Reducing Side-Sweep Accidents with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

• Main Authors: Gamini Bulumulle, Ladislau Bölöni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-12-01
• Series: Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks
• Subjects: side-sweep accident simulations; V2V communication; automobile blind-spots; unidirectional communications; time to change lane; simulation architecture
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2224-2708/5/4/19

Side-sweep accidents are one of the major causes of loss of life and property damage on highways. This type of accident is caused by a driver initiating a lane change while another vehicle is blocking the road in the target lane. In this article, we are trying to quantify the degree to which different implementations of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication could reduce the occurrence of such accidents. We present the design of a simulator that takes into account common sources of lack of driver awareness such as blind-spots and lack of attention. Then, we study the impact of both traditional, non-technological communication means such as turning signals as well as unidirectional and bidirectional V2V communications.