Increasing safety for electric cars and pedestrians
An interdisciplinary research group at Virginia Tech is using an award of $550,000 to create a virtual environment to test safety measures for the interaction between electric vehicles (EVs) and pedestrians. The award is an 18-month project funded by the Safety through Disruption (Safe-D) University Transportation Center.
EVs brought a significant change to the automotive world when Toyota started mass production of the Prius hybrid in 1997. The Prius engine and many like it introduced a combination of both gas and electric power. This gave the horsepower of gasoline when it was needed, engaging all-electric mode at other times to conserve fuel and reduce emissions.