About the project

Objective

P.E.A.R.S. is an open consortium (established in 2012 as Harmonization Group) in which engineers and researchers from the automotive industry, research institutes and academia join with the objective to develop a comprehensible, reliable, transparent, and accepted methodology for quantitative assessment of crash avoidance technology by virtual simulation. The focus of P.E.A.R.S. is on the development of an ISO standard for the prospective assessment of traffic safety for vehicle-integrated active safety technologies by means of virtual simulation.

Impact | Prospective Effectiveness Analysis for Road Safety

Active safety technology (Active Safety and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems | ADAS) are widely being developed and introduced into the market. The question that goes along with the development and introduction is, which impact these technologies have on road traffic and especially, to what extent these technologies are preventing crashes and injuries. Such questions are of relevance for different stakeholders, such as vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, road authorities, research organisations and academia, politics, insurance companies as well as consumer organisations.

The prospective assessment of traffic safety is limited to “vehicle-integrated” technology and does not consider technologies operating off-board. The virtual simulation method per se is not limited to a certain vehicle type. Although often the main focus is on passenger cars, the method is also applicable to powered two-wheelers as well as heavy good vehicles. Furthermore, the assessment approach that is subject of P.E.A.R.S. focuses on accident avoidance and the mitigation of the consequences in the pre-crash phase. Safety technologies that act in the in-crash or the post-crash phase are not explicitly addressed by P.E.A.R.S.

The lessons learned in the assessment of active safety technologies are used to extend the method to other technologies that are not necessarily directly traffic safety-related, such as automated driving, or operate based on information from other traffic participants, such as V2X based technologies.

Work plan

Each half a year, a General Assembly is organized for all P.E.A.R.S. partners to discuss the results of our activities and to plan activities for the next year. Usually, the General Assembly meeting is organized at the premises of one of the partners. The activities have resulted in a DRAFT ISO Technical Report with an overview of the state-of-the-art in the prospective assessment of road safety for vehicle-integrated (active) safety technologies by means of virtual simulation. In the report, the following subjects are covered: