幾年前，全球領(lǐng)先人體模擬測(cè)試設(shè)備（ATD，俗稱碰撞測(cè)試假人）供應(yīng)商 Humanetics Innovative Solutions 首席執(zhí)行官 ChrisO’Connor 開(kāi)始注意到，任何自動(dòng)駕駛會(huì)議上似乎總少不了一個(gè)共同的話題。
“似乎很多業(yè)內(nèi)人士和國(guó)會(huì)議員都在說(shuō)‘有了自動(dòng)駕駛汽車，我們就不會(huì)再遇到交通事故了’，”O’Connor回憶道，“既然不會(huì)再有車禍，那我們也不再需要擔(dān)心車上人員的安全了。”
當(dāng)時(shí)，自動(dòng)駕駛汽車革命剛剛嶄露頭角。“自動(dòng)駕駛汽車可以避免所有的交通事故” — 這種誘人的宣傳，讓汽車行業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者和政策制定者難以拒絕。
“后來(lái)我們都意識(shí)到，這種說(shuō)法是很荒謬的，”O’Connor 表示，“自動(dòng)駕駛汽車也會(huì)發(fā)生車禍，它們的電子系統(tǒng)可能出現(xiàn)故障，軟件也可能會(huì)有問(wèn)題，這些都是我們必須面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)。”
O’Connor 并不是自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的反對(duì)者，也從不曾否認(rèn)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車在顯著減少道路事故、傷害和死亡人數(shù)方面的潛力。事實(shí)上，O’Connor 是一名貨真價(jià)實(shí)的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車倡導(dǎo)者，而且他對(duì)汽車碰撞測(cè)試領(lǐng)域及相關(guān)分析工具的深入了解和豐富經(jīng)驗(yàn)，非常有助于行業(yè)解決圍繞自動(dòng)駕駛汽車乘客安全的相關(guān)挑戰(zhàn)。在接受《汽車工程》采訪時(shí)，O’Connor 指出，如今汽車行業(yè)許多項(xiàng)目的情景規(guī)劃都基于每年3.7萬(wàn)名車禍死亡人數(shù)，而僅在美國(guó)每年就會(huì)發(fā)生 600 萬(wàn)起各類交通事故。
“隨著自動(dòng)駕駛汽車在道路中的比例越來(lái)越高，我們必須始終注意乘客安全的問(wèn)題，”O’Connor說(shuō)，“我們都見(jiàn)過(guò)一些創(chuàng)新自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的座椅排布，特別是在一些車展上的概念車中。這些創(chuàng)新座椅的共同特點(diǎn)是乘客都是面對(duì)面排列的。很顯然，這是因?yàn)闆](méi)人需要再駕駛汽車或關(guān)注道路情況了。而這，就是第一大挑戰(zhàn)。”
展望未來(lái)
事實(shí)上，O’Connor 提到的座椅設(shè)計(jì)并不新鮮。自 20 世紀(jì) 50 年代的“噴氣式飛機(jī)時(shí)代”和 60 年代的“太空時(shí)代”以來(lái)，這種座椅就已經(jīng)為公眾所熟知。比如，通用汽車公司曾展示過(guò)Motorama 和 Futurama 概念車，可以沿著部署在高速公路下的電磁線路進(jìn)行無(wú)人駕駛，而車上的乘客則在無(wú)憂無(wú)慮地打牌、吃飯或聊天。這樣的場(chǎng)景已經(jīng)在公眾心中留下了不可磨滅的印象。
但 O’Connor 也同時(shí)指出，要想讓自動(dòng)駕駛汽車真正實(shí)現(xiàn)無(wú)障礙和無(wú)事故的行駛，我們還需要多年的工程、科學(xué)和安全系統(tǒng)測(cè)試。與此同時(shí)，還必須解決許多技術(shù)障礙。
舉個(gè)例子，自動(dòng)駕駛穿梭巴士或 SAE 4 級(jí)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車（乘客面對(duì)面乘坐）是否將給車輛的安全測(cè)試、測(cè)試標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和更專業(yè)的 ATD 開(kāi)發(fā)帶來(lái)新的挑戰(zhàn)？
