Unmanned Vehicle Drives Transportation Safety

(ANSI: New York) -- What do cell phones, hot coffee, mp3 players, burritos, and toddlers have in common? Each contributes significantly to driver distraction, the leading cause of automobile accidents in the United States. With the demonstration of a new, totally unmanned vehicle at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, ANSI member General Motors aims to fortify road safety and eliminate driver error as the most common cause of crashes.

The unmanned Chevrolet Tahoe—nicknamed “Boss”—recognizes road geometry, obeys stoplights and signage, and perceives pedestrians, other vehicular traffic, and obstacles. In November, Boss navigated itself through a 60-mile urban course including traffic, busy intersections, and stop signs, earning first place in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 2007 Urban Challenge competition.

Developed by GM in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University and other partner companies, Boss uses a combination of light detection and ranging, radar, vision, and mapping/GPS systems to see the world around it.

Though the technology needed to make unmanned vehicles a reality already exists, GM estimates indicate that driverless cars will not be commercially available until 2018. But today’s vehicles already feature a great deal of intelligent, driver-assist technologies that are focused on reducing driver error.

2008 marks the third year that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have come together to host The Fully Networked Car, a workshop held at the Geneva International Motor Show. Focused on information and communication technologies for motor vehicles, this year’s event will be held on March 5–7, 2008.

Work is already underway in the standards community to support driver-assist technologies and intelligent transportation infrastructure. ISO Technical Committee (TC) 22—“Road vehicles” addresses compatibility, interchangeability and safety concerns for road vehicles and their equipment. SAE International, an ANSI member and accredited standards developer, serves as the ANSI-accredited U.S. TAG Administrator to TC 22.

In particular, TC 22 Subcommittee (SC) 3—“Electrical and electronic equipment” has focused on a number of key ICT issues, including data transmission, multiplexing, software, electromagnetic compatibility, and functional safety. The work of ISO TC 204—“Intelligent transport systems” also plays a major role in advancing technologies that bolster road safety. Responsible for communication and control systems in the field of urban and rural surface transportation, TC 204 has developed several key driver-assist standards, including ISO 17361—“Lane departure warning systems,” ISO 15622—“Adaptive cruise control systems,” and ISO 15623—“Forward vehicle collision warning systems.” The Electronic Industries Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association together serve as the ANSI-accredited U.S. TAG Administrator to TC 204.

For more information, visit http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=1702.

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