Summary:

Up until now, many steps were taken to reduce the number of traffic fatalities and car accidents. These fatalities are a result of driver carelessness, bad construction of roads, and sometimes bad weather, leading to both minor and major crashes. To reduce this number, technology has played a major role by inventing and innovating different safety mechanisms working along with lawmakers to pass laws. The product being proposed is to help in the process of saving the victims of traffic fatalities by automating the emergency response. The Product is called a Two Way Emergency Unit, TWEU which helps people who have gotten into a traffic accident by automatically calling the emergency services and starts recording from both the front and back cameras’ of the car in case of a hit and run. Both of these functions work synchronously using an app as an intermediate for all the data and can be turned on and off according to the preference of the customer. TWEU works by using the mandatory airbag sensors as a trigger to start its functions and send all the data to the phone to be utilized. Since the airbag sensors are already present in cars, a microcontroller and small wide-angle cameras need to be fitted if not already present to connect to the app. The initial investment for each car will be around $46 or less, and the overall investment for the app on both Android and iOS will be around $150,000.

Introduction:

Traffic accidents have always been a problem since the invention of cars. Throughout the decades, more and more traffic laws and regulations have been passed to handle the overwhelming amount of traffic incidents, leading to both personal and property damage. However, very few things have been done for victims in crashes. Results show that car crashes have gone down over the years, but the reason has gone up significantly towards driver carelessness and inattention (Digus, 2016). This is not only a major problem for drivers but also for the public (Sundfor, 2020). According to the U.S Department of Transportation, an estimated 36,120 people have died in motor vehicle accidents, with inattention being the major cause (USDOT, 2018). Research has also found that from 2005 to 2007, crash data shows the critical reason for these crashes were 94% the drivers’ fault, 2% due to vehicle issues, and the rest due to environmental issues (Singh, 2015). The risk to the lives of people, along with almost a billion dollars’ worth of damages annually (Horrey, 2019) has led to this proposal whose goal is to save the lives of people involved in the crash and keep those responsible for the accident accountable.

To help people in these situations, this proposal aims to use already available technologies to make a more reliable safety feature for all drivers. TWEU is a set of instruments containing two cameras, a microcontroller, and a smartphone app, all connected via Bluetooth. During the crash, the Electronic Controller Unit (ECU), which calculates the level of the impact,  deploys the airbags, which will also start all of the app’s functions. This data is sent to the microcontroller, which tells the cameras to start recording and sends all the data to the smartphone using Bluetooth. The data would be used to contact emergency services, such as the police and ambulance via an automated text or voice call.

Research done into this technology has shown the functionality of the components between each other. The cameras record for 30 minutes in case there is a hit and run, where a car hits another, and drives away without reporting to officials. The cameras shut down before the data load is too much. The controller sends the sensor data first to the app and then starts sending the wide-angle low video data to the phone to be checked later. A Bluetooth controller is used in order to save money, and since the data being transported is relatively small and short, the app collects all the data and simply sends it to the officials and stores it. All of this leads to much faster and accurate emergency response, saving more people, reducing the fatality rate, and holding the people who are responsible for the incident accountable.

The aim of this proposal is solely to help the people who have gotten into an accident and need immediate help. It does not help prevent any type of motor vehicle accidents. However, the implementation of this product over a wide network and area may result in more awareness and attention towards the road when driving due to the automatically activated camera recordings.

Project Description:

All the technology used in TWEU is available in retail and wholesale markets. It can be self-installed, or be pre-installed by manufacturers. The force sensor that detects the impact of a car is already present in most cars by law, and that data just needs to reach two different places, one being the airbags, and the other tells the app to call the emergency services. The microcontroller reads a spike via the ECU in the force sensor and signals the cameras to start recording. It tells the smartphone app connected via Bluetooth 5.0 to send the person’s name, person’s phone number, GPS location, license plate, an emergency contact, and the name and color of the car in both an automated voice message and also a text to 911. It also sends the same information to an emergency contact. The controller immediately starts storing and sending all the video information to the smartphone as well. Since car cameras are not in HD, the amount of data transferred is very low, allowing it to be transferred without any issues. The app will also have a function of selecting what services to call in case of an accident, and will also be able to add personal contacts to the list to let family and friends know of the situation. The expensive part of this project will be the investment in the app, which requires negotiations for a possible partnership with a software company. Besides that, the hardware and installation are relatively cheap and simple, making it feasible for the public to use.

