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1. On page 111, the authors have described a method to assess driver distraction. In this method, participants maintained a white square size on a forward display by using a game gas pedal of like in car-following situation. The size of the white square is determined by calculating the distance to a virtual lead vehicle. The formulas to correct are used to explain variation of acceleration of the virtual lead vehicle. The authors inadvertently incorporated old formulas they had used previously. In the experiments discussed in the article, the corrected formulas were used. Therefore, there is no change in the results. The following from the article:

Recent field data have shown that the occupant protection in vehicle rear seats failed to keep pace with advances in the front seats likely due to the lack of advanced safety technologies. The objective of this study was to optimize advanced restraint systems for protecting rear seat occupants with a range of body sizes under different frontal crash pulses. Three series of sled tests (baseline tests, advanced restraint trial tests, and final tests), MADYMO model validations against a subset of the sled tests, and design optimizations using the validated models were conducted to investigate rear seat occupant protection with 4 Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) and 2 crash pulses.

This paper focuses on full body dynamical analysis of car ingress/egress motion. It aims at proposing an experimental protocol adapted for analysing joint loads using inverse dynamics. Two preliminary studies were first performed in order to 1/ define the main driver/car interactions so as to allow measuring the contact forces at all possible contact zones and 2/ identify the design parameters that mainly influence the discomfort. In order to verify the feasibility of the protocol, a laboratory study was carried out, during which two subjects tested two car configurations. The experimental equipment was composed of a variable car mock-up, an optoelectronic motion tracking system, two 6D-force plates installed on the ground next to the doorframe and on the car floor, a 6D-Force sensor between the steering wheel and the steering column, and two pressure maps on the seat. Motions were reconstructed from measured surface markers trajectories using inverse kinematics.

Hybrid drivetrain systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in Automotive and Commercial Vehicle applications and have also been introduced for the 2009 Formula1 motorsport season. The F1 development has the clear intent of directing technical development in motorsport to impact the key issue of fuel efficiency in mainstream vehicles. In order to promote all technical developments, the type of system (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, etc) for the F1 application has not been specified. A significant outcome of this action is renewed interest and development of mechanical hybrid systems comprising a high speed composite flywheel and a full-toroidal traction drive Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). A flywheel based mechanical hybrid has few system components, low system costs, low weight and dispenses with the energy state changes of electrical systems producing a highly efficient and power dense hybrid system.

A driving simulator capable of duplicating the critical sensations incurred during a spin, or when a driver is engaged in drift cornering, was constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and Hiromichi Nozaki of Kogakuin University. Specifically, the simulator allows independent movement along three degrees of freedom and is capable of exhibiting extreme yaw and lateral acceleration behaviors. Utilizing this simulator, the control characteristics of drift cornering have become better understood. For example, after a J-turn behavior experiment involving yaw angle velocity at the moment when the drivers attention transitions to resuming straight ahead driving, it is now understood that there are major changes in driver behavior in circumstances when simulator motions are turned off, when only lateral acceleration motion is applied, when only yaw motion is applied, and when combined motions (yaw + lateral acceleration) are applied.

Compliance with tighter emission regulations has increased the proportion of parasitic weight in commercial vehicles. In turn, the amount of payload must be reduced to comply with transportation weight requirements. A re-design of commercial vehicle components is necessary to decrease the vehicle weight and improve payload capacity. Side rails have traditionally been manufactured from high strength steels, but significant weight reductions can be achieved by substituting steel side rails with 6013 high strength aluminum alloy side rails. Material and stress analyses are presented in this paper in order to understand the effect of manufacturing process on the material's mechanical behavior. Metallographic and tensile test experiments for the 6013-T4 alloy were performed in preparation for residual stress measurements of a punching operation. Punched holes are critical to the function of the side rail and can lead to high stress levels and cracking.

The ride dynamics of typical North-American soil compactors were investigated via analytical and experimental methods. A 12-degrees-of-freedom in-plane ride dynamic model of a single-drum compactor was formulated through integrations of the models of various components such as driver seat, cabin, roller drum and drum isolators, chassis and the tires. The analytical model was formulated for the transit mode of operation at a constant forward speed on undeformable surfaces with the roller vibrator off. Field measurements were conducted to characterize the ride vibration environments during the transit mode of operation. The measured data revealed significant magnitudes of whole-body vibration of the operator-station along the vertical, lateral, pitch and roll-axes. The model results revealed reasonably good agreements with ranges of the measured vibration data.

