Authors:
James E. Trollope
and
Keith J. Burnham
Affiliation:
Coventry University, United Kingdom
Keyword(s):
Active Control, Automotive Industry, Collision Mitigation, Lightweight Vehicles, Smart Materials and Structures.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics
;
Robotics and Automation
;
Vehicle Control Applications
Abstract:
The paper challenges the current state-of-the-art which is accepted by the automotive industry. Present day vehicles are unsophisticatedly over-engineered and, as a consequence, are uneconomic, hence unsustainable. Vehicles currently under development, however, offer tremendous opportunities for shifting from this position to include onboard active safety systems, e.g. collision avoidance. It is argued that future vehicles should be significantly lighter and exploit the developing safety features to the full. Indeed, such a development would reduce the existing need for crashworthiness. The above arguments coupled with parallel developments in smart materials, paves the way towards a new generation of actively controlled vehicle architecture design. Whilst the move to lighter vehicles, with onboard active safety systems and actively controlled structures, may be seen as controversial, there is a convincing case for a paradigm shift towards a truly sustainable transport future.