Concept framework for the safety assessment of platooning trucks enabled by V2V communication

TL;DR

This paper proposes a framework for safety assessment of truck platoons enabled by V2V communication, integrating inter-vehicle communication into scenario-based evaluation methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel concept framework that incorporates V2V communication into existing safety assessment methods for truck platoons.

Findings

V2V communication interconnects vehicles in a platoon as a system-of-systems.

The framework integrates V2V into scenario descriptions for safety assessment.

It discusses whether to assess safety at the platoon level or individual vehicle level.

Abstract

Large steps are being taken by the industry and R&D organizations in automated driving technology development, as well as in setting up appropriate scenario-based safety assessment methods. In this paper a concept framework is proposed for a very specific group of vehicles: trucks in a platoon enabled by vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. The basis is formed by previously proposed scenario-based assessment methods for individual automated driving vehicles. These methods however do not consider the inter-vehicle communication component. It is shown how V2V communication interconnects vehicles in a system-of-systems, and how to include V2V communication in the scenario description. The paper also provides a vision to answer the basic question whether safety assessment should consider the platoon as a whole, or the individual vehicle in the platoon.