Driver assistance systems can do more than just inform, warn or intervene – they can also cooperate with other cars.
Such cooperative assistance systems are the subject of research in the new MoSAIC Laboratory at the DLR Institute of
Transportation Systems in Braunschweig.
MoSAIC – a modular and scalable application platform for driver
assistance systems
By Julia Förster
Please change lanes now
At the MoSAIC laboratory of DLR
Braunschweig, test drivers steer cars
through a shared virtual landscape.
At first glance, it looks like an Arcade racing game: test
drivers are seated in the driving simulators at the MoSAIC Labo-
ratory, steering their cars through a shared virtual landscape.
The feeling, Gerald Temme confirms, is not dissimilar to interac-
tive video games – but the purpose of the laboratory is, of
course, entirely different. The laboratory driving simulators do
not place much emphasis on brilliant graphic renditions, but are
more concerned with traffic jams at the right time and realistic
driver behaviour. The test drivers are also less prone to sponta-
neous bursts of racing fever; they are behind the wheel to
conduct transport research. Their behaviour will be incorporated
in the development of future driver assistance systems.
The pivotal question that Gerald Temme, developer and
manager of the laboratory, poses together with his colleagues
from the fields of engineering, computer science, psychology
and ergonomics is not ‘who’s fastest?’, but rather ‘how and
when do drivers cooperate?’ Temme describes a situation that
most of us are familiar with: “You’re driving down the slow lane
of the motorway, completely relaxed, and you see a lorry far
ahead. The overtaking lane is fully occupied”. In the simulation,
the assistance system recognises this situation and it asks whether
it should create a gap. If you reply in the affirmative, it looks
for someone in the overtaking lane who would just have to
decelerate for a moment so that you can change lanes without
obstructing the flow of traffic. “The assistance system in the
other vehicle receives the query and enlarges the gap if the driver
consents. Our assistance system then gets back to us with the
report: “There is space for your vehicle; please change lanes
now.” This is the scenario considered in the European research
project D3CoS, in which the Braunschweig-based Institute is
putting the ‘cooperative lane change assistant’ through its
paces.
The MoSAIC Laboratory has offered this possibility since
2012. Its three networked driving simulators are available, in
particular, for studies relating to the socio-psychological aspects
of structured interaction – those that tackle the question of
whether drivers display greater willingness to allow others to
switch lanes if they are asked directly. “Our MoSAIC software
opens up completely new possibilities. Before MoSAIC, we
would simulate behaviour of one participant and then on the
other. But our test candidates behave differently now that they
know that real people are in the other vehicles. They even flash
their lights.”
Another project that the Institute is involved in is UR:BAN.
Among other things, it is investigating driver assistance systems
in urban traffic. Suppose that intelligent traffic lights inform
vehicles fitted with a suitable assistance system, and still at
some distance from the lights, that if they proceed at a speed
of 30 kilometres per hour, they will arrive at the signals during
a green phase; further assume that these cars decelerate from
that point. What happens to the flow of traffic? Will it change
positively or perhaps negatively? This is the type of situation
simulated in the MoSAIC Laboratory before research is carried out
using real vehicles; in Braunschweig, for instance, the ‘Applica-
tion Platform Intelligent Mobility (AIM)’ offers opportunities to
test this.
The transportation of tomorrow needs to be safe, low-
emission, energy-efficient, comfortable and free flowing.
Assistance systems can contribute to all of these goals. But
people have to want them, and sometimes it is mere details
that help their acceptance: “It could even be the mere option
of switching off a function,” says Temme. But he is not overly
concerned about the future of cooperation between mankind
and machines in the long-term: “Cars will ease the burden on
drivers by providing support or perhaps even taking over in
certain traffic situations, tailored to suit the individual needs,”
he explains, adding: “What’s important is that the driver and
the vehicles understand and trust each other.”
•
About the author:
Julia Forster, a physicist and journalist, has been working as a
freelance science journalist for 15 years. She is currently based
in Hannover.
More information:
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