identified and modeled for forward collision warning timing purposes.