The ‘frontal lobe’ project: A double-blind, randomized controlled study of the effectiveness of higher level driving skills training to improve frontal lobe (executive) function related driving performance in young drivers

The current study was undertaken in order to evaluate the effectiveness of higher level skills training on safe driving behaviour of 36 teenage drivers. The participants, who attended the Driver Training Research camp in Taupo (NZ) over a two week period, were 16 to 17 years old and had a valid restricted driver licence. The study focused on four main aims. Firstly, the behavioural characteristics of the sample and their attitudes to risk taking and driving were examined. Results showed that speeding was the most anticipated driving violation, and high levels of confidence were associated with a higher number of crashes and a greater propensity for risk taking. Many, often male participants, also rated their driving skills as superior to others and thought they would be less likely than others to be involved in an accident. Secondly, the relationship between driving performance and executive functioning, general ability and sustained attention was evaluated. Overall, better driving performance and more accurate self-evaluation of driving performance was related to higher levels of executive functions, in particular, working memory, and cognitive switching. In addition, higher general ability and greater ability to sustain attention were also linked to better performance on the driving related assessments. The third focus of this study was to compare the effects of both, higher level and vehicle handling skills training on driving performance, confidence levels and attitudes to risk. While both types of training improved direction control, speed choice and visual search, along with number of hazards detected and actions in relation to hazards, statistically significant improvement on visual search was seen only after higher level skills training. Vehicle handling skills training significantly improved direction control and speed choice. In addition, confidence levels in their driving skills were significantly lowered and attitudes to speeding, overtaking and close following had improved significantly in the participants after the higher level driving skills training. The final aspect to this study was to examine the effects of the training over the following 6 month period based on self-reported driving behaviour. The response rate of participants however, was not sufficient to reach any meaningful conclusion on any long-term training effects. A pilot study using GPSbased data trackers to assess post-training driving behaviour revealed some promising results for future driver training evaluation studies. The overall implications of the results are discussed in relation to improving the safety of young drivers in New Zealand

Security and Safety-Based Parking Area Monitoring System

Security became a major concern these days in parking areas. Nowadays vehicles are rapidly increasing due to the rapid increase in parking traffic. Vehicle-safe parking has become a serious problem for organizations and Universities. Some vehicles do not register them legally or utilize the license plates of other vehicles. Those license plates can be used to determine the identification of a vehicle accused of committing a crime around the organization. So only detecting the number plate as the Vehicle identification at the parking entrance is not safe. For that proposing a novelty-based Smart Parking Area Monitoring System to overcome this problem. Here, train the vehicle model using the neural network transfer learning technique to identify the vehicle model and classify the vehicles. The entrance of the organization detects and compares the vehicle models with number plate details and operates the barrier system based on the vehicle’s authorization status. Nowadays parking systems detect wrong-parked vehicles using sensors in every parking slot. It is very costly and not efficiently working. This research proposes a wrong parking detection system by using only the CCTV cameras of parking areas. Here using Yolo object detection and OpenCV line detection algorithms to detect parking slots and wrong-parked vehicles

Experiences in teleoperation of land vehicles

Teleoperation of land vehicles allows the removal of the operator from the vehicle to a remote location. This can greatly increase operator safety and comfort in applications such as security patrol or military combat. The cost includes system complexity and reduced system performance. All feedback on vehicle performance and on environmental conditions must pass through sensors, a communications channel, and displays. In particular, this requires vision to be transmitted by close-circuit television with a consequent degradation of information content. Vehicular teleoperation, as a result, places severe demands on the operator. Teleoperated land vehicles have been built and tested by many organizations, including Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The SNL fleet presently includes eight vehicles of varying capability. These vehicles have been operated using different types of controls, displays, and visual systems. Experimentation studying the effects of vision system characteristics on off-road, remote driving was performed for conditions of fixed camera versus steering-coupled camera and of color versus black and white video display. Additionally, much experience was gained through system demonstrations and hardware development trials. The preliminary experimental findings and the results of the accumulated operational experience are discussed

