Safety Operation of Autonomous Vehicles
As the use of the automated shuttle bus (ASB) continues to increase, there is a need for investigating the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. The objective of this project is to investigate crash risk associated with ASB-VRU interactions and identify the effects of the important parameters to improve safety. Computer-based simulations will be used to analyze the safety performance of ASBs and its interaction with pedestrians and bicyclists for real-world roadways. The combination of extensive simulations and use case (provided by industry partner) will identify the high-risk scenarios and address the safety of VRUs according to the NHTSA recommendations. Finally, for the unavoidable crash scenarios, the details of injury will be quantified using high fidelity human models.
- Conduct extensive computer simulations to cover a wide range of high-risk scenarios
- Provide quantitative probabilistic risk assessment of ASB-VRU interactions
- Identify key parameters affecting the ASBs’ safe operation considering the high degree of uncertainty in the ASB-VRU interactions
- For the unavoidable crash scenarios, the injury risk will be quantified using high fidelity finite element (FE) human model
- Prepare multifaceted safety recommendations and guidelines
Fig1. Probability risk assessemnt of interaction between road-users and autonomous shuttel bus
