Numerical Analysis of Tractor Accidents using Driving Simulator for Autonomous Driving Tractor

Autonomous driving of automobiles is a hot research topic in recent years. The autonomous driving tractor also has been studied in the agricultural field as well as an autonomous driving automobile. On the other hand, tractor accidents frequently occur on the farm. Tractor accident can be a major obstacle for autonomous driving tractor because farm operation by tractor would be stopped if the accident occurs. Therefore, accident analysis of tractor is very important for the development of autonomous driving tractor. In this study, numerical analysis of tractor accident was conducted using commercial driving simulator CarSim (R). Typical two accident cases, that is falling accident and overturning accident, were considered in the numerical experiments. Numerical results obtained in the study shows that the driving simulator is capable of reproducing above accident cases. Therefore, the driving simulator can be a strong platform for the research of accident analysis and autonomous driving.