Potential Effectiveness of Bicycle-Automatic Emergency Braking using the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study Data Set

Abstract

In the United States, fatalities from vehicle–bicycle crashes have been increasing since 2010. A total of 857 cyclists were struck and killed in 2018 which is an increase from 623 fatalities in 2010. One promising countermeasure is Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), which can help prevent and/or mitigate many vehicle–bicycle crashes. AEB is a vehicle-based system that can detect and mitigate an impending crash. The goal of this study was to elucidate U.S. vehicle–bicycle crashes and examine related factors to estimate AEB effectiveness. This study used a unique in-depth vehicle–bicycle crash study dataset collected under the collaboration of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) and the Toyota Collaborative Research Center conducted in southeast Michigan from 2011 to 2013. The WATS database provides in-depth investigations of vehicle–bicycle crashes in the United States. The characteristics of the WATS vehicle–bicycle crashes were validated against the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimate System. The WATS database cases were examined to estimate the potential effectiveness of AEB to prevent or mitigate vehicle–bicycle collisions. In 60% of the WATS cases, cyclists were in the road for more than 1 s before impact. Assuming that a hypothetical AEB system requires a minimum of 1 s for detection and brake activation, these collisions would potentially be avoided or mitigated. However, for the remaining cases with less than 1 s of time to react (40% of cases), that AEB system would be challenged to avoid or mitigate the collision.