♪ ♪ NARRATOR: On a stretch of tarmac on the west coast of Scotland... (handheld radio beeping) CRASH CONTROLLER: Team JLB, confirm all cars are good to go, please.

NARRATOR: For the first time ever, a team of automotive experts will attempt to create something extraordinary.

LLOYD BASS: Whoo!

We have a runner.

NARRATOR: A wildly ambitious experiment to find out how drivers react... JAMES BRIGHTON: Rolling, rolling in the F-150.

NARRATOR: ...and vehicle safety systems respond.

There is no take two.

(tires squealing) NARRATOR: Real-life multi-vehicle crash tests.

What the hell's that?

Oh my god!

CAITLAN (shouting): What is going on?

NARRATOR: But how do you design such an experiment... BRIGHTON: We can't put people in the cars because we're creating a massive collision.

NARRATOR: ...yet keep everyone safe?

(glass shattering) (squealing, metal crunching) (car beeping) I've just crashed.

♪ ♪ Frankly, we don't know what's going to happen.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: "Ultimate Crash Test: Countdown."

Right now, on "NOVA."

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Multi-vehicle pileups can be deadly.

(glass and metal crunching) Each of these highway crashes is unique, with different causes and different outcomes.

But analyzing these events is difficult.

Forensic crash investigation can only study the aftermath of these deadly incidents by picking through the debris left behind.

They rarely get to see exactly how the crash unfolded.

But what if there were a way to scientifically study something this unpredictable, complex, and dangerous?

To stage a real-life high-speed pileup without putting anyone in harm's way?

Such an experiment could produce an unprecedented amount of data on cars and their drivers.

Data that could be used to focus further automotive safety research and ultimately make safer cars and better drivers.

An experiment that would put crash analysis of a major pileup to the test, to discover just how accurate it really is.

It would be a huge engineering challenge.

But one team believes it can create a real-life high-speed pileup.

♪ ♪ It's never been done before.

It's full of technical challenges that we have to overcome.

But there will definitely be something to learn from the event as it unfolds.

(crowd shouting) NARRATOR: Making cars safer is a challenge engineers have been wrestling with since the earliest days of car design.

Your vehicle's job is not just to get you from point A to point B, it's to get you from point A to point B safely.

(metal crunching) NARRATOR: Car manufacturers strive to develop ever safer vehicles, spending billions designing cars that can perform better in laboratory crash tests.

It's a practice that was introduced by General Motors almost a century ago.

DAVID TWOHIG: They were the first to do the very basic first crash test back in 1934.

(crashing) This was really the curiosity of the GM engineers at the time to understand their product and start to improve safety.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Nowadays, organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Virginia have taken testing to the next level.

Here, within this temple of science... (smashing) ...cars are destroyed by remote control, week in, week out, all in a quest for better road safety.

The work that we do here is a lot of fun, there's a lot of opportunities to crash vehicles, destroy stuff, but it has real-world meaning.

And everything comes back to that real-world element.

The vehicle is going to come through those doors, enter the crash hall at 40 miles an hour, and strike with 40% of the vehicle's front end, the driver side, striking this part of the barrier.

NARRATOR: Before the crash, technicians apply a special grease paint to the crash test dummies that will transfer to anything they hit during the impact.

MUELLER: If this dummy hits the airbag, we're able to really see what side of the face as well as what part of the face or the legs are hitting parts of the car.

OPERATOR: Could I have an accident trigger check?

MAN (on radio): You should have it.

(beeps) Thank you.

NARRATOR: The crash car itself will have no driver but will be propelled along a track, so the vehicle can maintain a constant speed and direction.

♪ ♪ OPERATOR (on speaker): Charging is complete.

Test commence in three, two, one.

♪ ♪ (whooshing) (airbag inflating) (crunching) (glass shattering) (crunching, shattering continues) (car fragmenting) (debris falling) MUELLER: So, the dummies give us a summary sheet of their results and what injury metrics they consider would be a high risk of injuries.

And all of these indications show that both the driver and the rear passenger are looking good.

Survivable crash, low risk of injury.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: The data collected from single car laboratory crash tests help inform ever-safer vehicle design.

But how does this... (crunching) ...compare to this?

(smashing) (shattering) So, the beauty of a lab-based crash test is everything is controlled, everything is repeatable.

But unfortunately, the real world is not a laboratory, and there are many, many variables.

So I think that's the limitation of the lab.

It's almost too good.

NARRATOR: Which is where James Brighton comes in.

He's head of the Advanced Vehicle Engineering Centre at Cranfield University, 50 miles north of London.

He wants to run an experiment that will combine the crash lab with the real world by adding real drivers to a real crash.

To achieve this, James needs to come up with a plan that not only creates a realistic pileup, but also doesn't put anyone in danger.

This idea of a multi-vehicle collision isn't new.

However, the scale of this is really very large.

We need some very advanced systems that are going to work to create the collision.

