Call for papers: Special issue on Signal Processing for Smart Vehicle Technologies

The invention of the automobile transformed how people live, work, and interact in society. Today, with an ever increasing number of in-vehicle options/activities, as well as the increasing demands being placed on the driver, vehicle platform, and transportation infrastructure, more is being asked of engineers, designers, scientists, and transportation specialists.

Signal processing is playing an increasingly substantial role in this domain, including such general topics as monitoring driver distraction, vehicle lane/control detection/tracking, driver assistance through autonomous platforms, and vehicle infrastructure support and planning/monitoring. The diversity of these problems requires a more collaborative effort from engineers and scientists from a diverse set of specialties.   The impact to society is massive, including such broad aspects as (i) safety, (ii) commerce {i.e., sales and support/maintenance of vehicles}, (iii) energy costs {i.e., fossil fuel consumption, etc.}, and  (iv) population mobility for effective traffic management.  How will signal processing advance today’s vehicles into “smart” cars that are able to think and contribute to the task of operating a vehicle? What safety concerns are there in moving from a 100% driver-controlled vehicle, to driver assistive technologies (e.g., cruise control, assistive braking, lane departure monitoring, etc.), to full autonomous driving? Many new and emerging challenges arise and need to be addressed in collaborative ways.

The goal of this special issue is to open the door for discussion and review the current state of the art in signal processing for smart vehicle technology, as well as potentially bridging a number of sub-fields including experts in cognitive psychology who deal with how and why we drive the way we do, to control system experts that employ signal processing to deal with vehicle dynamics and connecting the vehicle’s controls to better support the driver’s capabilities. This special issue provides a venue for summarizing, educating and sharing the state of the art in signal processing applied to the domain of automotive systems.