Advanced Driver Assistance System for road environments to improve safety and efficiency

The advances in Information Technologies have led to more complex road safety applications. These systems provide multiple possibilities for improving road transport. The integrated system that this paper presents deals with two aspects that have been identified as key topics: safety and efficiency. To this end, the development and implementation of an integrated advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for rural and intercity environments is proposed. The system focuses mainly on single-carriageways roads, given the complexity of these environments compared to motorways and the high number of severe and fatal accidents on them. The proposed system is based on advanced perception techniques, vehicle automation and communications between vehicles (V2V) and with the infrastructure (V2I). Sensor fusion architecture based on computer vision and laser scanner technologies are developed. It allows real time detection and classification of obstacles, and the identification of potential risks. The driver receives this information and some warnings generated by the system. In case, he does not react in a proper way, the vehicle could perform autonomous actions (both on speed control or steering maneuvers) to improve safety and/or efficiency. Furthermore, a multimodal V2V and V2I communication system, based on GeoNetworking, facilitates the flow of information between vehicles and assists in the detection and information broadcasting processes. All this, combined with vehicle positioning, detailed digital maps and advanced map-matching algorithms, establish the decision algorithms of different ADAS systems. The applications developed include: adaptive cruise control with consumption optimization, overtaking assistance system in single-carriageways roads that takes into account appropriate speed evolution and identifies most suitable road stretches for the maneuver; assistance system in intersections with speed control during approximation maneuvers, and collision avoidance system with the possibility of evasive maneuvers. To this end, mathematical vehicle dynamics models have been used to ensure the stability, and propulsion system models are used to establish efficient patterns, Artificial Intelligence and simulation are used for experimentation and evaluation of algorithms to be implemented in the control unit. Finally, the system is designed to warn the driver if a risk is detected and, if necessary, to take control of the vehicle. The system has been implemented on a passenger car and has been tested in specific scenarios on a test track with satisfactory results. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.