But also we need some very advanced systems to be able to capture it.

NARRATOR: This experiment has several aims.

It will investigate how different cars fare in a multi-vehicle high-speed crash, analyze how ordinary drivers react when in such a nightmare situation... (beeping) and put forensic crash investigation to the test to see how accurate current accident analysis really is.

(distant sirens) All with the objective of improving our knowledge and understanding of multi-car pileups and making roads safer for all of us.

But can James and his team rise to the challenge?

TWOHIG: The automobile has created a lot of freedom, but we have created this machine which kills people, and we have a duty to try and reduce its impact and improve safety now and in the future.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: A multi-vehicle pileup needs multiple vehicles.

(door rising) so James's first job is to select the cars he wants to crash.

Eight cars will take part in the pileup, each with a different size, weight, wheelbase, and engine layout, selected to match the randomness typical of a real-world pileup.

A trailblazer of the hybrid era: the 2012 Toyota Prius.

A sporty convertible, a 2002 Porsche Boxster series 1.

A high-performance hatchback, a Volkswagen Golf GTI from 2009.

A pick-up truck, the 2012 Ford F-150.

A luxury sedan, the 2005 Audi A8.

A 2010 minivan, the seven-seat Dodge Grand Caravan.

A sport utility vehicle, the 2005 Mercedes ML.

And finally, a commercial van.

In this case, a British 2012 Vauxhall Vivaro.

BRIGHTON: The cars all have very interesting characteristics in terms of their size and their mass, and so we want to try and represent a nice broad scope of cars that would be representative of a modern highway environment.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Four of the cars will be driven by experts from James's team: Mark, Aisha, Pete, and Chunhui.

(closes car door) The other four drivers are to be specially selected from the great motoring public.

I've had a few accidents over the past few years.

I would say I'm behind the wheel seven days a week, easily.

People that can't drive well shouldn't be driving, they irritate me the most.

I don't think there should be speed limits on M25.

I'll get you to A to Z real quick.

NARRATOR: After an intensive selection process, examining driving style, experience, and psychological suitability, the team chooses four drivers.

♪ ♪ First up is American surfer, 57-year-old Tito.

TITO: The reason why I love surfing is it allows me to escape from the hustle and bustle, from... from the city life.

I come to the coast and just escape from it all and just be one with the sea.

That's what I love.

NARRATOR: Having driven in both the U.K. and the U.S., Tito believes he's developed into a confident, yet chilled out driver.

I'm not a perfect driver, but I do abide by the rules and I'm not a wild driver.

I have a car that doesn't go fast-- it's just a cruiser.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: The next driver is the least experienced road user.

CAITLAN (voiceover): My name is Caitlan, I live in Liverpool, and I'm 19.

I've been driving now for around six or seven months.

NARRATOR: In the U.S., there are about 25 million drivers aged between 17 and 24; roughly 10% of the total.

(motor humming) And this age group is involved in more fatal accidents than any other.

♪ ♪ With only a few more years' experience on the road is Luke, a 26-year-old construction worker.

(laughing): Bang bang!

(engine revving, sputtering) LUKE (voiceover): As a driver, I'm more of a boy racer.

I love driving really fast when it's safe to do so, but at the same time, you know, there's got to be an element of risk to really get your adrenaline pumping.

NARRATOR: In the U.S. in 2022, young male drivers were more than twice as likely to be involved in a fatal accident than young female drivers.

♪ ♪ The final driver is 66-year-old care worker and grandmother, Lynn.

GPS (on speaker): Make a right.

Right.

(car horn honking) It's always a bloody man!

NARRATOR: In the U.S., 22% of drivers are aged 65 and over.

LYNN (voiceover): I'm quite a confident driver.

I'd rate myself maybe... (blowing out air) seven, eight?

Eight, yeah... pushing to nine.

(laughs) Possibly a ten sometimes.

(laughs) ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: To make the pileup as realistic as possible, and to capture genuine reactions, the drivers must not know the experiment involves a multi-car collision.

They have just been told its aim is to improve road safety.

The selection process included a psychological evaluation to ensure they can handle the pressure and emotional challenge of the experiment to come.

Observing these four drivers throughout the experiment will be Natasha Merat, an experimental psychologist specializing in human behavior on the roads.

♪ ♪ She will be analyzing the human factors, assessing how the drivers react when faced with an unavoidable high-speed pileup.

This is a bit of a hybrid between real world and a more controlled environment.

So, you're seeing drivers actually controlling the vehicles, and that's really unique, I think.

NARRATOR: With cars and drivers selected, the experiment now needs a location.

(rumbling) A nearly two-mile-long airport taxiway at a former military base on the west coast of Scotland is the perfect setting.

It's wide enough that we can create our slow lane, middle lane, and fast lane, plus a hard shoulder and a lane for oncoming traffic.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: With the cars, location, and drivers locked in, there's one outstanding issue: pileups can kill.