O’Connor 進(jìn)一步解釋說(shuō)，“假設(shè)你坐在一個(gè)靠背保持在 23 度的汽車座椅上，這也是現(xiàn)有測(cè)試過(guò)程中的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)座椅靠背角度。這時(shí)，你希望將座椅靠背繼續(xù)下推至 33 度或 43 度嗎？這種調(diào)整可能并不算太大，但事實(shí)上，每增加一次角度，車上乘客受傷的概率都將急劇上升。”
更夸張的調(diào)整還包括直接改變座椅的朝向和角度，或者讓座椅向側(cè)面傾斜，而這種座椅在想象中的自動(dòng)駕駛的世界里是非常普遍的。
O’Connor 提出，在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)可能將出現(xiàn)一種全新的場(chǎng)景。想象一下，你正乘坐一輛自動(dòng)穿梭巴士前往機(jī)場(chǎng)，你的座位靠近車輛中部，朝向與車輛的行駛方向相反，就像乘火車一樣。這種情況下，一旦發(fā)生事故，你的頭將直接暴露在正面碰撞區(qū)。與此同時(shí)，與你一起乘坐巴士的另一名乘客則將自己的座椅調(diào)整至面向車窗的角度，希望能更好地欣賞沿途的風(fēng)景。很顯然，這位乘客的情況也可能非常危險(xiǎn)。
在此背景下，車輛的整個(gè)結(jié)構(gòu)都必須重新設(shè)計(jì)，以應(yīng)對(duì)最嚴(yán)重的車禍沖擊。
“這不是一件簡(jiǎn)單的事情，”O’Connor 繼續(xù)說(shuō)道，“舉個(gè)例子，自動(dòng)出租車制造商 Zoox 推出的產(chǎn)品共有四個(gè)座椅，一排兩個(gè)，兩兩相對(duì)，汽車可以向前或向后行駛。在這種座椅排布下，單單是調(diào)整座椅靠背角度，都可能會(huì)顯著增加人員在事故中受傷的概率。
“更重要的是，在自動(dòng)駕駛行程中，乘客更容易放下座椅靠背，因?yàn)樗麄兺耆槐夭傩穆窙r或駕駛，完全可以躺著看電影或睡一會(huì)。”O’Connor 表示，“我們必須好好研究這些車輛概念，從而真正保證車輛的整體安全性，這已經(jīng)刻不容緩了，我們必須在早期設(shè)計(jì)階段參與進(jìn)來(lái)。”
重新思考碰撞測(cè)試
Humanetics 公司的總部位于密歇根州法明頓山。公司首席執(zhí)行官 O’Connor 表示，Humanetics每年可以生產(chǎn)大約 250 部 ATD 設(shè)備。事實(shí)上，ATD設(shè)備的成本非常高昂，每個(gè)型號(hào)都必須經(jīng)過(guò) 10 到 15 年的開(kāi)發(fā)，然后還需要通過(guò) NHTSA、NCAP 及各種政府機(jī)構(gòu)的漫長(zhǎng)審批。根據(jù)具體設(shè)備不同，一款 ATD 設(shè)備的成本最高甚至可以達(dá)到 80萬(wàn)美元。目前，Humanetics 公司的主要市場(chǎng)在美國(guó)以外地區(qū)，占公司總銷售額的 75%。
O’Connor 的工程師一直與自動(dòng)駕駛汽車OEM保持著非常緊密的合作，積極針對(duì)這些異于傳統(tǒng)的座椅配置，打造專門的測(cè)試流程。“我們對(duì)此非常主動(dòng)。事實(shí)上，為了實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)目標(biāo)，我們拿出了公司最新最先進(jìn)的THOR 系列測(cè)試假人，并對(duì)其進(jìn)行修改，使其更加適合自動(dòng)駕駛汽車測(cè)試。”O’Connor表示，“這點(diǎn)非常重要，因?yàn)樵谛滦妥闻帕邢拢瑐鹘y(tǒng)安全帶和安全氣囊能發(fā)揮的作用都相對(duì)有限。”
O’Connor 表示，“所有原廠都明白，未來(lái)他們將不得不調(diào)整，甚至完全重新設(shè)計(jì)這些安全系統(tǒng)。因此，他們也需要合適的測(cè)試設(shè)備完成評(píng)估工作。”
O’Connor 預(yù)測(cè)，新的 THOR系列將用于下一代 NCAP 新車評(píng)估循環(huán)測(cè)試，及 NHTSA 的最新傾斜測(cè)試循環(huán)。在最新的測(cè)試流程下，被測(cè)車輛必須在靜止?fàn)顟B(tài)下，接受時(shí)速 56 英里（90公里/小時(shí)）滑車的側(cè)面撞擊，撞擊面積對(duì)為正面碰撞的35%，碰撞角度則互為 15 度。在這個(gè)場(chǎng)景下，車上乘客很容易從安全帶等保護(hù)設(shè)備中甩出。很顯然，這種測(cè)試可以為未來(lái)的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車結(jié)構(gòu)、客艙和安全系統(tǒng)設(shè)計(jì)提供非常有價(jià)值的信息。
