VIRTUS - Minimizing Injury Risk by Integrating Predictive Crash Analyses for Active Vehicle Trajectory Control
Subproject: Human-Centered System Validation
Projects Partners
Funding
Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space
Grant Number: 03VP13843
Duration
July 1st 2026 to June 30th 2029
Topics
Accident statistics from the past 10 years show that 75–85% of road users who suffer serious or fatal injuries in major German cities are pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists (vulnerable road users; VRUs), despite only about one out of ten traffic accidents involves a VRU. Although the absolute number of fatalities shows a downward trend, these proportions indicate an urgent and ongoing need for action.
In VIRTUS, based on vehicle-mounted sensors and using data-driven modeling approaches, efforts to minimize VRU injury risks will be tested for the first time through automated and targeted interventions in the vehicle’s longitudinal and lateral control. Method validation is carried out using a interconnected test bed network. This test environment allows for the integration of the driving function into a real-world vehicle environment as well as the realistic simulation of critical scenarios involving different road users while meeting all safety and ethical requirements.
The AHF is responsible for the human-centered system validation of the algorithms and examines system effectiveness while taking into account intuitive VRU behavior, user acceptance, and the interaction between drivers and the driving function.
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