D1.1 Description of future relevant crash scenarios and load case requirements – Abstract

This deliverable addresses the complex landscape surrounding the introduction of automated vehicles (AVs) in mixed traffic environments. It navigates through studies, research findings, safety regulations and potential impacts, highlighting the evolving dynamics of road safety and the challenges associated with the integration of autonomous driving systems.

Despite advances in automated vehicles, accidents are still inevitable due to the co-existence of human-driven and automated vehicles. This creates the need to identify critical accident scenarios and improve legal requirements and testing methods. The focus is broadening to the European Union's Vision Zero, with an emphasis on compatibility between different vehicle types and research into crash-tolerant structures that can withstand different impact angles.

Extensive research and projects form the backbone of these efforts. Literature evaluations, previous projects such as OSCCAR and SAFE-UP as well as data from comprehensive accident databases are used to develop suitable innovative approaches. Key objectives include the development of standardised virtual test methods, the synthesis of future mixed traffic scenarios and the generation of diverse and critical driving scenarios. The integration of human and automated interactions in simulation platforms leads to the generation of critical scenarios that expand our understanding of potential accident scenarios.
Over 90% of road accidents in Europe are attributed to human error. The transformative potential of AVs to mitigate these accidents through advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is being explored. However, the coexistence of human-driven and automated vehicles on the same roads creates new safety challenges. As we move towards mixed traffic scenarios, the deliverable and previous research projects highlight the need for improved safety measures.

An in-depth analysis of frontal crash safety regulations is presented, highlighting international standards such as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in the US and the European standard ECE R-94. These regulations provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating frontal impact protection in various configurations, including full-width, offset and small overlap tests. The discussion highlights the importance of these regulations for the design of vehicle structures to protect occupants in various impact scenarios and the need to adapt these crash configurations for future regulatory requirements and consumer protection requirements.
Another section of the deliverable looks at a study conducted by Waymo, a pioneer in autonomous driving technology. The study simulated the performance of their autonomous driving system in fatal collisions and offers insights into the potential effectiveness of AVs in preventing or mitigating various crash scenarios. The study examines the different roles of crash causers and crash avoiders, and the results suggest that AVs have significant potential to improve road safety, particularly in rear-end collisions, left-turn collisions, and head-on collisions.

Finally, the paper looks at crash reconstruction pipelines, which recreate past crashes as simulations to investigate future safety methods. By using automated means, these pipelines increase efficiency and address the challenges posed by limited data availability. The integration of automated accident reconstruction into safety assessments will revolutionise the evaluation of new safety technologies.