目前，隨著汽車原廠紛紛投入自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的發(fā)展浪潮，O’Connor 及其團(tuán)隊(duì)也開(kāi)始為歐盟的 2020 年 NCAP 循環(huán)測(cè)試進(jìn)行準(zhǔn)備。據(jù)了解，新的測(cè)試循環(huán)流程全面修改了車輛的安全評(píng)級(jí)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，增加了很多新的測(cè)試與評(píng)估項(xiàng)目，并且修改了與當(dāng)前測(cè)試相關(guān)的評(píng)分條件，與NHTSA 提議的 NCAP 循環(huán)測(cè)試項(xiàng)目比較類似。
“過(guò)去，美國(guó)在汽車安全方面一直處于全球領(lǐng)先地位。然而，在過(guò)去 10 年里，由于其他市場(chǎng)在行人保護(hù)及其他關(guān)鍵測(cè)試方面的要求更加嚴(yán)格，我們已經(jīng)不再具備優(yōu)勢(shì)了。”O’Connor 直言道，“最近的美國(guó) NCAP 測(cè)試循環(huán)議案將是我們迎頭趕上，甚至重新占據(jù)領(lǐng)先優(yōu)勢(shì)的機(jī)會(huì)。”
正是出于這個(gè)原因，目前，Humanetics 牽頭了一個(gè)私企聯(lián)盟，專門解決一些自動(dòng)駕駛汽車獨(dú)有的安全問(wèn)題，例如自動(dòng)駕駛汽車特殊的座椅排列可能帶來(lái)的安全隱患。顯而易見(jiàn)，無(wú)論是 Humanetics，還是聯(lián)盟中的其他成員公司，私營(yíng)企業(yè)已經(jīng)開(kāi)始主動(dòng)解決一些傳統(tǒng)意義上應(yīng)該由政府出面解決的問(wèn)題。
“我們必須立刻行動(dòng)，”O’Connor 表示，“我們是虛擬測(cè)試的大力支持者，而且一直在向原始設(shè)備制造商提供各種虛擬計(jì)算機(jī)模型，幫助他們?cè)谡嬲龁?dòng)真實(shí)碰撞測(cè)試前，進(jìn)行充分的模擬測(cè)試。然而，我們也明白，只有通過(guò)實(shí)車測(cè)試，才能確保測(cè)試結(jié)果準(zhǔn)確無(wú)誤，且能達(dá)到預(yù)期的結(jié)果。”
THOR 測(cè)試假人家族
目前，Humanetics公司的 THOR-50M 系列是業(yè)內(nèi)最先進(jìn)的正向碰撞 ATD 設(shè)備。THOR 是 Test device for HumanOccupant Restraints 的首字母縮略，即人類乘客約束系統(tǒng)測(cè)試裝置；后綴 50M 中的M 表示男性（Male）、50 則表示中位數(shù)水平。目前，THOR 系列中的產(chǎn)品劃分越來(lái)越精密。這些假人經(jīng)過(guò)專門設(shè)計(jì)，可以承受嚴(yán)重撞擊并提供重要數(shù)據(jù)。目前，THOR 家族已經(jīng)取代了上世紀(jì) 80 年代同樣由 Humanetics 公司開(kāi)發(fā)的 Hybrid-3 系列假人。
公司首席執(zhí)行官O’Connor 介紹說(shuō)，盡管最新版本的 Hybrid-3 假人已經(jīng)裝配了高達(dá) 20 個(gè)傳感器，“但以今天的技術(shù)來(lái)看，它已經(jīng)是老古董了。”
THOR系列產(chǎn)品的設(shè)計(jì)則更加人性化，可以提供更高的生物逼真度、動(dòng)態(tài)響應(yīng)性、可重復(fù)性和耐用性，內(nèi)部數(shù)據(jù)采集系統(tǒng)能夠提供高達(dá) 150 條信息渠道，專門用于評(píng)估事故傷害。
Humanetics公司 THOR 家族中的最新成員，是一款經(jīng)過(guò)專門設(shè)計(jì)的女性假人（如圖所示），可以更加精確地評(píng)估從生理方面更易因事故受傷甚至死亡的女性乘客的安全。目前，除了這款女性假人，Humanetics 公司THOR 家族中的“定制”ATD 產(chǎn)品還包括“老年”假人和“肥胖”假人等。事實(shí)上，此類人群在車禍中的表現(xiàn)都與中位數(shù)男性有很大不同，因此這些“定制”假人具有非常重要的意義。
