Session: AVT-(02,3,7)-01

Paper Number: 115032

115032 - Study on Driver’s Preview Distance Based on Driving Simulator Tests 

Several simplified driving models used nowadays assume that the drivers’ preview distance is mainly dependent on the vehicle speed. The scope of this paper is to analyze the behavior of a sample of drivers during a lane change test, evaluating specifically the evolution of their preview distance.

In order to undergo this study, the tests are performed in a DiM400 dynamic driving simulator installed at Politecnico di Milano (Drismi Lab). The preview distance is measured while performing a specially designed test, divided in straight and double lane change sections, at a constant speed of 80 km/h. Furthermore, a wearable eye tracker is used to acquire the data from the drivers’ eyes. Finally, a simple method to estimate the preview distance under the testing conditions of this project is undergone.

Opposite to what it is mainly stated in the literature, it can be observed a clear variation of the preview distance along each of the tests performed in the simulator. Drivers seem to increase it when driving straight, while they reduce it considerably to perform the double lane change maneuver. The algorithm developed in this paper provides an easy estimation of this quantity, although several limitations must be taken into account.

Presenting Author: Massimiliano Gobbi Politecnico di Milano

Presenting Author Biography: Massimiliano Gobbi received the master’s degree (with Hons.) in mechanical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in applied mechanics in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He is currently a Full Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. In 1998, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. He has authored or coauthored more than 200 technical papers (H-Index Scopus: 23). He is the author of seven international patents and three books. His research interests include road vehicles engineering, optimization of complex systems, and mechatronics.

Authors:

Massimiliano Gobbi Politecnico di Milano
Giampiero Mastinu Politecnico di Milano
Massimiliano Milivinti Politecnico di Milano
Giorgio Previati Politecnico di Milano
Daniel Rios Hidalgo Politecnico di Milano