On the Assessment of Fitness to Drive: Steering and Brake Operative Forces

[EN] The Directive (EU) 2015/653 aimed at facilitating that the maximum force that any disabled driver could make on the vehicle's primary controls could be adjusted to their needs. The technical adjustment in the vehicle's design requires a measurement of the operational forces applied by the driver on the steering and brake controls, in order to determine its functional capacity during the execution of driving maneuvers. The objective of this paper is to define the steering and braking operative forces used for driving current market M1 motor vehicles for the ¿fitness to drive assessment of drivers with physical disabilities. A total of 200 trials were performed with 17 different vehicles and 26 drivers. The results obtained help to define a new threshold's criteria for operative forces onto the steering and braking systems for adapting motor vehicles to disabled drivers. The main contribution of this paper consist on a new technical recommendations about the use of code 20.07 -braking- and 40.01 -steering- to be used in the ¿fitness to drive assessment of driver with disabilities according to Directive (EU) 2015/653 requirements.This work involved human subjects or animals in its research. Approval of all ethical and experimental procedures and protocols was granted by the UPV Ethical Committee at a session celebrated on June 18, 2019, under Reference No. P5_18_06_19.Dols Ruiz, JF.; Girbés-Juan, V.; Jiménez, I. (2021). On the Assessment of Fitness to Drive: Steering and Brake Operative Forces. IEEE Access. 9:134682-134694. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3116080134682134694

Accesibilidad, seguridad y diseño para todos en el transporte

El documento comienza con la exposición cuantitativa de la población de personas con movilidad reducida en España y la definición de los términos de accesibilidad, seguridad y diseño universal en relación con el transporte. A continuación, se realiza una aproximación del estado actual de la accesibilidad en el transporte y se presenta un detallado informe en el que se abordan los aspectos relativos a la seguridad de las personas con movilidad reducida en los medios de transporte terrestres. Se analizan así los antecedentes, informes y estudios previos y la normativa relacionada con este ámbito. Por último, se exponen las características de los medios accesibles y la seguridad en los vehículos, así como diversas iniciativas en favor de la accesibilidad, la seguridad y el diseño para todos en el transporte

El futuro del vehículo ¿eléctrico?

Dols Ruiz, JF. (2011). The future of ¿electric? vehicles. Securitas Vialis. 3(10):3-6. doi:10.1007/s12615-012-9046-zS3631

Haptic Feedback to Assist Bus Drivers for Pedestrian Safety at Low Speed

Buses and coaches are massive Passenger Transportation Systems (PTS), because they represent more than half of land PTS in the European Union. Despite of that, bus accident figures are lower than other means of transport, but its size and weight increase the severity of accidents in which buses are involved, even at low speed. In urban scenarios, turnings and manoeuvres around bus stops are the main causes of accidents, mostly due to low visibility, blind spots or driver s distractions. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in developing driving assistance systems to avoid these situations, among others. However, even though there are some solutions on the market, they are not meant to work in urban areas at low speed and with the sole purpose of preventing collisions with pedestrians. In this sense, the paper proposes an active safety system for buses in manoeuvres at low speed. The safety system consists of haptic feedback devices together with collision avoidance and risk evaluation systems based on detected people nearby the bus. The performance of the active safety system has been validated in a simulated urban scenario. Our results show that driver s reaction time is reduced and time to collision increased due to the proposed low-speed active safety system. In particular, it is shown that there is a reduction in the number of high risk cases and collisions, which implies a considerable improvement in safety terms. In addition to this, a brief discussion about current regulations for innovative safety systems on a real vehicles is carried out.This paper has been funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain) through the projects "Sistemas Avanzados de Seguridad Integral en Autobuses (SAFEBUS)" (IPT-2011-1165-370000) and "Sistemas de Conduccion Segura de Vehiculos de Transporte de Pasajeros y Materiales con Asistencia Haptica/Audiovisual e Interfaces Biomedicas (SAFETRANS)" (DPI2013-42302-R). This work was also supported by Programa VALi+d (Generalitat Valenciana). The authors wish to thank Jose Luis Sanchez Carrascosa for his dedication and commitment to the project and thank to Ana Isabel Sanchez Galdon for her valuable help regarding ANOVA analysis.Girbés, V.; Armesto Ángel, L.; Dols Ruiz, JF.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2016). Haptic Feedback to Assist Bus Drivers for Pedestrian Safety at Low Speed. IEEE Transactions on Haptics. 9(3):345-357. https://doi.org/10.1109/TOH.2016.2531686S3453579

