New Integrated Assistance Functions for Real World Accident Scenarios

Investigation of several accident databases consistently identified guardrail and embankment accidents as highly relevant in the context of real world accident scenarios that are not in the focus of today’s vehicle safety functions. This work demonstrates the potential of future vehicle safety functions to reduce the severity of such accidents. To achieve this, two vehicle lateral controllers are in development that assist the driver in guardrail and embankment accident situations. A Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) approach, based on a single track model, is used to stabilize the vehicle in these situations with the goal to reduce the risk of secondary collisions and a rollover of the vehicle. Simulation results demonstrate the potential of the vehicle lateral controllers to stabilize the vehicle after a guardrail collision and to keep it in a safe area next to the guardrail. It is also demonstrated that the risk of a rollover in an embankment due to erroneous driver steering can be reduced. Further research is required to investigate the influence of driver inputs to the controllers in the mentioned accident situations. It needs to be discussed how the new controllers could be incorporated in the existing and future vehicle safety architecture.