Automated Vehicles and the Readiness of Western Australian roads (Phase 2): Suitability of WA roads for Lane Departure Warning systems

Abstract

As a follow-on from a previous study: Automated Vehicles and the Readiness of Western Australian roads (Mackenzie et al., 2018), the aim of this project was to investigate the suitability of lane markings in remote areas of Western Australia (WA) for lane departure warning (LDW) systems. Specifically, lane markings at sites that had the presence of red pindan (a red dust in Northern WA) were investigated during both day and night conditions. An assessment of various lane markings at 19 sites along a section of the Great Northern Highway, starting approximately 80 km south of Newman and ending at Port Hedland in Western Australia was performed using a vehicle equipped with a lane departure warning (LDW) system during eight days of on-road trials. Lane marking crossing events were performed at each site by initially travelling at the speed limit in the centre of the lane and then instigating a drift to the left or right. A video system with two cameras, one viewing the wheel approaching the lane marking of interest and one viewing the vehicle’s dashboard, was used to record whether a warning was triggered for each crossing event. Overall, there were 1,254 legitimate crossing events, with a further 30 that were deemed to be incorrectly performed. Of the legitimate crossing events, 1,250 (99.7%) gave an accurate warning, with a total of 4 (0.3%) warning failures. The warning failures were unable to be attributed to any constant characteristic of the lane marking or road environment. Performance in night conditions had a 100% warning activation accuracy and the presence of red pindan did not seem to influence the LDW system. One area of concern was the confusion caused for the LDW system generated by pseudo lines (black painted lines over previous lane markings). The findings of this study show that the lane markings tested on the remote WA roads provided a sufficient basis for the LDW system to provide appropriate warnings during line-crossing events, however, further testing is required in order for this to be conclusively demonstrated.