[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 137 (Tuesday, July 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41474-41475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14107]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2005-21858]


Performance of Advanced Crash Avoidance Systems; Request for 
Information

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice; Request for Information and Expression of Interest in 
Research Program.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is 
seeking information from all sources for its Advanced Crash Avoidance 
Technologies Program (ACAT). The ACAT program seeks to determine the 
safety impact of new and emerging technologies that are intended to 
help drivers avoid crashes, reduce the severity, and prevent injuries.

DATES: Responses to this announcement should be submitted on or before 
August 18, 2005. See the Supplementary Information section for 
electronic access and filing addresses.


    Note: This is neither a Request for Proposals nor an Invitation 
for Bids.



ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the DOT DMS Docket 
Number above by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, 
Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Note that all comments received will be posted without change to 
http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information provided. 
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-
401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Raymond Resendes, Office of Vehicle 
Safety Research, NHTSA, NVS-332, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 
DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 366-2619, fax: (202) 366-7237).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The automotive industry has made significant 
progress in the development of advanced technologies that may offer the 
promise of reducing many crashes and their severities. Advanced 
technologies that include sensing, computing, positioning, and 
communications may have the ability to help drivers avoid imminent 
crashes or the events that often lead to crashes and reduce the 
severity of crashes that do occur. For example, some of these 
technologies address preventing rollovers, improving visibility, 
reducing tailgating and speed related crashes.
    The effectiveness of these systems in reducing crashes is not well 
understood. Therefore, NHTSA is initiating a research program that 
seeks to answer the following questions:
    1. What advanced vehicle features help to avoid a crash, and reduce 
crash severity when it occurs?
    2. In what situations do these features work?
    3. How effective are these features in preventing crashes and 
reducing their severity and protecting vehicle occupants?
    NHTSA is implementing the program plan described below as the means 
of answering the above three questions with objective information on 
the performance capabilities of advanced safety features. NHTSA hopes 
that partnerships with motor vehicle manufacturers and suppliers will 
play an important role in the program. As part of this request for 
information, we are seeking expressions of interest in such 
partnerships. It is NHTSA's hope that this program will build on the 
successes achieved in other cooperative programs, such as the 
Intelligent Transportation Systems program.
    Program Plan: The following series of tasks will be used to develop 
tests and procedures for specific devices and systems:
    Task 1--Priority Candidates: (1) Identify new or emerging 
technologies or systems that are priority candidates for evaluation in 
this program. (2) Develop a ``top-level'' engineering description of 
performance for each candidate. (3) Create a roadmap between 
performance features and relevant elements of the problem description. 
(4) Develop a subjective estimate of the impact of the system or 
technology on each relevant element of the problem description.
    Task 2--Safety Impact Methodology: (1) Develop the methodology for 
incorporation of all relevant information into credible estimates of 
safety impact. (2) Create a computational framework that provides 
consistent results. (3) Create a standard set of descriptions for the 
distribution of crash types and causal factors. This will be a 
comprehensive description of the crash problem and crash and injury 
causation. The comprehensive description must be useable as a point of 
reference in assessing performance of systems or technologies. The 
problem descriptions will be coordinated with vehicle safety experts to 
assure that they are universally adopted as the basis for discussion of 
activities and studies. Variations on the framework will be necessary 
to accommodate all aspects of safety impact; including crash 
prevention, injury mitigation, effects of distraction, etc. Any 
technology that is already in production will have associated real-
world crash data. This source needs to be incorporated in the general 
framework.
    Task 3--Objective Tests: (1) Develop objective tests that can 
address the salient features of system performance. (2) Connect each 
feature of system performance to either a reduction in the likelihood 
that a risky situation will develop or the likelihood that a crash will 
occur in a specific situation. The definitions of the situations are 
derived from descriptions of situations in the problem description; 
translate each feature of system performance into a generic test 
condition. Each test condition must have the potential to be objective 
and repeatable.
    The following steps are involved in determining the safety 
potential of candidate technologies: (1) Establish ``representative'' 
values, or range of values, for each parameter in the test condition. 
Input from crash data files

[[Page 41475]]

plus physical reasoning, perhaps supplemented by models and simulation, 
will be used to select appropriate values. (2) Determine appropriate 
metrics and use them to measure system performance.
    These metrics must have a quantifiable relationship to either the 
level of exposure to risky situations or the level of crash prevention, 
severity reduction, and occupant protection potential of various 
advanced vehicle technologies.
    Task 4--Performance Testing: In this task specific candidate 
technologies and systems will be identified to assess their 
performance. Systems that have the potential of degrading safety 
performance will be included for evaluation. Systems will be selected 
based on their potential safety impact (positive or negative) and level 
of market readiness. Specific full system test/tests will be developed 
for the selected systems. The tests performed under this task may be 
test-track, driving simulator, and/or reduced scale laboratory tests.
    Task 5--Analysis and Reporting: The results will be analyzed in 
accordance with the methodology previously defined and the estimates of 
safety benefits will be computed. After agency review, this information 
will be shared with industry and the public via NHTSA's existing 
communication mechanisms.
    Information Requested: The purpose of this document is to collect 
information about advanced technologies and their impact on automotive 
safety, and expressions of interest in participating in cooperative 
activities in order to assist NHTSA in developing and implementing the 
ACAT Program. Researchers and technical experts from automotive 
original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), their suppliers, and other 
interested parties that are able to collaborate with OEMs and Tier 1 
suppliers are invited to submit technical information that responds to 
the following questions:
    1. What are the qualifications of the responder?
    2. Please describe the advanced crash avoidance and other safety 
technologies that your organization is developing?
    3. What safety problem (i.e., crash type, causal factors, and 
critical events) do these systems address?
    4. Do methodologies or procedures and data exist to objectively 
test the ability of these systems to address specific crash problems?
    5. Do you have suggestions on how to identify unintended 
consequences, such as driver adaptation, and their impact prior to the 
widespread deployment of these systems?
    6. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the program?
    NHTSA believes that partnerships with the motor vehicle industry 
are an important element of this program. As part of this request for 
information, we are seeking expressions of interest in participating in 
any of the following:
    a. Participating in a cooperative agreement to develop objective 
test procedures,
    b. Providing systems to support the development of objective test 
procedures,
    c. Providing existing test procedures or data.
    Written Statements, Presentations, and Comments: We will consider 
all comments that Docket Management receives before the close of 
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To 
the extent possible, we will also consider comments that Docket 
Management receives after that date.
    For written materials, two copies should be submitted to Docket 
Management at the address given at the beginning of this document. The 
materials must not exceed 15 pages in length (49 CFR 553.21). Necessary 
attachments may be appended to the submissions without regard to the 
15-page limit. This limitation is intended to encourage commenters to 
detail their information in a concise fashion.
    If a commenter wishes to submit certain information under a claim 
of confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including 
purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to 
the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590. Additionally, two copies of the above document from which the 
purportedly confidential information has been deleted should be 
submitted to Docket Management. A request for confidentiality should be 
accompanied by a cover letter setting forth the information specified 
in the agency's confidential business information regulation, 49 CFR 
part 512.

    Issued on: July 13, 2005.
Joseph N. Kanianthra,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 05-14107 Filed 7-18-05; 8:45 am]
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