Virtual Evaluation Tools for Pedestrian Safety – Safer Pedestrians

Research Project, 2019 – 2022

This CTS project targets the need to develop tools to improve VRU protection in traffic that can support conditions in Europe an and Asian traffic conditions, including research in Sweden as well as China. The approach includes the aspects of injury mitigation (pre crash systems) and to reduce biomechanical consequences of an impact through “passive safety”. The aim is to establish an integrated safety systems from sensing to injury prevention Sweden focusing on open source model development, while China addressing integrated system development.

Safer Pedestrians addresses new challenges regarding safety of road users outside the vehicle. Pedestrian, cyclists, and other new personal mobility devices operate in many areas shared with motor vehicles with, and without, automation. This project will combine the expertise of Swedish and Chinese researchers to advance current safety evaluation technologies with the Swedish team focusing on the evaluation of injury assessment.
Future safety systems must address changing mobility trends. Current development and assessment approaches for vulnerable road users depend on overly simplified component tests that cannot address the diversity of road users. The Swedish contribution to the project is to develop open source computational mechanics tools that can be used by the automotive industry and independent researchers. These tools will facilitate new protective strategies and allow society to address changes arising as automation and an ageing society creates new traffic safety situations.