Parking assistance for embedded platforms

ADAS 'Rear View Compact' is a system that aims to assist the driver in parking and reverse maneuvers, providing visual information space, objects around the vehicle, visual and audible warnings of possible collisions. The module that will be developed in this project is a subsystem that reliably and accurately detect a free parking space and displays the image of this parking space on the vehicle screen. This project will develop an algorithm from which the available parking space will be detected. The development of the system will be carried out with an embedded development platform based on Nvidia, a 'fisheye' lens camera and automotive hardware.Since the lens of the camera used in this project causes a great distortion in the image, different calibration methods will also be carried out to correct the distortion.ADAS 'Rear View Compact' és un sistema que té com a objectiu ajudar al conductor a les maniobres d'estacionament i de marxa enrere, proporcionant un espai d'informació visual, objectes al voltant del vehicle, avisos visuals i audibles de possibles col·lisions. El mòdul que es desenvoluparà en aquest projecte és un subsistema que de forma fiable i precisa detecta una plaça d'estacionament lliure i mostra la imatge d'aquest espai d'estacionament a la pantalla del vehicle. Aquest projecte desenvoluparà un algoritme a partir del qual es detecta la plaça d'aparcament disponible. El desenvolupament del sistema es durà a terme amb una plataforma de desenvolupament integrat basat en Nvidia, una càmera de lent 'fisheye' i amb maquinari d'automoció. Atès que la lent de la càmera utilitzada en aquest projecte causa una gran distorsió en la imatge, es duràn a terme diferents mètodes de calibratge per corregir la distorsió.ADAS 'Rear View Compact' es un sistema que tiene como objetivo ayudar al conductor en las maniobras de estacionamiento y de marcha atrás, proporcionando un espacio de información visual, objetos alrededor del vehículo, avisos visuales y audibles de posibles colisiones. El módulo que se desarrollará en este proyecto es un subsistema que de forma fiable y precisa detecta una plaza de estacionamiento libre y muestra la imagen de este espacio de estacionamiento en la pantalla del vehículo. Este proyecto desarrollará un algoritmo a partir del cual se detecta la plaza de aparcamiento disponible. El desarrollo del sistema se llevará a cabo con una plataforma de desarrollo integrado basado en Nvidia, una cámara de lente 'fisheye' y con hardware de automoción. Dado que la lente de la cámara utilizada en este proyecto causa una gran distorsión en la imagen, se llevarán a cabo diferentes métodos de calibración para corregir la distorsión

A Comprehensive Approach to WSN-Based ITS Applications: A Survey

In order to perform sensing tasks, most current Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on expensive sensors, which offer only limited functionality. A more recent trend consists of using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for such purpose, which reduces the required investment and enables the development of new collaborative and intelligent applications that further contribute to improve both driving safety and traffic efficiency. This paper surveys the application of WSNs to such ITS scenarios, tackling the main issues that may arise when developing these systems. The paper is divided into sections which address different matters including vehicle detection and classification as well as the selection of appropriate communication protocols, network architecture, topology and some important design parameters. In addition, in line with the multiplicity of different technologies that take part in ITS, it does not consider WSNs just as stand-alone systems, but also as key components of heterogeneous systems cooperating along with other technologies employed in vehicular scenarios

Driver-Vehicle Interactions in 4WDs: A Theoretical Review

With the escalating number of four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles present on Australian roads, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the factors contributing to 4WD crashes. While 4WDs and other cars often differ in their performance characteristics, it is also possible that there are differences in driver-vehicle interactions which go beyond performance characteristics and relate more to social and personal perceptions. This paper reviews the theoretical approaches and concepts that may be used to understand the relationship between drivers and vehicles. It is noted that in recent sociological and psychological literature the conceptualization of driving has varied across multiple theoretical approaches. Some have constructed driving as a set of social practices, embodied dispositions, cybernetic associations and physical affordances, while other approaches have constructed the vehicle as a territory, and the vehicle as an extension of the driver (Dant, 2004; Fraine, 1999; Sheller, 2004). This review will discuss how these constructs may be applied to 4WD driver behaviour. Further, it will provide suggestions for methodology for future studies that aim to enhance knowledge of 4WD driver behaviour and the factors which contribute to 4WD crashes

Agreeing to Cross: How Drivers and Pedestrians Communicate

The contribution of this paper is twofold. The first is a novel dataset for studying behaviors of traffic participants while crossing. Our dataset contains more than 650 samples of pedestrian behaviors in various street configurations and weather conditions. These examples were selected from approx. 240 hours of driving in the city, suburban and urban roads. The second contribution is an analysis of our data from the point of view of joint attention. We identify what types of non-verbal communication cues road users use at the point of crossing, their responses, and under what circumstances the crossing event takes place. It was found that in more than 90% of the cases pedestrians gaze at the approaching cars prior to crossing in non-signalized crosswalks. The crossing action, however, depends on additional factors such as time to collision (TTC), explicit driver's reaction or structure of the crosswalk.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Barnes Hospital Bulletin

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_barnes_bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp