Emergency Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

Final Report

Abstract

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication can be used to improve the safety and efficiency of emergency response vehicles (ERVs). Such communication, with driver compliance to guidance, can ease driver stress associated with trying to accommodate an approaching ERV but encountering roadside obstacles or limited space to maneuver to the right. The communication can also aid ERV turning movements, particularly right turns, by clearing the right lane rather than the left. Based on instrumented vehicle data, this project will develop and test algorithms for guiding other vehicles (non-ERVs) out of the path of the ERVs and develop a message communication prototype.

ERVs must often navigate through congested conditions to reach the people requesting assistance or to bring them to hospitals for treatment. While these vehicles may travel on shoulders, against traffic, or proceed through red-lights, these are risky situations for which the ERV driver will be held liable if a crash occurs. Non-ERVs on the road are supposed to slow down and pull over to the right to facilitate ERV travel (as illustrated in Figure 1); however, not every driver does so. In some situations, there is little room for them to pull to the right as traffic may be gridlocked or shoulders may have obstructions (as in Figure 2). On arterial roadways, the ERV may need to turn right but find it difficult to do so because of the drivers on the right. V2V communication can help alert non-ERVs to the presence of an ERV and provide information about the ERVs desired maneuvers; the non-ERVs can be better directed to accommodate the ERV. This cooperative behavior will make ERV travel safer and allow police and first responders to reach those in need faster.

The goal of this study is to facilitate ERVs reaching their destinations. Specific objectives include:

• Identifying roadside obstructions with instrumented vehicles,
• Determining the best location for vehicles to stop in order for the emergency vehicle to pass,
• Determining the best path for the ERV through traffic, and
• Developing a message display prototype for the non-ERVs.

Highlights

• Based on microsimulation, for a small network, preemption (without V2V communication) improved the ERV’s travel time by approximately 1.5 – 5.0 minutes (11-37% improvement), depending on traffic volumes and cycle lengths.
• Increasing the desired speed of the ERV had only small effects on its travel time in a congested network, where the ERV’s speed was limited by other vehicles on the road.
• For the simulation network and specified conditions, the benefits of V2V communication in addition to signal preemption were 20-32% improvement in the ERV’s travel time over scenarios with preemption alone.
• Based on a field test of a prototype, reaction times to messages were not equal to 2.7 seconds.
• A linear regression model of reaction times identified the following factors as significant: (1) preference for listening to loud music while driving, (2) speed at the time the brake is applied, (3) speed at the time the drivers take their feet off the accelerator, and (4) throttle position at the time the message is received.
• Based on these four variables, the model without an intercept gave the best R-squared value of 0.93. The estimated reaction times varied from 1.4 to 5.9 seconds.
• Numerical case analysis for a small, uniform section of roadway with a limited number of non-ERVs revealed our mixed integer non-linear program is capable of optimizing the behavior of non-ERVs to maximize the speed of the ERV.

Publications

Phoowarawutthipanich, A. & Murray-Tuite, P. (2017, submitted). Drivers’ Reaction Times to Emergency Response Vehicle-to-Vehicle Movement Instructions. Submitted to the Transportation Research Record.

Presentations

Phoowarawutthipanich, A. & Murray-Tuite, P. (2017, January). Drivers’ Reaction Times to Emergency Response Vehicle-to-Vehicle Movement Instructions. Poster to be presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Project Information

Start date: 2012/9/3
End date: 2013/9/2
Status: Active
Contract/Grant Number: 0031370150000
Secondary Number: 54-6001805
Total Dollars: $146,380
Source Organization: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Date Added: 08/20/2012

Sponsor Organization

Research and Innovative Technology Administration
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
USA

UTC Grant Manager

Harwood, Leslie
Phone: 540-231-9530
Email: lharwood@vtti.vt.edu

Performing Organization

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
3500 Transportation Research Plaza
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
USA

Research Investigators

Murray-Tuite, Pamela

Subjects

Operations and Traffic Management
Safety and Human Factors
Securities and Emergencies
Vehicles and Equipment
Transportation (General)

More Information

RiP URL
Project Poster
TriD Format