An Active Safety System for Low-Speed Bus Braking Assistance

Accidents in which buses or coaches are involved cause thousands of injuries and fatalities every year. To reduce their number and severity, the paper describes an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) based on a haptic throttle pedal and emergency braking. It also proposes a computationally efficient algorithm with a methodology based on three main concepts: a simplified but accurate vehicle model; an efficient collision detection system considering driver's intention and pedestrians wandering around the vehicle; and a risk evaluation system to generate warnings and emergency braking signals. Finally, the performance of the proposed ADAS is validated using a driving simulation cabin with a very realistic urban scenario and original elements from real buses. The results show a statistically significant improvement in safety, as the number of collisions and high risk situations are clearly minimized, reaction time to press the brake pedal is improved and time to collision increased in emergency situations. Implementation of the proposed ADAS into city buses would potentially improve safety, reducing the frequency and severity of accidents with pedestrians.This work was supported in part by Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain through the SAFEBUS Project "Sistemas Avanzados de Seguridad Integral en Autobuses" under Grant IPT-2011-1165-370000 and the SAFETRANS Project "Sistemas de Conduccion Segura de Vehiculos de Transporte de Pasajeros y Materiales con Asistencia Haptica/Audiovisual e Interfaces Biomedicas" under Grant DPI2013-42302-R and in part by the Generalitat Valenciana, Programa VALi+d (ACIF/2010/206). The Associate Editor for this paper was E. Kosmatopoulos.Girbés, V.; Armesto Ángel, L.; Dols Ruiz, JF.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2017). An Active Safety System for Low-Speed Bus Braking Assistance. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 18(2):377-387. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2016.2573921S37738718

Analysis of dynamic behavior and safety of baby carriages in public transportation buses

Issues concerning the use of baby carriages in public buses are still pendant of international legislation that could contribute to unify provisions around accessibility and safety on this type of transportation. There is actually a lack of knowledge round the dynamic behavior and forces involved in the movement of baby carriages when on board in public transportation services. This paper focuses on an analysis of the forces transmitted to the baby carriages and their behavior during normal operation and critical maneuvers by public buses. The article presents partially the results obtained from a research project conducted by the Institute of Design and Manufacturing (IDF) of the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (Spain) in cooperation with the Institute for Automobile Research (INSIA) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). The aim was to establish the technical requirements for accessibility and safety of baby carriages (US) or prams (UK) in public buses that could help national and international community to develop standards and provisions on this type of people mobility. A series of tests with different types of baby carriages were carried out in public ransportation buses in closed tracks and open roads to simulate the behavior of critical maneuvers in urban traffic. From an analysis of the testing results it was possible to identify situations where restraint systems should be used, as well as the safest orientation and location within a bus for baby carriages, and enabled the development of a Code of Good Practice for bus operators, users, and baby carriage manufacturers. Furthermore, the analysis of the dynamic forces allowed the development of a new restraint device for securing carriages inside the vehicle s passenger compartment.The research project 'Accessibility Requirements and the Safe Use of Baby Carriages in Public Buses' (ASUCAR), has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PET2008_0328) during 2008-2011 National Research Program. Our acknowledgement also to the Public Transportation Operators of Madrid and Valencia (Spain) for their contribution and collaboration in the development of the practical trials scheduled in the project, and Mothercare, Chicco shops, El Corte Ingles and Carrefour for their cooperation for facilitating the material for in situ test with baby carriages.Dols Ruiz, JF.; Pons Sendra, V.; Alcalá, E.; Valles, B.; Martín, Á. (2013). Analysis of dynamic behavior and safety of baby carriages in public transportation buses. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. 49:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2013.01.004S194

Evaluación de la CT04 - Innovación, Creatividad y Emprendimiento en estudios relacionados con el ámbito industrial

