I-Corps: Vehicle Lane-Keeping Through Pavement-Assisted Passive Sensing

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology that seeks to enhance road safety for drivers and prevent future accidents by limiting vehicle lane departures because of distracted or impaired drivers. This technology also reduces lane departures and accidents in adverse weather conditions when drivers or lane-keeping technologies fail because they cannot see the edges of the lanes. The proposed activity may lead to more rapid adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles in the future.This I-Corps project is based on the development of continuous electromagnetic (EM) signatures within or on top of paving materials (asphalt or concrete) to complement existing vehicle lane-keeping capabilities. The technology will enable better vehicle-to-pavement passive communication in normal and adverse weather conditions. The EM signature is created by embedding small amounts of metallic materials into the existing pavement materials at specific lateral locations thereby changing the magnetic permeability of the target location. By changing the lateral magnetic properties in the lane, inexpensive vehicle sensors can detect their lateral position with significant accuracy. This technology may be applied during new roadway construction or during the repair of existing roadways and can function in any type of weather conditions. Since improvements in vehicle safety require knowing and maintaining the vehicle position within the lane, the innovation can significantly reduce lane departures that lead to fatal accidents.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.