Testing an Automated Collision Avoidance and Emergency Braking System for Buses

Abstract

In 2017 the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded Pierce Transit of Lakewood, WA a $1.66 million grant for a bus collision avoidance and mitigation safety research and demonstration project. The project scope includes installation of an advanced technology package, the Pedestrian Avoidance Safety System (PASS) that uses lidar sensors to trigger an automated deceleration and braking system. An “alpha testing” phase included shipping a Pierce Transit bus to Blacksburg, VA for closed-course testing of PASS on Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s (VTTI’s) Smart Road facility. In addition, VTTI developed a system to observe, measure, and analyze passenger motion during braking events. Following completion of testing at VTTI, the bus will be returned to Pierce Transit. Together with three additional buses currently being outfitted with PASS, all four will be equipped with Transit Event Logging System (TELS) video processers developed by University of Washington’s Smart Transportation Applications & Research (STAR) Lab to analyze PASS accuracy for “false positives” and “false negatives.” Upon successful completion of in-service engineering testing of the initial four buses, an additional 26 buses will be equipped with PASS and all 30 will be monitored using telematics for a year-long demonstration. This paper discusses project background and organization, describes the PASS being tested, provides an overview of the alpha testing, describes project data collection processes, and reviews the criteria and metrics being used to evaluate the system. The paper concludes with observations about lessons learned to date.