Towards Evaluation of Post Impact Braking Function in Driving Simulator

This paper presents a method to evaluate the vehicle Post Impact Braking function in driving simulator environment. This function is designed to apply automatic braking after an initial impact on the vehicle body. Four representative impact scenarios and three typical driving styles are investigated, assuming Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) is either functioned or malfunctioned. The performance of PIB is quantified by comparing certain post impact states when the function is enabled and disabled. The results show that PIB helps the drivers to lower the risk and severity of secondary collisions with respect to reduced displacements and road leaving speed, while it leads to higher risk for possible side collisions due to increased yaw angle, these influences seem to be more considerable when no ABS is available. Passive drivers are found to gain more benefits than Alert-Skilled drivers that it indicates full-braking can degrade the vehicle steer ability and thus the lateral and yaw responses to some extent.