INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

1
INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

• Commercial vehicles
• Person transport
• Cabs, shuttles
• Emergency response
• Police, fire, ambulance, utility crews, tow
  trucks
• Movement of Goods
• Long haul, short haul, local delivery

2
Major Human Factors Differences Compared to
Personal Vehicles

• Envelope of operation
• Vehicle dynamics
• Workspace environment
• Driver population
• Fitness for service
• Situational awareness

3
Route Planning

• Over the road trucks, most restrictive
• Minimize distance, minimize time, route/equipment
  compatibility, federal, state, and local
  regulations
• Parcel delivery
• Scheduled route, on-call route
• Police, Emergency vehicles, Fire
• Shortest time to respond at location
• Operational Problems
• Present map systems do not contain such data

4
CVO In-Vehicle Signing Systems

• Intended to provide truck drivers with signing
  information
• Regulatory, warning, information
• Speed limits, one way, RRX, street names
• Recommended maximum speed, advisory speeds, curve
  save speeds
• Warnings when exceeding special truck speed
  limits (night limit, weight based limits, down
  slopes)
• Warnings on restriction of equipment
• Use of jake brakes
• Road loading

5
Dispatch-Driver Communication

• Truck without payload is unacceptable
• Present method
• Radios, cell phones, fax
• Driver distraction, lost communication
• ITS Requirements for a Communication System
• Message must be stored in vehicle
• Acknowledgement given to dispatcher that message
  was
• Received in truck
• Read by driver
• Human factors issues
• The usual
• Display issues
• Keyboard issues

6
ITS Warning Systems in Commercial Vehicles

• Trucks are major contributors to crashes
• In 1991 combination unit trucks represented 27
  of the heavy vehicle registrations but accounted
  for 59 of all crashes involving trucks
• Collision warning systems
• E.g. Vehicle On Board Radar (Eaton VORAD)
• Yellow light target detected
• Red light closing speed, headway unsafe
• Auditory signal Imminent collision
• Driver fitness for duty
• Fatigue, illness, other cause
• Warn about lowered state of alertness
• Physiological measures Heart rate, eye blinks
• Secondary task performance (used also in trains)
• Problem is that drivers do not understand the
  issue well
• Even if understanding the issue, drivers may
  ignore warnings

7
ITS Warning Systems in Commercial Vehicles

• Rollover warning devices
• Mechanics of rollover

8
ITS Warning Systems in Commercial Vehicles

• Rollover warning devices
• Mechanics of rollover
• Human perception of curvature
• Activation
• Intelligent highway sensors
• Vehicle borne sensors and roadway database
• Vehicle and roadway with transponders
• Method of intervention
• Warning display
• Active intervention (similar to ABS)
• Response may need to be automated into the system
• Little feedback of forces on trailer communicated
  to driver

9
Human Factors of Crashes in Curves

• Communication of curvature to driver
• Must be based on human factors principles
• Must be uniform across large region

10
Human Factors of Crashes in Curves

• Perception of Curve Sharpness
• Experiment conducted by Zwahlen and Schnell

11
Human Factors of Crashes in Curves

• Perception of Curve Sharpness
• Experiment conducted by Zwahlen and Schnell

105 of standard radius
95 of standard radius
12
Human Factors of Crashes in Curves

• Perception of Curve Sharpness
• At least four devices in driver functional visual
  field
• Spread out to indicate curvature
• Advance warning sign
• Turn sign if safe speed is lt 30 MPH
• Curve sign if safe speed is gt 30 MPH
• Use Large arrow when turn sign used

13
Physical and Cognitive Characteristics of CVO
Drivers

• Homogenous population
• CDL requirements are higher than normal driver
  license requirements
• No teens, no elderly, generally working adult age
  range
• More compliant with rules and regulations
• Alcohol, drugs less likely
• More stringent physical exams required
• Represents subset of normal driver population
• No need to specialize ITS design issues on
  limited population