Active blind spot crash avoidance system: A haptic solution to blind spot collisions

Blind spots are a nuisance of everyday driving that cause a significant number of accidents every year. Current blind spot systems mainly take advantage of visual feedback for the driver. However, an active blind spot system physically involves the driver to help reduce the number of overall accidents. In this paper, a force-feedback gas pedal and a force-feedback steering wheel are used in conjunction with a driving simulator to improve upon existing blind spot detection and avoidance systems. Preliminary human testing results show that by adding an active blind spot crash avoidance system to the already visual blind spot light can help to reduce the number of collisions.