Impacts of Connected Vehicle Technology on Automated Vehicle Safety

Herbers, Eileen; Stowe, Loren · 2022 · ROSA P / Safety through Disruption (Safe-D) University Transportation Center (UTC)

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Summary

This study evaluates the safety benefits of Connected Vehicle Technology (CVT) compared to Line-of-Sight (LOS) systems, specifically addressing the gap in understanding how connectivity impacts automated driving systems. The research aims to quantify the potential reduction in crash severity and required deceleration when vehicles are equipped with CVT, which allows for earlier threat detection than LOS systems that rely on visual confirmation. The researchers utilized data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study (SHRP2 NDS), the largest naturalistic driving dataset available, comprising over 5.5 million trips. From this dataset, they identified 594 safety-critical events where CVT could offer an advantage, such as when an object obstructed the driver’s view. After screening for reconstructability, 18 crash and 162 near-crash events were selected. The team reconstructed these events using GPS, kinematic data, and video feeds, superimposing vehicle trajectories onto map images to determine precise locations. They then developed a physics-based simulation model to compare three detection conditions: the base event, LOS activation (when a clear line of sight existed), and CVT activation (continuous knowledge of the other vehicle’s state). The model calculated the minimum deceleration required to avoid a collision and the time difference between system activations, assuming the host vehicle braked without evasive maneuvers and the other vehicle did not react. Risk analysis was performed using delta-v values to predict the probability of severe injury. The analysis of 68 successfully simulated events revealed that CVT systems provided an average of 0.51 seconds of additional reaction time compared to LOS systems. In more than half of the events, CVT provided at least 0.25 seconds of extra warning. Regarding braking requirements, the average minimum deceleration needed to avoid a crash was 2.95 m/s² lower for CVT-equipped vehicles than for LOS-equipped ones. Specifically, 91.2% of CVT events required deceleration less than 1g, compared to 75.0% of LOS events. The greatest benefits were observed in configurations where the principal other vehicle turned left across the host vehicle’s path or was suddenly revealed from behind an obstruction. Risk analysis indicated that CVT could reduce the probability of a crash resulting in severe injury by an average of 26.0% compared to LOS systems. The findings suggest that CVT offers significant safety advantages by providing earlier warnings and reducing the physical demands on braking systems to avoid collisions. The study concludes that CVT is particularly effective in scenarios involving obscured views or turning conflicts. These results provide a baseline for understanding the safety potential of connected automated vehicles, implying that widespread adoption of CVT could substantially reduce severe injuries and fatalities, particularly in high-speed or complex intersection scenarios. The work highlights the importance of connectivity in enhancing automated vehicle safety beyond what is achievable with onboard sensors alone.

Key finding

Connected vehicle technology provides an average of 0.51 seconds more reaction time and reduces the required deceleration by 3.0 m/s^2 compared to line-of-sight systems, leading to a predicted 26.0% reduction in severe injury probability.

Methodology

simulator

Sample size: 68

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• naturalistic crash near crash
• adas effectiveness
• v2x connected vehicle

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource, tool software