Accidental Injury Analysis and Protection for Automated Vehicles

Abstract

This chapter summarizes our recent research on accidental injury analysis and new passive restraint concepts for automated vehicle occupant protection. Recent trends to develop highly automated driving systems (ADS) may enable occupants to sit in non-conventional ways with various seating positions. Such seating position may subject occupants to 360 degree of principal direction of force (PDOF). Current government regulatory crash tests and evaluation standards known as New Car Assessment Programs (NCAP) and other motor safety regulations have been implemented in the automotive industry mainly for the protection of forward-facing seated occupants in frontal, side, and rollover vehicle crashes. Automated vehicles will pose challenges and opportunities for occupant protection. In addition, automation may lead to an increase in occupants from more diverse populations in crash conditions and seating arrangements. More studies are required to better understand the kinematics, injuries, and protection for the ADS occupants on other new seating positions and postures from various crashes. Our latest research focused on occupant injury risk analysis and new restraint concepts for the ADS occupants at different seating positions, especially at the side-facing seat. This chapter summarizes our major findings from the research, including occupant injury risk assessment methods, estimated injury patterns and severities at different PDOF and seating arrangements, as well as new restraint concepts for mitigation of the ADS occupant injures.