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This paper explores the potential safety performance of “Future Generation” automated speed control crash avoidance systems for Commercial Vehicles. The technologies discussed in this paper include Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), second and third generation Forward Collision Avoidance and Mitigation Systems (F-CAM) comprised of Forward Collision Warning (FCW) with Collision Mitigation Braking (CMB) technology as applied to heavy trucks, including single unit and tractor semitrailers. The research [1[ discussed in this paper is from a study conducted by UMTRI which estimated the safety benefits of current and future F-CAM systems and the comparative efficacy of adaptive cruise control. The future generation systems which are the focus of this paper were evaluated at two separate levels of product refinement, “second generation” and “third generation” systems.

The objective of this study is to develop a method that uses a combination of field data analysis, naturalistic driving data analysis, and computational simulations to explore the potential injury reduction capabilities of integrating passive and active safety systems in frontal impact conditions. For the purposes of this study, the active safety system is actually a driver assist (DA) feature that has the potential to reduce delta-V prior to a crash, in frontal or other crash scenarios. A field data analysis was first conducted to estimate the delta-V distribution change based on an assumption of 20% crash avoidance resulting from a pre-crash braking DA feature. Analysis of changes in driver head location during 470 hard braking events in a naturalistic driving study found that drivers’ head positions were mostly in the center position before the braking onset, while the percentage of time drivers leaning forward or backward increased significantly after the braking onset.

This paper focuses on the safety performance of Commercial Vehicle Forward Collision Avoidance and Mitigation Systems (F-CAM) that include Forward Collision Warning (FCW) with Collision Mitigation Braking (CMB) technology as applied to heavy trucks, including single unit and tractor semitrailers. The study estimated the safety benefits of a commercially available F-CAM system considered to be representative of products currently in service. The functional characteristics were evaluated and its performance generically modeled to estimate safety benefits. This was accomplished through the following steps: (1) first characterize the actual performance of these systems in various pre-crash scenarios under controlled test track conditions, and then reverse engineering the algorithms that control warnings and automatic braking actions; (2) developing a comprehensive set of simulated crash events representative of actual truck striking rear-end crashes.