Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System arbitration of heavy truck driver-vehicle interface (DVI) warnings

Abstract

The Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program is a four-year, two phase cooperative research program conducted by an industry team led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The program goal is to integrate several collision warning systems into one vehicle in a way that alerts drivers to potential collision threats with an effective driver vehicle interface (DVI), while minimizing the number of excessive warnings presented to the driver. Basic program strategies for meeting this objective include systematically managing and prioritizing all information presented to the driver, minimizing the number of system false alarms, and restricting auditory alarms to higher urgency collision conditions. This report describes the methods and results associated with the integration and arbitration of DVI messages for the IVBSS heavy-truck program. The goals of message integration and arbitration were to 1) support a timely and appropriate response from the driver; 2) avoid contributing to driver errors, distraction, confusion, or information overload; and 3) support the development of an accurate and functional mental model of the IVBSS by the driver.