THE "DARWIN" PROJECT: PROGRESS TO DATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DRIVER VISION SUPPORT SYSTEM USING FAR INFRARED TECHNOLOGY

DARWIN is a Brite EuRam III project, led by Centro Ricerche Fiat, whose objective is to develop and evaluate a driver vision support system that can help driving in conditions of reduced visibility, including darkness, fog and other types of adverse weather. The DARWIN system will use far infrared imaging technology to provide the driver with a virtual image, positioned at the base of the windscreen, of the road scene ahead. The three-year project is due to conclude at the end of 2000, with the first working prototype of the system expected to be installed in a demonstrator car by January 2000. DARWIN's activities to date have included human factors and user needs trials using a mock-up of the system on a driving simulator. The main objectives of these trials have been to assess the impact of the virtual image on driver behaviour in such conditions, to elicit volunteers' views on the usefulness and acceptability of such a device, and to obtain feedback on key parameters of the system that have been encouraging, in as much as they have indicated a high level of user acceptance among a sample of volunteer test subjects. Furthermore, they have demonstrated that the use of such a vision support system might have positive safety implications, in that volunteers have been seen to be involved in fewer collisions and have had fewer "near misses" when using the DARWIN system, they have also shown a clear tendency to leave a larger gap to the car in front with the system available. The evaluations have also provided important information on the position of the virtual image, subjects' preferred brightness levels and other key human factors issues, and this information has been utilised for the design of the forthcoming prototype of the system. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E106484.

• Corporate Authors:

  EMPHATIC VENTURES

  43 SHERIFOOT LANE
  SUTTON COLDFIELD, BIRMINGHAM,   United Kingdom  B75 5DU
• Authors:
  • Barham, P
  • Andreone, L
• Conference:
  • TELEMATICS AUTOMOTIVE 2000, HELD 11-13 APRIL 2000, BIRMINGHAM, UK. VOLUME 2: SESSIONS 5-8: TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, NAVIGATION AND COMPUTING, TELEMETRY AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
• Publication Date: 2000

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 6/16-6/24

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drivers; Fog; Image processing; Improvements; Infrared radiation; Simulation; Vision
• ITRD Terms: 1772: Driver; 2547: Fog; 8633: Image processing; 9108: Improvement; 6797: Infrared; 9103: Simulation; 2066: Vision
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00801622
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Nov 8 2000 12:00AM