[EN] The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) has developed programs defining specific and generic competences for its Bachelors' and Masters' degrees and for the subjects along them. In an engineering context, the competence “Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CT-04)” allows the students to face problems of technical nature. The present work is focused on the design of a teaching activity based on the realisation of an industrial project where the aforementioned competence is promoted. This activity has been applied during two academic years in the subject "Design and Application of Industrial Equipment" (Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering). The students face an open project with multiple alternatives and propose solutions to optimise industrial processes. All the projects have to implement creative and innovative techniques to generate technical solutions. The academic works are evaluated following a rubric to establish objective criteria. Analysing these results permits to establish a correlation between the influence of the competence into the project and the final subject grades, inferring that the competence prepares the student to achieve the objectives that must be acquired in the subject. Further work is needed to establish if the proposed rubrics can detect the degree of acquisition of the competence.[ES] La Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) ha desarrollado problemas que definen competencias transversales y específicas para sus estudios de Grado y Máster y para las diferentes asignaturas. En un contexto ingenieril, la competencia “Creatividad, Innovación y Emprendimento (CT-04)” permite a los estudiantes enfrentarse a problemas de naturaleza técnica.El presente trabajo se focaliza en el diseño de una actividad docente basada en la realización de un proyecto industrial donde se promueve la competencia anterior. Esta actividad se ha realizado durante dos cursos académicos en la asignatura "Diseño y Apliación de Equipos Industriales" (Máster Universitario en Ingeniería Industrial). Los estudiantes se enfrentan a un proyecto abierto con múltiples alternativas y deben proponer soluciones para optimizar procesos industriales. Todos los proyectos tienen que implementar técnicas innovadoras y creativas para proporcionar soluciones técnicas.Los trabajos académicos se evalúan siguiendo una rúbrica que establece criterios objetivos. Analizar estos resultados permite establecer una correlación entre la influencia de la competencia en las calificaciones del proyecto y de la asignatura, determinando que la competencia prepara a los estudiantes para conseguir los objetivos que deben adquirirse en la asignatura. Se requiere profundizar más para establecer si las rúbricas propuestas pueden detectar el grado de adquisición de la competencia.Este trabajo se ha desarrollado en el marco del proyecto « Coordinación de metodologías a través de websites de apoyo en los grados de la ETSII" para las competencias "Innovación, Creatividad y Emprendimiento" y "Ética, Responsabilidad Medioambiental y Profesional" (19-20/151) », de la convocatoria de 2019 para Proyectos de Mejora e Innovación Educatica (PIME) "Aprendizaje+Enseñanza" (A+D), en su modalidad A, promovidos por el Vice-Rectorado de Estudios, Calidad y Acreditación y el Vice-Presidente de Recursos Digitales y Documentación de la Universitat Politècnica de València. La Prof. Mª del Mar Alemany Díaz está a cargo de este PIME intitucional, representando a la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial (ETSII).Giner Navarro, J.; Dols Ruiz, JF.; Sánchez Orgaz, EM. (2022). Evaluación de la CT04 - Innovación, Creatividad y Emprendimiento en estudios relacionados con el ámbito industrial. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 239-249. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2022.2022.1585723924

Evaluación de la CT10 – Conocimiento de problemas contemporáneos en asignaturas del ámbito industrial

[EN] Competence-based teaching has been consolidated in the Universitat Politècnica de València as a more functional methodology to address the knowledge acquired by students towards the productive sector. The proposed teaching activity for the implementation of the competence of "Knowledge of Contemporary Problems" is the realisation of an industrial project developed within the subject "Design and Application of Industrial Equipment" (Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering). This competence is about the understanding of the emergence of issues related to current social, political, legal and environmental values. The students can face different problems in the industrial field, but all the projects apply the techniques of this generic competence analysising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Industry 4.0. The projects are evaluated through a logistic analysis and the technical solutions proposed by the students. Around 200 academic works over two academic years have been evaluated. The results of the assessment have been correlated with the work and the subject grades. The projects indicate that the concepts of SDG and Industry 4.0 are useful tools, preparing the students for their insertion in the labour market. Further analysis is needed to check if the rubrics method used is functional for this type of competence assessment.[ES] La enseñanza basada en competencias se ha consolidado en la Universitat Politècnica de València como una metodología funcional para enfocar el conocimiento adquirido por los estudiantes hacia el sector productivo.La actividad de enseñanza propuesta para la implementación de la competencia "Conocimiento de Problemas Contemporáneos" es la realización de un proyecto industrial desarrollado dentro de la asignatura "Diseño y Aplicación de Equipos Industriales" (Máster Universitario en Ingeniería Industrial). Esta competencia analiza la comprensión de la emergencia de temas relacionados con los valores sociales, políticos, legales y medioambientales actuales. Los estudiantes se enfrentan a diferentes problemas en el ámbito industrial, pero todos los proyectos aplican las técnicas de esta competencia transversal analizando los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) e Industria 4.0. Los proyectos se evalúan mediante un análisis logístico y las soluciones técnicas propuestas por los estudiantes.Alrededor de 200 trabajos académicos se ha evaluado durante dos cursos académicos. Los resultados de la evaluación se han correlacionado con las calificaciones del trabajo y de la asignatura. Los proyectos indican que los conceptos de los ODS y la Industria 4.0 son herramientas útiles, que preparan a los estudiantes para el mercado laboral. Se require un mayor análisis para comprobar si las rúbricas utilizadas son funcionales para la evaluación de la competencia.Este trabajo se ha desarrollado en el marco del proyecto « Coordinación de metodologías a través de websites de apoyo en los grados de la ETSII" para las competencias "Conocimiento de Problemas Contemporáneos" y "Aprendizaje Permanente" » (19-20/152), de la convocatoria de 2019 para Proyectos de Mejora e Innovación Educatica (PIME) "Aprendizaje+Enseñanza" (A+D), en su modalidad A, promovidos por el Vice-Rectorado de Estudios, Calidad y Acreditación y el Vice-Presidente de Recursos Digitales y Documentación de la Universitat Politècnica de València. El Prof. José F. Villanueva López está a cargo de este PIME intitucional, representando a la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial (ETSII).Giner Navarro, J.; Dols Ruiz, JF.; Sánchez Orgaz, EM. (2022). Evaluación de la CT10 – Conocimiento de problemas contemporáneos en asignaturas del ámbito industrial. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 339-347. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2022.2022.1588633934

