SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Christian Schumacher’s work centers on advanced car technology, yet includes basic human psychology.
He oversees auto supplier Continental’s development of innovative safety systems. Those are designed to avert collisions in the first place and otherwise protect vehicle occupants as much as possible, should an inevitable crash occur.
Today’s protection technology ranges from alerting a distracted driver of imminent danger to taking control of the car and stopping it to avoid a collision.
Those systems are based on applied technology, including multiple sensors, sophisticated software, wide-range cameras, radar and more.
But much of vehicle safety research and development touches on the human factor, considering how well drivers interact with and respond to systems built to protect them.
Schumacher, Continental’s chief of systems and technology, smiles at the suggestion that he is a full-time engineer, part-time psychologist. But studying and understanding behind-the-wheel human behavior is part of his job, and not always the easy part.
“The major challenge is we can’t read minds, but we can try to read the person as much as possible,” he says.
Controlled-setting research includes aiming in-car video cameras at drivers’ faces, hands and feet to record their facial reactions, steering motions and pedal use in emergency situations.
“We want to see how they react to driving situations and how they react to the safety systems designed to deal with the driving situations,” Schumacher says.
Engineers devote much effort to how a safety system can best alert an inattentive motorist who might start to drift into another lane or head on a collision course. The objective is to get someone’s attention, not compound the situation with jarring sounds and flashers that may confuse the at-risk driver.
“You don’t want to further distract a distracted driver,” Schumacher says. “You want to get his attention and focus it in the right direction. In an emergency, you want someone looking up at where the problem is, not down at a flashing instrument-panel light.”
Humans take 0.5 to 0.8 seconds to react to an impending collision, he says. “Typically, time to collision takes about two seconds. It’s important that a person knows what to do, and do it fast.”
To keep eyes on the road, he advocates a head-up display system that projects driving data on the windshield directly in front of the driver.
So-called human-machine interaction has long been a topic of discussion in the auto industry. But it takes on greater importance and meaning as engineers develop more advanced systems capable of controlling a car.
As amazing and life-saving as those systems are, suppliers and auto makers know some drivers may find it intrusive when a seemingly invisible force tugs the steering wheel or guides a vehicle back into a lane.
The question becomes how to design active systems that can save someone from themselves, without vexing them, particularly if they don’t perceive a driving situation as life-threatening.
Is there a perfect HMI system? “There is no answer to that yet,” Schumacher says.
Motorists might want a signal that will help get them out of a jam. On the other hand, most people don’t want strident visual and audio alerts jolting them into awareness.
“They don’t want to be overwhelmed,” says Peter Bienkowski, a Continental safety project engineer.
In that spirit, Continental has developed what it calls an Accelerator Force Feedback Pedal, using software, sensors, radar, cameras and an electric motor attached to the acceleration controls.
If a driver unwisely isn’t slowing down in a detected emergency situation, the gas pedal will vibrate, jitter or pulsate, depending on the signal an auto maker chooses.
“It is a direct link from the foot to the brain, saying, ‘There’s an emergency going on, so slow down,’” Schumacher says. “Driver reaction that way is 10 times faster than visual feedback.”
A motorist also can use the system to control speed and achieve greater fuel efficiency, Bienkowski says.
He describes it as non-distracting and unobtrusive. So far, AFFP is only in one production vehicle, an upmarket Nissan sold in Japan.
“We believe it is an amazing HMI, but we are struggling to get OEMs interested in it,” Schumacher says.
Reluctant auto makers express concerns heard before about such things: the extra cost and potential driver annoyance at a vibrating gas pedal, even though a motorist may easily override it, as Bienkowski points out.
Continental shows the safety device and others at the supplier’s test track outside this city in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula. The 540-acre (218.5-ha) facility is unmarked, surrounded by forest and a half-mile (0.8 km) off public roads.
“We don’t want to draw attention to the facility,” Schumacher says. “We haven’t had a security breach in the 16 years we’ve been here, and we would like to keep it that way.”
Demonstrated safety systems include a blind-spot monitor and rear cross-path alert.
It is intended to aid drivers backing out of a parking spot but whose visibility is blocked by big vehicles on both sides. A visual signal alerts the driver if vehicles are approaching in the parking-lot lane.
Continental also shows systems that automatically brake to avoid a crash at speeds up to 15 mph (25 km/h) and brake to mitigate a crash at speeds up to 45 mph (72 km/h). Currently on the market are systems that brake to a stop at up to 9 mph (14 km/hr).
Electronic braking, speed sensors and radar are part of a full-speed, range-adaptive cruise-control unit. As demonstrated in a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the system makes early cruise-control units look primitive. Reacting to the movements of the car ahead of it, the equipped Mercedes on its own slows to a full stop and starts up again.
Not yet in production is Emergency Steer Assist. If a driver understeers when trying to avoid an object or another car, the system kicks in to provide needed boost.
“As soon as you show you want to steer, but aren’t steering enough, the system will do it for you,” Schumacher says. “Sometimes, people don’t steer sufficiently in emergency situations. This gives them enough push to get around an object.”
As a group of auto journalists observes what modern safety systems can do, some of them recall cars of yesteryear and a time when seatbelts were considered revolutionary.
“They don’t make cars like they used to,” says a journalist who also is an engineer. “Thank goodness for that.”