Figure 1: How the App is Connected

This proposal leads to drastically reducing the amount of time between a crash to the arrival of the emergency services. This will help the victim(s) reduce and recover as much damage done as possible, and at the same time track all of the people who attempt to irresponsibly flee the scene of the accident. Waiting for someone to call 911 is slow and unreliable, and at the same time dash, cams do not capture all the angles whilst costing hundreds of dollars. This product will lead to more people recovering from accidents and reduce the billions of dollars lost on personal property damages by hit and runs.

 

The force sensor output signal is divided into two halves. One leads to the airbags and the other leads to the Adafruit 2479, a microcontroller with Bluetooth. The Adafruit is preprogrammed to send the data to the phone and to signal the cameras to start recording. The app connects automatically as soon as the person enters the car, accepting and receiving all the data via Bluetooth. The app immediately blocks all current processes running on the phone screen and sends the crash data to the emergency services. It also starts taking in video data frame by frame of the wide-angle lenses that cover most of the outside view of the car. Since TWEU can be used generally in most cars by a simple installation, it can be done in masses by manufacturers and at home with simple instruction manuals.

Figure 2: Data Flow of TWEU

The major obstacle at this moment is to find a software development company that deals with all the data flow and makes the hardware and software work smoothly without any issues. An upgrade for the microcontroller may also be needed if newer cars have better cameras installed, outputting higher quality video, leading to larger sets of data to be transported. 

Budget:

Most of the money will be allocated for the investment and maintenance of the app. The app will be built for both Android and iOS and will cost on average between $100,000 to $150,000, but further negotiations are required. On the hardware side of things, the wide-angle cameras will cost around $12 each with two needed, and a set of microcontrollers with all the wirings, which will cost around $20. For an initial amount, 1000 of each of the hardware items will be purchased with the budget after testing is done, to make sure everything works perfectly. This proposal is asking for around $200,000 with the extra $6000 used for labor cost, maintenance of the app, and miscellaneous expenses.

 

Table 1: Budget Breakdown of the TWEU

Needed Resources	Cost	Quantity	Product Links
Android & iOS App	$150,000	1	To Be Negotiated
Adafruit 2479 with wiring set	$20	$1,000	https://bit.ly/2HaCiAK
Wide Angle Car Camera x 2	$24	$1,000	https://rb.gy/hhse9q
Miscellaneous	$6,000	$1
	Total =	$200,000

 

Figure 3: Pie Chart Representing the budget breakdown 

The cost of the hardware may be further reduced if they are bought directly from China in larger quantities.

Conclusion:

Vehicular accidents may have serious consequences. It might not matter when it is a minor incident but for the major ones it can be a life or death situation, costing the victims thousands of dollars. Our project is not aimed to make a profit but to help the victims of these situations. The technology being regularly available will make the final cost of the product relatively cheap to produce and manufacture, therefore resulting in a cheaper cost for the customer as well. This app is maintained regularly by the software company. The mechanism is simple and can be pre-installed or self-installed, making it an easy option for customers to get to add another level of safety for their loved ones.

 

References:

2018 Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes: Overview. (2019). Retrieved 2020, from https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812826

Bergfried, D., Mattes, B., & Rutz, M. (1990, October 01). Electronic Crash Sensors for Restraint Systems. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/901136/

Critical Reasons for Crashes Investigated in the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey. (2015). Retrieved 2020, from https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115

Dingus, T., Guo, F., Lee, S., Antin, J., Perez, M., Buchanan-King, M., & Hankey, J. (2016, March 08). Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation using naturalistic driving data. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/10/2636

Gioutsos, T. (2002, March 04). Important Issues in Crash Severity Sensing. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2002-01-0182/

Horrey, W., Tefft, B., Arnold, L., & Benson, A. (2019, May 07). Hit-and-Run Crashes: Prevalence, Contributing Factors and Countermeasures. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://aaafoundation.org/hit-and-run-crashes-prevalence-contributing-factors-and-countermeasures/

Levitt, S., & Porter, J. (1999, July 01). Sample Selection in the Estimation of Air Bag and Seat Belt Effectiveness. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.nber.org/papers/w7210

Lowy, J. (2014, May 29). Traffic accidents in the U.S. cost $871 billion a year, federal study finds. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/motor-vehicle-crashes-u-s-cost-871-billion-year-federal-study-finds

NHTSA.gov. (2015). The Economic and Societal Impact Of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2010 (Revised). Retrieved 2020, from https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812013

Singh, S. (2015, February). Critical reasons for crashes investigated in the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey. (Traffic Safety Facts Crash•Stats. Report No. DOT HS 812 115). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sundfør, H., Sagberg, F., & Høye, A. (2019, April). Inattention and distraction in fatal road crashes – Results from in-depth crash investigations in Norway. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30763812

Supriya, M. (2017). Reliable Automotive Crash Detection using Multi Sensor Decision Fusion. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor%3Asastech