In 2006, there were approximately 23,500 rear-end crashes involving heavy trucks (i.e., gross vehicle weight greater than 4,536 kg). The Enhanced Rear Signaling (ERS) for Heavy Trucks project was developed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to investigate methods to reduce or mitigate those crashes where a heavy truck has been struck from behind by another vehicle. Visual warnings have been shown to be effective, assuming the following driver is looking directly at the warning display or has his/her eyes drawn to it. A visual warning can be placed where it is needed and it can be designed so that its meaning is nearly unambiguous. FMCSA contracted with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) to investigate potential benefit of additional rear warning-light configurations as rear-end crash countermeasures for heavy trucks.

Diesel spray experimentation at controlled high-temperature and high-pressure conditions is intended to provide a more fundamental understanding of diesel combustion than can be achieved in engine experiments. This level of understanding is needed to develop the high-fidelity multi-scale CFD models that will be used to optimize future engine designs. Several spray chamber facilities capable of high-temperature, high-pressure conditions typical of engine combustion have been developed, but because of the uniqueness of each facility, there are uncertainties about their operation. For this paper, we describe results from comparative studies using constant-volume vessels at Sandia National Laboratories and IFP.

Driver distraction is a topic of considerable interest, with the public debate centering on the use of cell phones and texting while driving. However, the driver distraction/overload issue is really much larger. It concerns specific tasks such as entering destinations on navigation systems, retrieving songs on MP3 players, accessing web pages, checking stocks, editing spreadsheets, and performing other tasks on smart phones, as well as, more generally, using in-vehicle information systems. Five major problems related to distraction/overload research and engineering and their solutions are addressed in this paper.

Electrification of the automobile is a growing trend and will create both challenges and opportunities for the vehicle manufacturer, road network infrastructure and driver. In addition to innovative fundamental battery and power transfer technologies, electric vehicles will integrate unique driver interfaces, road intelligence, traffic awareness and wireless data communication to provide a complete support system. This networked vehicle will improve efficiency, increase cruising range and contribute to the overall driving enjoyment of an electric or plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle. Through tailored applications created by content and service providers the driver will identify the most efficient travel routes, learn efficient driving behaviors, avoid energy-wasting situations, locate charging stations and have confidence in reaching a destination and returning home.

With Ford SYNC, Microsoft Corporation and Ford Motor Company have democratized in-vehicle infotainment systems - delighting consumers and bringing a new kind of agility to the automobile industry. Built on Microsoft Auto (now Windows Embedded Automotive), Ford SYNC is a factory-installed, voice-controlled communications and entertainment system that allows drivers to converge their digital lifestyle with their life on the road. Windows Embedded Automotive is an industry leading technology platform that provides integrated infotainment features and a rich user interface. Car manufacturers and suppliers worldwide can use this software to create differentiated, infotainment in-vehicle systems that are immediately attractive to consumers.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) networks within the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) lead to safety and mobility improvements in vehicle road traffic. This paper presents case studies that support the realization of the ITS architecture as an evolutionary process, beginning with driver information systems for enhancing feedback to the users, semi-autonomous control systems for improved vehicle system management, and fully autonomous control for improving vehicle cooperation and management. The paper will also demonstrate how the automotive, telecom, and data and service providers are working together to develop new ITS technologies.

The design of a safe transportation system requires numerous design decisions that should be based on data acquired by rigorous scientific method. Naturalistic data collection and analysis methods are a relatively new addition to the engineer's toolbox. The naturalistic method is based on unobtrusively monitoring driver and vehicle performance under normal, everyday, driving conditions; generally for extended collection periods. The method generates a wealth of data that is particularly well-suited for identifying the underlying causes of safety deficiencies. Furthermore, the method also provides robust data for the design and evaluation of safety enhancement systems through field studies. Recently the instrumentation required to do this type of study has become much more cost effective allowing larger numbers of vehicles to be instrumented at a fraction of the cost. This paper will first provide an overview of the naturalistic method including comparisons to other available methods.

Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) have been implemented in the automotive industry to balance the requirements for vehicle crash safety, emissions, and fuel economy. With lower ductility compared to conventional steels, the fracture behavior of AHSS components has to be considered in vehicle crash simulations to achieve a reliable crashworthiness prediction. Without considering the fracture behavior, component fracture cannot be predicted and subsequently the crash energy absorbed by the fractured component can be over-estimated. In full vehicle simulations, failure to predict component fracture sometimes leads to less predicted intrusion. In this paper, the feasibility of using computer simulations in predicting fracture during crash deformation is studied.

Intelligent tires are envisioned to be an important part of the future vehicle control systems and the three dimensional wireless MEMS accelerometers embedded inside the tire stand out as a promising candidate for the development of intelligent tires. The first part of the paper focuses on accelerometer based tire sensors for the estimation of slip angle and tire/road friction coefficient. We use a simple tire finite element model to generate lateral, tangential and radial tire accelerations for a fixed load and slip angle. The profiles are validated by using experimental data. The simulated acceleration profiles are used for the estimation of slip angle and tire/road friction coefficient. We present the estimation algorithms, promising simulative results and output sensitivities studies focused on the effects of changes in normal load, tire pressure and vehicle velocity.

Biodistillate transportation fuels include biodiesel (produced via transesterification of animal fats and vegetable oils) and renewable diesel (produced via catalytic hydroprocessing of the same feedstocks). Production and use of biodistillates are increasing dramatically, both in the U.S. and globally. This paper describes the policy drivers prompting growth of biodistillate fuels in the U.S., Europe, and selected other countries. Trends in fuel production volumes and feedstocks supplies are presented for these fuels. Current feedstocks are dominated by soybean oil in the U.S. and rapeseed oil in Europe. However, there is much interest in developing alternative, non-edible feedstocks such as jatropha and microalgae. Currently, biodiesel is the dominant biodistillate in use, though interest in renewable diesel is increasing. This paper describes different conversion processes used to manufacture these fuels, and discusses the pros and cons of each.

Dimensional variation simulation is a computer aided engineering (CAE) method that analyzes the statistical efforts of the component variation to the quality of the final assembly. The traditional tolerance analysis method and commercial CAE software are often based on the assumptions of the rigid part assembly. However, the vehicle functional attributes, such as, ride and handling, NVH, durability and reliability, require understanding the assembly quality under various dynamic conditions while achieving vehicle dimensional clearance targets. This paper presents the methods in evaluating and analyzing the impacts of the assembly variations for the vehicle dynamic performance. Basic linear tolerance stack method and advanced study that applies various CAE tools for the virtual quality analysis in the product and process design will be discussed.

This paper describes a driving controller to improve vehicle lateral stability and maneuverability for a six wheel driving / six wheel steering (6WD/6WS) vehicle. The driving controller consists of upper and lower level controller. The upper level controller based on sliding control theory determines front, middle steering angle, additional net yaw moment and longitudinal net force according to reference velocity and steering of a manual driving, remote control and autonomous controller. The lower level controller takes desired longitudinal net force, yaw moment and tire force information as an input and determines additional front steering angle and distributed longitudinal tire force on each wheel. This controller is based on optimal distribution control and has considered the friction circle related to vertical tire force and friction coefficient acting on the road and tire.

This paper presents an integrated design method for active trailer steering (ATS) systems of articulated heavy vehicles (AHVs). Of all contradictory design goals of AHVs, two of them, i.e. path-following at low speeds and lateral stability at high speeds, may be the most fundamental and important, which have been bothering vehicle designers and researchers. To tackle this problem, a new design synthesis approach is proposed: with design optimization techniques, the active design variables of ATS systems and passive design variables of trailers can be optimized simultaneously; the ATS controller derived from this approach has two operational modes, one for improving lateral stability at high speeds and the other for enhancing path-following at low speeds. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, it is applied to the design of an ATS system for an AHV with a tractor and a full trailer.