The introduction of autonomous cars will help to improve road traffic safety, and the use of a cargo trailer improves the energy efficiency of transport. One of the critical (collision) road situations has been considered, where immediate counteraction is required in a space that has been only partly defined. This research work was aimed at determining the impact of the trajectory planning method and the values of some parameters of the control system on the feasibility of safe avoidance of an obstacle that has suddenly appeared. The obstacle is assumed to be a motor vehicle moving on a road intersection along a collision path in relation to the autonomous car-trailer unit (CT unit) travelling at high speed. Analysis of cooperation between several non-linear models (representing the car, trailer, tyre–road interaction, and driving controller) has been carried out. Mathematical models of the control system and the CT unit have been built. The process of selection of temporary and variable parameters, applied to the control system for the time of the critical situation under consideration, has been shown. The research work carried out has made it possible to recommend appropriate parameter values for the control system.

The kinematics of the process of deformation of the motorcar body side in the culminating phase of a front-to-side vehicle collision has been examined as a possible basis for analyzing and modeling the process of emergence of a hazard to car occupants during a road accident. The course of such accidents has a complex nature and their models are necessarily based on the approximation of non-linear elastoplastic characteristics of impact processes, especially during the transition from the compression phase to the restitution phase of the deformation process. For such characteristics to be obtained, a lot of experimental tests have to be carried out. This paper addresses the short-duration processes with a high degree of complexity.A front-to-side motorcar collision model has been prepared, which made it possible to analyze the process of deformation of the car body side and the emergence of a hazard and injuries to car occupants. The results of calculation of the deformation rate and range in various car body zones, velocity of the test dummy placed on driver’s seat and velocity of possible dummy’s impact against the car body side being deformed may be taken as a basis for designing effective occupant protection systems. The kinematics of the phase of vehicle contact and deformation process was modeled with taking into account results of experimental tests, including the curves characterizing the largely non-linear processes that are decisive for the deformation of the car body side. The deformation processes analyzed on these grounds showed at the same time the range of penetration of the deformed body part into the car interior, which causes a hazard to vehicle occupants. The calculation results have shown e.g. that the car body side is deformed to a depth of 0.2 m as quickly as within 0.02–0.03 s. At such a car body side deformation range, the car body part being deformed hits occupant’s body in his/her hips and pelvis area with a velocity of about 6 m/s.

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The effects of a road accident where one vehicle hits its front on the side of another one are explored. In such cases, the impacted vehicle’s side is usually significantly deformed, which causes a risk of serious injury to vehicle occupants. An analysis of the front-to-side collision covers many nonlinear and highly complex processes, especially when it is based on the collision energy balance. For the analysis, a model of a front-to-side motorcar collision and a dummy representing the impacted vehicle’s driver was prepared. The model simulations carried out were supplemented with important experimental test results. The model validation and the drawing of conclusions from research results were based on crash test results. The shares of major components in the front-to-side collision energy balance were determined. The impact energy has been proposed as an alternative predicate of the road accident effects; as a measure of the effects, the risk of injury to vehicle occupant’s head and torso is considered. The model simulations were found to be in good conformity with experimental test results. The research results enabled determining the relation between the side impact energy and the risk of dummy’s head and torso injuries according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale. The relation obtained was approximated using the logit model. This relation helps to reconstruct road accidents and to improve the car side’s passive safety systems. A discussion of the results obtained has shown good consistence between the results of this work and other comparable research results.