$25 million for crash research

The

(UMTRI) has recently been awarded $25 million by the

to develop technologies to help drivers avoid crashes.

UMTRI, along with partners Visteon, Eaton, AssistWare Technology, Honda R&D Americas, Battelle and the Michigan Department of Transportation, will develop and test a new, integrated crash warning system in a fleet of 16 passenger cars and 10 heavy-duty trucks.

UMTRI will serve as the primary contractor, co-ordinating the work of the partnership and conducting the field experiments. The partners will contribute an additional $6.6 million.

The program, Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems Program Field Operational Test, is a co-operative agreement with three offices of the US Department of Transportation: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of the Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

"This research builds upon UMTRI's growing strength in naturalistic measurement of the driving process and the development of driver assistance systems, and will help address the crash types that account for 67 percent of all vehicle crashes in the United States," said UMTRI researcher Jim Sayer, the project's director.

The program will develop integrated, advanced technologies that will warn drivers when they are about to leave the roadway, are in danger of colliding with another vehicle while attempting a lane change, or are at risk of colliding with the vehicle in front of them. It will use information gathered by inertial, video and radar sensors, plus a global positioning system module to prevent or lessen the impact of some crashes.