“目前，‘老年’假人的設(shè)計(jì)主要是基于一名 70 歲女性的數(shù)據(jù)，”O’Connor解釋道，“‘她’看起來(lái)有點(diǎn)胖，這在老年人中非常常見(jiàn)，可以為車內(nèi)約束系統(tǒng)的安全設(shè)計(jì)提供非常重要的數(shù)據(jù)。”
O’Connor表示，數(shù)據(jù)顯示，老年人在車禍中更易于死于肝臟或脾臟破裂。此外，老年人在車禍中受傷和死亡的概率更高，而且通常不會(huì)在事故中當(dāng)場(chǎng)死亡，而是更容易在幾天后死于內(nèi)部器官破裂。
O’Connor指出，“我們不僅調(diào)整了‘老年’假人的腹部設(shè)計(jì)，甚至定制了內(nèi)部器官。”O’Connor 表示，“這將有助于確定車輛安全約束裝置或汽車構(gòu)件是否會(huì)導(dǎo)致老年人的器官損傷，甚至是最終死亡。”
A few years ago, Chris O’Connor started to notice a common talking point emerging from within the many autonomous vehicle conferences and meetings he was attending.
“It seemed that many people in the industry, and those in Congress, were saying: ‘With autonomous cars, we won’t have traffic accidents anymore,’” noted O’Connor, the CEO of Humanetics Innovative Solutions, the leading developer of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), commonly known as crash-test dummies. “And since there won’t be crashes, we will no longer have to worry about occupant safety,” he recalled many pronouncing.
At the time, AVs were just emerging as The Next Revolution in mobility. Industry leaders and policymakers alike were being seduced by the growing hype—that self-driving vehicles will eliminate virtually all road accidents.
“Since then, of course, we’ve all come to realize such statements are ridiculous,” O’Connor said. “There will be crashes involving autonomous vehicles. They will have electronic systems that will fail, and software problems. These are realities we’ll have to face.”
Connor is not a critic of AV technology and its potential to significantly reduce road crashes, injuries and fatalities. In fact, he’s a vocal advocate whose deep knowledge of and experience in the vehicle crash-testing sector and the analysis tools used in the industry is helping to bring the emerging challenges around AV occupant safety into practical focus. Speaking with Automotive Engineering, he is quick to point out that much of the industry’s scenario planning is being done based on an occurrence of approximately 37,000 annual fatalities—while six million accidents of all types occur every year in the U.S. alone.
