Autonomous Vehicle Simulation Model to Assess Potential Collisions to Reduce Severity of Impacts

Autonomous vehicle safety has received much attention in recent years. Autonomous vehicles will improve road safety by eliminating human errors. However, not all automotive collisions can be avoided. A strategy needs to be developed in the event when an autonomous vehicle encounters an unavoidable collision. Furthermore, the vehicle will need to take responsibility for the safety of its occupants, as well as any other individuals, who may be affected by the vehicle’s behaviour.
This paper proposes a control system to assist an autonomous vehicle to make a decision to reduce the risks to occupants potentially involved in highway motorway collisions. Before any decision can be made, the potential collisions need to be assessed for their effects. A quick and numerical method for evaluation of impact of potential collisions was developed. Assessing the Kinetic Energy of the vehicles before and after collisions is proposed as a method to assess the severity of collisions. A simulation model developed calculates the kinetic energy values and recommends an autonomous vehicle the motorway lane to drive into to cause the least severe collision impact. Different scenarios are defined and used to test the simulation model. The results obtained are promising and in line with the decision made by the subject expert.