Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) heavy truck platform field operational test data analysis plan

Abstract

This document presents the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute’s plan to perform analysis of data collected from the heavy truck platform field operational test of the Integrated Vehicle- Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program. The purpose of the IVBSS program is to evaluate the effectiveness of, and driver acceptance for, state-of-the-art integrated crash warning systems for both passenger cars and commercial trucks. The heavy truck platform in the IVBSS FOT includes three integrated crash-warning subsystems (forward crash, lateral drift, and lane-change/merge crash warnings) installed into a fleet of ten Class 8 tractors operated by Con-way Freight. Each truck is instrumented to capture detailed data regarding the driving environment, driver behavior, warning system activity, and vehicle kinematics. Twenty commercial truck drivers from Con-way Freight are operating the Class 8 tractors for ten months in place of the trucks they normally drive. Data on driver acceptance for the integrated system are being collected through a post-drive survey and debriefings. The plan describes analyses that emphasize a summary of integrated crash warning system activity, examine how the integrated system affects driver behavior, and assess driver acceptance for the integrated system. The analyses are intended to be complementary to analyses being performed by the program’s independent evaluator, the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.