Improving Emergency Vehicles' Response Times with the Use of Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence

摘要

The rapid mobilization of Emergency Services (ES) could be particularly challenging for ES drivers and staff that have to navigate and manoeuvre through various traffic and weather conditions. Driving, in high speeds through dense traffic is a particularly demanding psychomotor task for the ES drivers and could result in collisions and even fatalities. Current attempts to support the driver and reduce the potential driving hazards had limited success. The paper presents the design rationale of a prototype system that utilises Augmented Reality (AR) in the form of a Head-Up Display (HUD) to superimpose guidance information in the real-life environment. The paper will discuss also the requirements for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that could analyse the driving conditions and present the best manoeuvring options whilst maintain the road users' safety. Finally, the paper presents the requirements' framework for the development of the proposed AR/AI system based on the feedback and suggestions of ten ES drivers. Their feedback will be presented and discussed in detail as it provided essential insight into the everyday challenges of ES operations.