Time
Duration
In the urban tapestry where vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians weave a dynamic flow, blind spots create dangerous gaps in this interplay, leading to accidents that are often fatal. This project proposes a visionary solution: a vehicular communication system (V2V) that connects the unseen dots. Vehicles will share real-time data about obscured pedestrians and cyclists, enabling drivers to receive early warnings and respond proactively, thereby weaving a safer communal space on the roads. This innovative approach holds the potential to significantly reduce blind spot accidents, even before autonomous driving becomes the norm.
Team
UX designer, researcher
Individual
2 Weeks
2022. 11
My Role
Individual
Traffic reports indicated that there was an average of 30 to 40 blind spot accidents per year, about five of which were fatal. After a quick study on traffic accidents, I noticed four scenarios that happen at a high rate. In these scenarios pedestrian or cyclist suddenly break out of blind spots.
Scenario 1
Pedestrians or cyclist appear between the cars next lane, while the driving is driving at a speed. The cars next lane blocks from the driver and pedestrians from seeing each other.
Scenario 2
Pedestrians or cyclist appear behind cars of the opposite lane. The cars in the opposite lane may travel at a low speed or remain stationary, so they block the pedestrians behind them. While the car is approaching, the driver could not spot the pedestrians.
Scenario 3
These accidents known as a T-bone accident, may happen at intersections where one vehicle making a left or right turn . The cars in the next lane may block the vision, so the driver could not see the car merging with the traffic from other direction. Both drivers from different directions may not see each other and may cause a side collision.
Scenario 4
This scenario is similar to T-bone accident. In this case, the vehicle from the side merges with the traffic of the opposite side. The two vehicles may not spot each other when there’s another vehicle between them. Side collision usually happens in this scenario.
As the sensors could only recognize the objects around the vehicle, so the driving assist system could not detect the potential accidents in the scenarios above. These scenarios often take place in europe where streets are narrow, and developing countries where traffic is chaos and people don’t have a good awareness of road safety. The key solution would lies in sharing the road information between vehicles, the system identifies a potential accident, and alert the driver in advance.
Working process
Step 1:
The nearby vehicle detects the pedestrian through its sensors. Modern cars are installed with cameras and sensors to improve the safety and convenience of human-driven vehicles. The sensors and cameras are designed to help drivers percept surrounding environment.
Cameras
High-resolution digital camera are installed to visualize their environments. These cameras are installed in strategic points on the car to give a wide view and cover blind spots. These points are usually the front grille, under the side mirrors, and the rear end of the car.
Mmwave Radar
Mmwave radar emit radio waves in known directions with radar transmitters. Reflected waves that return to a car’s radar receiver help the car derive a about environmental objects like the objects’ angles, ranges, and velocities.
Lidar
Lidar, also known as 3D laser scanning, is a tool that cars use to scan their environments with lasers. Lidar uses the speed of light to calculate distances to objects. Lidar systems enable self-driving cars to detect small objects with high precision.
Step 2:
The V2X system shares the road info with nearby vehicles, Vehicular communication systems enable the communication between vehicles, it is a computer network in which vehicles and roadside units are the communicating nodes, providing each other with information, such as safety warnings and traffic information. The 5G based V2V network plays an important role in the data transfer. OBU (on-board unit) is a key device that in charge of the V2V communication. It transmit and collect data from surrounding environment.
Step 3:
The nearby vehicle detects the pedestrian through its sensors. Modern cars are installed with cameras and sensors to improve the safety and convenience of human-driven vehicles. The sensors and cameras are designed to help drivers percept surrounding environment.
There are 3 options to present the alert to the driver, the cluster, the infotainment screen and the HUD (Heads up display).
Cluster
Infotainment system
HUD
1.3D render on cluster or infotainment screens
The environment of the road is displayed on the driving assist interface on the cluster or infotainment screen. The 3D rendered model help driver to learn about the surroundings. The traffic participants that are visually blocked could be seen on the screen, the system will highlight the traffic participants if it detects a potential accident, and alert driver to take actions.
2. Alert flashes on HUD
When the system detects the unseen traffic participants which could be a potential threat to the road safety, the HUD flashes the alert on the windshield. The alert mark the position of the traffic participants so the driver is clear of how the accident might happen.
In this scenario, a pedestrian is trying to cross road, he is located in front of the van. The driver could not see the pedestrian. A icon of pedestrian is flashed on the windscreen.
In this scenario, a car is coming out of the alley, trying to turn into the main road. The car is located in front right side of the grey SUV. The driver could not see the car. A icon of car is flashed on the windscreen.
3. Traffic participant silhouette on HUD
Instead of giving icon alert on the windshield, the second HUD plan highlights the silhouette of the traffic participants. The driver could directly sense the position of the unseen traffic participants in 3d environment.
The silhouette of the pedestrian is highlighted. The position of the pedestrian is clearly displayed.
The silhouette of the car coming out of the alley is highlighted. The driving could sense the position of the car.
Reference :
https://medium.com/@yohannan/v2v-communication-protocol-the-three-pillars-of-autonomous-vehicles-c9ff2b333bfc
https://medium.com/@brianrusseldavis/the-dangers-of-vehicle-to-vehicle-v2v-communication-5059c422280d
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/wcmc/2019/1708437/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8838867/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8838867/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35808514/
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