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Citation
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Seidl M, Edwards M, Kourantidis K, Radcliffe J, Andriejauskas T, Barlow T, Soper T. 27th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV); April 3-6, 2023; Abstract #: 23-0174, pp. 17p. Washington, DC USA: US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2023 open access. |
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Abstract
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27th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV): Enhanced and Equitable Vehicle Safety for All: Toward the Next 50 Years
https://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/27/27ESV-000174.pdf
The UK government are committed to bringing forward legislation to allow the safe and secure deployment of selfdriving vehicles, as set out in the recent policy paper Connected & Automated Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK. As part of the Connected and Automated Vehicles Process for Assuring Safety and Security (CAVPASS) programme, TRL was commissioned to propose approaches to vehicle classification, and suitable technical requirements for aspects not related to the Automated Driving System (ADS). These included crashworthiness, occupant protection, protection of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), and the lighting, braking and steering systems. The initial focus of this work was on Low-Speed Automated Vehicles (LSAVs). The work involved selection and adaptation of existing pre- and post-deployment regulation to enable it to be applied to LSAVs. A main part was the adaptation of the technical regulations for M- and N-category vehicles, laid down in Great Britain's Road Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020 No. 818), which implements retained Regulation (EU) 2018/858. The study proposed the introduction of two new vehicle categories (for LSAVs with and without occupants, respectively) to allow approval of designs not compatible with the M- and N-category definitions, such as passenger shuttles with six seats and space for standing passengers, or goods vehicles without any seats. Of 132 technical items collated from the existing body of regulations, 65 were found to be generally applicable for LSAVs with occupants, and 53 for LSAVs without occupants. Technical clarifications for regulations were developed relating to references to the driver or driver's seat, controls, warnings and tell-tales and relating to bi-directional vehicles in general. The study further found that a general permission to carry standing passengers in light vehicles could present unreasonable risks to occupants in braking manoeuvres or collisions, but that it could be safe in some Operational Design Domains (ODDs). A concept was proposed which offers manufacturers a choice between two Crashworthiness Approval Levels (CALs). The less demanding CAL allows standing passengers but restricts the subsequent ODD of the vehicles. VRU impact protection was a high priority due to the expected operation in areas with a high density of pedestrians and cyclists. However, LSAV aspects such as their typically flat-fronted shape cause issues for the application of the current regulation, so modifications were proposed. Low-speed vehicles are not in widespread use today, which means no directly relevant real-world collision data was available to base safety decisions on. The guiding principle applied in this study was to provide 'at least equivalent safety', i.e. to offer safety levels relating to non-ADS aspects, which, based on the limited data available and expert judgement, are comparable to or better than those of current vehicles used in similar scenarios. This study proposes a novel approach to link approval regulations to the vehicle's ODD and a set of technical requirements for non-ADS-related aspects of passenger- and goods-carrying LSAVs, which could help enable the approval of new vehicle concepts. The proposals have been presented to the United Kingdom Department for Transport for consideration.
Language: en |