ADVANCED CRUISE CONTROL AND ROAD SAFETY: A LITERATURE STUDY

ADVANCED CRUISE CONTROL EN VERKEERSVEILIGHEID: EEN LITERATUURSTUDIE

Manufacturers and dealers present Advanced Cruise Control (ACC) as a system to increase the comfort of car driving, but not as a system to increase road safety. This study presents the possible road safety effects of ACC, based on research results of recent literature. A structure was created for comparing the extreme variety of road safety effect studies. To do this, three safety levels at which effects of telematics could apply, were examined: functional safety, driver safety, and traffic system safety. The requirements and demands of the three interested parties (the general road user, the ACC user, and society as a whole) were also distinguished. Although there can be positive effects of ACC, negative effects were also found. Current ACC systems can have a favourable road safety effect if they are used on motorways outside rush hours with good visibility. An ACC advantage is that the increased comfort tires the driver less. ACC also has a moderating effect on the speed driven, and the percentage of very short headway times decreases. Moreover, driving with ACC is easy to learn and easy to use. It is worrying that the driver does not always react adequately in critical situations, or if the ACC fails. It is also, for road safety reasons, undesirable to use ACC on secondary roads and during motorway congestion. A gradual increase in the road capacity and road safety is not feasible with the current ACC systems. Drivers could be recommended to only use ACC as a support on motorways during long journeys, if one can drive calmly, and with good visibility. Public information agencies could inform the user about ACC's safe use, in which it must be emphasized that one should regularly control the system to see if it is working properly. This report may be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.swov.nl/rapport/ R-2003-24.pdf

• Corporate Authors:

  Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV

  Bezuidenhoutseweg 62
  The Hague,   Netherlands  2594 AW
• Authors:
  • HOETINK, A E
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• Dutch

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 53 p.
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: R-2003-24

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adaptive control; Autonomous intelligent cruise control; Drivers; Evaluation and assessment; Intelligent transportation systems; Longitudinal control; Safety; Speed; Telematics; Traffic; Travelers
• ITRD Terms: 1451: Adaptive cruise control; 1772: Driver; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 8735: Intelligent transport system; 1755: Road user; 1665: Safety; 5408: Speed; 8755: Telematics; 755: Traffic
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00978009
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Sep 3 2004 12:00AM