Tetsuo Kurahashi

Is the useful field of view a good predictor of at-fault crash risk in elderly Japanese drivers?

Although age‐related decline in the useful field of view (UFOV) is well recognized as a risk factor for at‐fault crash involvement in elderly drivers, there is still room to study its applicability to elderly Japanese drivers. In the current study, we thus examined the relationship between UFOV and at‐fault crash history in an elderly Japanese population. We also explored whether potential factors that create awareness of reduced driving fitness could be a trigger for the self‐regulation of driving in elderly drivers.

Driver steering model based on globally optimal model predictive control.

This paper presents a new driver model based on model predictive control (MPC). The proposed driver model is formulated according to four assumptions. The input of the driver model is generalized as a region of the road excluding obstacles. The proposed model has multiple objectives, consisting of reducing driving effort, and ensuring smoothness and safety margins, taking into account predicted future states. The steering wheel angle of the driver is calculated by evaluating whether the objectives have been achieved using the framework of MPC. Moreover, the evaluation is formulated to ensure that a global optimal solution is obtained. The proposed model explains simulation results on a slalom course and performance when passing through a narrow passage.