26. Emergency Steering Systems – Controllability Investigations with the Vehicle in the Loop

Emergency steering interventions are the progression of existing emergency braking functions and subject to current research initiatives like UR:BAN (Manstetten et al., 2013) [1]. Such systems are designed to potentially prohibit accidents, even if it is too late to brake to a standstill. Otherwise, such interventions with a lateral component introduce new challenges to controllability assessment. The Vehicle in the Loop (VIL) is a combination of a test track vehicle and a driving simulation offering new methodological access to controllability aspects (Berg & Färber, 2015) [2].

Two studies are discussed in which controllability aspects of emergency steering systems are investigated with the VIL. The driver-system interaction at emergency steering interventions is subject of the first investigation. Especially when system interventions could cause collisions with obstacles on the opposite lane, drivers can adjust the steering interventions appropriately to the driving situation. These results were observed in both test track vehicle and VIL, which suggests the VIL to be a valid testing environment for the investigation of emergency ADAS. The second experiment considers aspects of emergency steering systems from the perspective of opposing traffic. This approach shows the collision avoidance potential of other road users with automatic steering interventions that are not appropriate to the driving situation and provides clear limitations for the functional design of such systems.