“We cannot stop thinking about occupant safety as autonomous vehicles become more common on our roads,” O’Connor asserted. “We’ve all seen some of the seating layouts for AVs, particularly within the concept cars at shows. They feature passengers sitting facing one another, because no one needs to drive or focus attention on the road. That’s challenge number one.”
Future visions
The passenger compartment to which he refers is not new. It’s been capturing the public’s imagination since the “jet age” 1950s and the “space age” 1960s, when General Motors showed its Motorama and Futurama concept cars gliding driverless along electromagnetic wires embedded in the highway. The occupants of these futuristic cars sat playing cards, dining, or chatting. Such images became indelible in the public’s mind.
But the truly hassle-free and nearly accident-free reality will require years’ more engineering, science, and safety systems testing, O’Connor notes. In the meantime, many technical hurdles must be solved.
What will an autonomous shuttle, for example, or SAE Level 4 vehicle with their occupants riding facing each other, present to vehicle safety testing, the standards behind the testing, and the development of even more specialized ATDs?
“Let’s say you’re sitting in a car seat that has its backrest position set at 23 degrees. There is currently a standard test for that seating position. Recline the seat to 33 degrees or 43 degrees; this is not an extreme difference, yet your rate of injury could go up dramatically under each of these circumstances,” he said.
Then spin the seat around so it’s facing in the opposite direction. Or angle it sideways. These positions are being portrayed as common and acceptable in the new world of autonomous driving.
O’Connor suggests another likely scenario in the not-too-distant future: traveling in an autonomous shuttle heading to the airport. You’re seated in a middle row seat that’s facing the rear of the vehicle, like riding in a train. In this position, your head is directly facing the frontal crash zone. At the same time, one of your co-riders sharing the shuttle has rotated her seat, as it was designed to do, around to the side so she can watch the scenery pass by.
With such a vehicle, the entire structure will have to be re-envisioned completely—to cope with worst-case impact scenarios.
“It’s not a simple thing,” O’Connor continued. “Look at the [robot taxi maker] Zoox model. Their car has a quad seating configuration where the two rows of seats are facing each other. The car can travel forward or backward, it doesn’t matter. Reclining the seat alone, in such a configuration, has the potential to be more dangerous.
“You’re more apt to recline the seat in an AV because you don’t have to pay attention to the road; you’re watching a movie or want to take a nap,” he noted. “These vehicle concepts have to be studied, and now is the time to consider the overall safety, in the early design phase.”
Rethinking crash testing
Based in Farmington Hills, Mich., Humanetics manufactures about 250 ATDs per year, O’Connor said. Each model can take 10-15 years of development, followed by extensive approval processes at NHTSA, NCAP, and various government agencies, and can cost up to $800,000 each, depending on equipment. About 75% of the company’s sales are outside the U.S.
O’Connor’s engineers have been working with the OEMs to create test procedures for the unconventional, often out-of-position seating configurations of AVs. “We’re being very proactive about this. We’re taking our latest and most advanced THOR dummy [see sidebar] and modifying it for autonomous vehicle testing,” he said. “Because in these altered seating configurations, the traditional safety belts and airbag restraints will not work effectively.
“The OEMs all know they are going to have to modify and rethink these systems and they need a proper test device to evaluate them,” he said.
O’Connor predicts that the new THOR series will be used in the next-generation NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), as well as in NHTSA’s new oblique testing protocol. Under these new guidelines, a stationary vehicle will be struck by a crash sled at 56 mph (90 km/h) with a 35% overlap, and the test vehicles positioned at a 15-degree angle relative to each other. In this scenario, vehicle occupants are easily tossed out of position from the restraint system—offering valuable insights for the design of future AV structures, cabin, and safety systems.
With AV development moving rapidly at a growing list of vehicle OEMs, O’Connor and his team are also working on developments to prepare for European NCAP’s 2020 program. The new protocols include a comprehensive revamp of safety ratings, with numerous new tests and assessments added, and the scores associated with the current tests modified. Euro NCAP 2020 is similar to NHTSA’s proposed NCAP program.
