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Statement of the Problem (Updated 10/13/05)
Background
Single vehicle roadway departure (SVRD) crashes account
for approximately 20% of all types of vehicle crashes in the U.S. and, in
1994, comprised 37% of all crashes resulting in fatalities(1). Rumble strips
along the sides of highways have created a warning system that has helped
prevent SVRD accidents in the outer lanes, but currently there is no system
in place to warn people drifting between lanes on a fast highway. With the
number of people on the road growing every year, accidents due to driver
error will only increase.
The way to improve safety is to improve warning systems.
A smart car that knows when a problem is occurring would be able to warn
drivers of the problem before it happened. The system should be non-intrusive
during normal driving situations, but be effective in warning the driver when
there is a problem at hand. Proper detection of the lanes and systems to warn
drivers must be easy to use and maintain. It should be reasonably cheap compared
to the cost of the car and easily readable by all drivers.
The Design
To find a solution to this problem, we are going to create
a system that will alert a driver when they have begun to drift out of a
lane. This system will work with the
car’s directional system, so that there will be no warning if the
directional is turned on. With either
visual or audible warning, we will be able to tell the user which direction
they are drifting, eliminating the likelihood of the person swerving in the
wrong direction. With this sensory
system in place, we will be able to determine where the car is in relation to
the road, which will allow us to add many other safety features.
Deliverables of the Design Project
There are five deliverables as listed below:
- One
working prototype of the electronics and car track.
- The
following manufacturing related documentation:
- parts
list
- bill
of materials
- User’s
Manual.
- System
specification, including the design concept, block diagram, functional
description of the blocks, a system description, and any analysis done
during system design.
- Schematic
diagrams and circuit descriptions.
Work Cited
(1)J.-S.Wang and R. Knipling, “Single vehicle roadway departure
crashes:
Problem size
and statistical description,” USDOT NHTSA,Washington,
DC, DOT HS
808, Mar. 1994.
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