This document presents results from the light-vehicle and heavy-truck field operational tests performed as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program. The findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to examine the effect of a prototype integrated crash warning system on driver behavior and driver acceptance. Both platforms included three integrated crash-warning subsystems: forward crash; lateral drift; and lane-change/merge crash warnings. The light-vehicle platform also included curve-speed warning. The integrated systems were introduced into two vehicle fleets: 16 light vehicles and 10 Class 8 tractors. The light vehicles were operated by 108 volunteer drivers for 6 weeks, and the heavy trucks were driven by 18 commercial-truck drivers for a 10-month period. Each vehicle was instrumented to capture detailed data on the driving environment, driver behavior, warning system activity, and vehicle kinematics. Data on driver acceptance was collected through post-drive surveys and debriefings. Key findings indicate that use of the integrated crash warning system resulted in improvements in lane-keeping, fewer lane departures, and increased turn-signal use. Both the passenger car and commercial drivers accepted the integrated crash warning system and benefited from improved awareness of vehicles around them. No negative behavioral-adaptation effects of using the integrated system were observed in either driver group.

This report presents the methodology and results of the independent evaluation of a prototype integrated crash warning system for light vehicles as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems initiative of the United States Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation System program. The system integrates rear-end crash, curve-speed warning, lane change crash, and lane departure warning functions. The goals of the independent evaluation are to assess the safety impact, gauge driver acceptance, and characterize the capability of the integrated safety system. The evaluation is based on naturalistic driving data collected from a field operational test using 108 subjects who drove 16 passenger vehicles equipped with a prototype integrated safety system and a data acquisition system. The test subjects accumulated over 213,000 miles during a 12-month period throughout parts of southeast Michigan. For each driver, the test period was divided into a 12 day baseline condition with the system disabled and a 28 day treatment condition with the system enabled to compare the effect of the system on driving performance. The results of the analysis suggest that driving with the integrated safety system improves driver behavior and increases driver safety, that drivers feel that the system provides a safety benefit, and that the system alerts had a high degree of accuracy. This report delineates the methodology of the different analyses and discusses their results.

This document presents key findings from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to examine the effects of a prototype integrated crash warning system on driving behavior and driver acceptance. The light-vehicle platform included four integrated crash-warning subsystems (forward-crash, lateral-drift, lane-change/merge crash, and curve-speed warnings) installed on a fleet of 16 passenger cars and operated by 108 randomly-sampled drivers for a period of six weeks each. Each car was instrumented to capture detailed data on the driving environment, driver behavior, warning system activity, and vehicle kinematics. Data on driver acceptance was collected through a post-drive survey, debriefings and focus groups. Key findings indicate that use of the integrated crash warning system resulted in improvements in lane-keeping, fewer lane departures, and increased turn-signal use. The research also indicated that drivers were slightly more likely to maintain shorter headways with the integrated system. No negative behavioral adaptation effects were observed as a result of drivers' involvement in secondary task behaviors. Drivers generally accepted the integrated crash warning system and 72 percent of all drivers said they would like to have an integrated warning system in their personal vehicles. Drivers also reported that they found the blind-spot detection component of the lane-change/merge crash warning system to be the most useful and satisfying aspect of the integrated system.

"This report presents the methodology and results of the independent evaluation of a prototype integrated crash warning system for light vehicles as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems initiative of the United States Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation System program. The system integrates rear-end crash, curve-speed warning, lane change crash, and lane departure warning functions. The goals of the independed evaluation are to assess the safety impact, gauge driver acceptance, and characterize the capability of the integrated safety system. The evaluation is based on naturalistic driving data collected from a field operational test using 108 subjects who drove 16 passenger vehicles equipped with a prototype integrated safety system and a data acquisition system. The test subjects accumulated over 213,000 miles during a 12-month period throughout parts of southeast Michigan. For each driver, the test period was divided into a 12 day baseline condition with the system disabled and a 28 day treatment condition with the system enabled to compare the effect of the system on driving performance. The results of the analysis suggest that driving with the integrated safety system improves driver behavior and increases driver safety, that drivers feel that the system provides a safety benefit, and that the system alerts had a high degree of accuracy. This report delineates the methodology of the different analyses and discusses their results."--Technical report documentation page.

This document presents the plan for conducting a field operational test (FOT) of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program. The plan describes the work that will be performed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute using 16 passenger cars and 10 commercial trucks equipped with an integrated crash avoidance system. The purpose of the IVBSS program is to evaluate the suitability of a state-of-the-art integrated crash warning system for widespread deployment in the U.S. passenger car and commercial truck fleet. Both platforms have three integrated crash-warning subsystem systems (forward crash, lateral drift, and lane-change/merge warnings); the light-vehicle platform also has a fourth subsystem, curve-speed warning. For the light vehicle portion of the FOT, lay drivers will operate test vehicles in place of their own personal cars for a period of six weeks. Commercial-truck drivers from a commercial fleet will operate heavy trucks in place of the Class 8 tractors they normally use as their work vehicles. All vehicles will be instrumented to capture information regarding the driving environment, driver activity, system behavior, and vehicle kinematics. Driver information will be captured through a series of subjective questionnaires, focus groups, and debriefing sessions to determine driver acceptance and to gain insight for improving future versions of integrated crash warning systems.

"This report presents results from a series of on-road verification tests performed to determine the readiness of a prototype integrated warning system to advance to field testing, as well as to identify areas of system performance that should be improved prior to the start of the field test planned for 2009. Data was collected from tests conducted on public roads using an International 8600 heavy truck equipped with the prototype safety system. The prototype system provides forward crash warning (FCW), lane change merge (LCM), and lane departure warning (LDW) functions managed by an arbitration function to address multiple crash threats. The objectives of the on-road tests were to operate the heavy truck in an uncontrolled driving environment to measure the system's susceptibility to nuisance alerts, assess alerts in perceived crash situations, and evaluate the system availability. Test results revealed significant improvement in system performance throughout the series of tests conducted between September 2007 and March 2008. Based on positive results from the track-based verification tests conducted in February and these on-road test, it was recommended that the heavy-truck platform proceed to field testing in Phase II. Adjustments to alert timing were recommended to further reduce the number of FCW and LDW nuisance alerts."--Technical report documentation page.