“In the past, the U.S. led the way in automotive safety. However, in the last 10 years we’ve lost that lead to other regions, as other markets continued to add pedestrian protection and other critical tests and higher standards,” O’Connor asserted. “The proposed new U.S. NCAP is the chance for the U.S. not only to catch up, but to move ahead.”
For this reason, Humanetics is currently leading a consortium of private enterprises to address safety issues specific to autonomous vehicles, such as non-traditional seating positions within these cars. This is notable for Humanetics and other consortium members, as it shows private industry is voluntarily taking a proactive lead in addressing issues which have traditionally been government’s domain.
“We have to move at a high rate of speed,” O’Connor stated. “We’re a big proponent of virtual testing and we make all virtual-dummy computer models available to the OEMs, to help them run simulations in advance of actual crash tests. However, only by testing the physical product can we be sure the test is being done correctly and the expected results are achieved.”
Meet the THORs
The industry’s newest state-of-the-art frontal crash ATD is Humanetics’ THOR-50M. The acronym stands for Test device for Human Occupant Restraints; the suffix indicates 50th percentile male. It’s one of an extensive family of increasingly sophisticated human replicants engineered to endure severe impacts and deliver vital data. THOR replaces the previous Hybrid-3 dummy, developed by Humanetics in the 1980s.
Although the latest iteration of Hybrid-3 has been updated with up to 20 sensors, “it’s really primitive compared with the technologies available today,” CEO Chris O’Connor explained.
The primary design objectives for the more human-like THOR included greater biofidelity, dynamic response, repeatability and durability. Its internal data-acquisition systems, capable of delivering up to 150 channels of information, are specific to injury assessment.
The latest Humanetics’ THOR model (shown) is a female version, designed to ensure better protection for women who are physiologically more prone to crash-related injuries and fatalities than men. The female THOR joins other specially tailored Humanetics ATDs, including models for elderly and obese people, who also experience automobile accidents differently than the 50th-percentile male.
“We made the elderly dummy proportionally correct based on data for a 70-year-old woman,” O’Connor explained. “‘She’ looks a little obese, but it’s exactly average. This is very important for restraint systems.”
He said data show more elderly fatalities result from a liver or spleen being ruptured. And not only are injury and fatality rates higher for the elderly, but the deaths typically don’t happen at the time of the accident but rather days later as a result of internal organ ruptures.
“We instrumented not only the abdomen [in the new elderly THOR] but also the organs,” O’Connor noted. “This is important for determining whether a restraint device or part of the car is causing an organ injury and ultimately the death of a senior person.” –L.B.
Author: Lindsay Brooke
Source: SAE Autonomous Vehicle Engineering
來(lái)自美國(guó)電力公用事業(yè)公司的1960年經(jīng)典雜志廣告預(yù)測(cè)了自動(dòng)駕駛的未來(lái)，但當(dāng)時(shí)廣告中的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車是“有線”自動(dòng)駕駛汽車，也就是必須沿著高速公路下鋪設(shè)的線路行駛。當(dāng)時(shí)的廣告文本如下：“未來(lái)，公路將不再危險(xiǎn)！沒(méi)有堵車…沒(méi)有車禍…駕駛員也不再疲勞，一切只因有了電力?！贝送猓丝鸵膊槐叵拗圃谧约旱淖簧?。
Humanetics 首席執(zhí)行官 Chris O’Connor 及公司最新產(chǎn)品“肥胖”假人（紅色背心）和“老年”假人。與標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的 Hybrid-III 中位成年男性假人相比，專用于碰撞測(cè)試的THOR 假人的生物仿真特征得到了明顯增強(qiáng)，數(shù)據(jù)采集能力也有了顯著提升。
塔塔汽車全新 Nexon 緊湊 SUV在 2018 年全球 NCAP 碰撞測(cè)試中的情形。最終，Nexon 在成人組和兒童組乘客安全評(píng)級(jí)中分別獲得了四顆星和三顆星。
THOR 家族中的最新“女性成員”。我們不僅可以看到內(nèi)部構(gòu)造細(xì)節(jié)，甚至可以拉開(kāi)拉鏈，直接觀察假人內(nèi)部的數(shù)據(jù)采集“器官”。