Drivers' behaviour when overtaking cyclists on rural roads: Driving simulator validation using naturalistic data

[EN] Driving simulator is a useful tool for obtaining data on driver behaviour efficiently and quickly. However, to ensure the reliability of the data gathered by the simulator, it is necessary to check the differences between drivers¿ behaviour in the simulator and in reality. In this study, an existing two-lane rural road was replicated on the driving simulator under the same traffic conditions of groups of cyclists and oncoming motorised vehicles. For this purpose, a naturalistic field data collection was developed on the real road using instrumented bicycles and static video recordings. A total of 30 volunteers participated in the driving simulator tests. The objective validation of the driving simulator was based on three operational variables: average travel speed, overtaking vehicle speed, and lateral clearance. As a result, higher average travel speeds and lower lateral clearances were obtained in the real world compared to those observed in the simulator. It was also found that overtaking vehicle speed depends on the group of cyclists. Overall, the data obtained in the field and in the driving simulator did not present statistically significant differences. The analysis of drivers¿ perception in the simulator tests concluded that the simulator reflected reality in an accurate way, achieving the subjective validation of the driving simulator. Thus, this study validates the driving simulator for bicycle safety research on rural roads.Acknowledgements This study is part of the research project Bike2lane, Grant TRA 2016-8089-R, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF a way of making Europe.Moll Montaner, S.; López-Maldonado, G.; Llopis-Castelló, D.; Dols Ruiz, JF.; García García, A. (2023). Drivers' behaviour when overtaking cyclists on rural roads: Driving simulator validation using naturalistic data. Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. 95:391-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2023.05.0113914049

Development of Driving Simulation Scenarios Based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Road Safety Analysis

[EN] The analysis of road safety is critical in road design. Complying to guidelines is not enough to ensure the highest safety levels, so many of them encourage designers to virtually recreate and test their roads, benefitting from the evolution of driving simulators in recent years. However, an accurate recreation of the road and its environment represents a real bottleneck in the process. A very important limitation lies in the diversity of input data, from different sources and requiring specific adaptations for every single simulator. This paper aims at showing a framework for recreating faster virtual scenarios by using an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)-based file. This methodology was compared to two other conventional methods for developing driving scenarios. The main outcome of this study has demonstrated that with a data exchange file in IFC format, virtual scenarios can be faster designed to carry out safety audits with driving simulators. As a result, the editing, programming, and processing times were substantially reduced using the proposed IFC exchange file format through a BIM (Building Information Modeling) model. This methodology facilitates cost-savings, execution, and optimization resources in road safety analysis.This research was funded by the Spanish Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), as well as the European Regional Development Fund, grant number EXP-00091379/ITC-20161077.Dols Ruiz, JF.; Molina, J.; Camacho-Torregrosa, FJ.; Llopis-Castelló, D.; García García, A. (2021). Development of Driving Simulation Scenarios Based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Road Safety Analysis. Sustainability. 13(4):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042039S12113