An Advantage of the Vehicle to Vehicle Communication for an Automated Driving Car at the Encounter with an Ambulance

Abstract

When the automated driving cars are in widespread usage, traffic will coexist with prioritized vehicles (e.g., ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles) and automated driving cars. Automated driving cars are expected to be safer and lower stress than manual driving vehicles because of passengers paying less attention to driving. However, there are many challenges for automated driving cars to get along with surrounding transport participants. In particular, when an ambulance is driving into an intersection with the red traffic signal, the automated driving car is required to deal with a situation differently from normal traffic situations. In order to continue safe driving, it is necessary to recognize the approach of the ambulance at an earlier time. Possible means of recognizing ambulances include siren sound, rotating red lights and vehicle to vehicle communication. Based on actual traffic data, the authors created a mathematical model of deceleration for giving way and consider the status of suitable behavior by automated driving cars. The authors calculate the detection distance required to take suitable action. The results indicate that there are advantages in vehicle to vehicle communication in detecting ambulances by automated driving cars.