Safely and Effectively Communicating Non-Connected Vehicle Information to Connected Vehicles through Field- and Driving-Simulator-Based Research

The largest safety impact of connected vehicle (CV) technology will occur only when a critical mass of vehicles and infrastructure is connected. This will require significant market penetration and improvements to our infrastructure, and it is occurring at a relatively slow pace compared to autonomous vehicle technology. Until CVs are ubiquitous, strategies for communicating between CVs and non-CVs as well as with connected infrastructure will be critical in improving transportation safety. Communicating information from roadway infrastructure to CVs is key, especially for scenarios in which the line of sight of in-vehicle sensors is obstructed by other vehicles, pedestrians, buildings, etc. As part of the research project, the effectiveness of a potential warning system to communicate the presence of a likely red-light-running vehicle to the driver of a CV was evaluated. Red-light running was selected as a test scenario because non-CVs who run a red light could be detected by existing roadway infrastructure, even when not detected by sensors in CVs. The motivation for studying the effectiveness of a warning message is to provide the driver of a CV with a warning message (and the opportunity to react) prior to the point of engaging collision-avoidance features that are becoming standard in vehicles. The evaluation of the effectiveness of a warning system was conducted using a driving simulator experiment. In the experiment, participants were exposed to an imminent collision scenario with a redlight-running vehicle. The response to the scenario for a control and treatment group were studied. Participants in the control group received a warning about the potential red-light-running vehicle at the stop bar. Participants in the treatment group received a warning message displayed as a head-up display at 50 ft, 100 ft, and 150 ft from the stop bar. The warning message was accompanied by an auditory warning. A separate component of the project evaluated the feasibility of communicating the presence of a potential non-connected red-light-running vehicle to CVs using a radar-based vehicle-detection system. The feasibility of detecting red-light runners has been previously demonstrated, and the underlying data is discussed in the report. A strategy for communicating field data to dedicated short range communications units is resented