So how can James Brighton guarantee the drivers' safety?

(tires screeching) (banging, crashing) So essentially, we can't put people in the cars because we're creating a massive collision.

which sounds obvious, but that's, that's our starting point.

NARRATOR: James's plan to keep the drivers safe is to adapt his fleet of cars so that each one can be driven remotely.

Eight small city cars will be transformed into control pods, sending signals from a safe distance to the cars on the track.

These signals will trigger actions like turning, accelerating, and braking.

But for this to work, cameras, radio links, and robotics need to be fitted.

Pneumatic pistons will operate the brakes while electric motors will control the accelerator and steering.

BRIGHTON: Good.

A little more grease... That's it, perfect.

(voiceover): So, the person in the pod will press the brake pedal.

That will send the signal to this car, which then makes this actuator move to push that brake pedal to the same amount that the occupant in the pod is pressing the pedal.

(pneumatics hissing) NARRATOR: Which means the car responds perfectly to the driver's actions, however subtle.

♪ ♪ So, we've got steering, brakes, and throttle all done on this one?

Yeah.

Yeah, and the same on the Golf?

Yep.

Brilliant.

NARRATOR: They now need to transform the fleet of compact, two-seater smart cars into control pods.

(mechanical hissing) BRIGHTON: So, we need to tune the pods so that the behavior of the real car... feels realistic to the driver.

So for example, when they move the throttle a certain amount in the Smart car, we want that to be proportionate to the acceleration you would expect if you were sat in the real car at that moment in time.

(indistinct talking) NARRATOR: For the drivers, the pods will look and feel like regular cars.

However, their actions won't control the car they're sitting in.

Instead, they will send commands to the specially adapted track cars.

So this is an encoder to measure steering wheel position.

And we've actually got a sensor that's got a lot of resolution.

So we can measure to 0.07 of a degree, which is quite important when you're-- if you imagine driving on a motorway.

The amount of steering input you put to change lanes is quite small.

(clicking) BRIGHTON: So Mateus, would you like to go and press your foot on the brake pedal?

MATEUS: Anything?

Yeah.

BRIGHTON: Press the throttle.

There we go.

NARRATOR: With the equipment fitted in the control pods, James now needs to get those pods to talk to the test cars.

So we need a radio network that will take the signals from the pods and then send a signal to the cars on the other end of the runway.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: James has chosen to use a point-to-point radio network, similar to a walkie-talkie system.

Once on location in Scotland, the stationary control pods, housed off the track in an enclosure, will send data to the track cars via a single radio relay.

(beeping) And so that the drivers in the pods can see where their cars are going, the eight track cars will send a live camera feed back to the control pods.

(beeping) BRIGHTON: Will it work?

It will.

It will.

It will work, of course it will work.

(laughing) Okay, Calvin, can you go full lock left?

(mechanical humming) And full lock right?

Now-- really quickly, like that.

(whirring) Perfect.

NARRATOR: The Ford pickup has been successfully paired with its control pod.

Now it's time to see if it works on the test track at Cranfield.

♪ ♪ Exciting, isn't it?

It's good, isn't it, yeah.

NARRATOR: A video screen is positioned in front of professional stunt driver Paul, who today will operate the remote controls.

The screen will display the live feed from a camera placed at eye level in the driver's seat of the moving pickup.

BRIGHTON: A little bit down, just a tad.

That's it.

Perfect.

(engine revving) Okay, track is clear and live.

KIM BLACKBURN (on radio): Okay, we're in first gear.

So, I'm moving off in three, two, one... go.

BASS: It's looking good.

So when you get to the end, Paul, turn tightly and come down the middle.

PAUL: Yeah, okay.

BASS: And then basically at this speed, just go left and right.

PAUL: So turning right a bit.

BASS: Yeah.

PAUL: And left a bit.

Yeah, it feels good.

The hard thing to judge is depth.

NARRATOR: The robotics are performing well.

BRIGHTON: So what do you think, then, guys?

We just need to-- bit of work to do on the brakes, that's all, I think.

It's a little bit rough around the edges, and the speed we were doing, we've got to more than double that.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Part of the experiment is to study how the cars themselves fare in a crash.

Black box recorders will provide huge amounts of data.

And helping James evaluate how the cars and their safety systems perform, is crash analysis expert Janet Bahouth.

So, my main interest will be looking at the damage of the vehicle and to see how that influenced the survivability of the crash, and learn from that so that tomorrow, somebody else can benefit from it.

NARRATOR: In the U.S., around 50% of the vehicle occupants who die in a car crash are not wearing their seatbelts.

(glass shattering, metal crunching) So, for the crash test, both belted and unbelted dummies will be placed in the cars.

(airbag inflating) BAHOUTH: For me, the most important safety feature in our cars these days is the seatbelt.

It's that seatbelt that is going to be your lifesaver.

(indistinct radio chatter) NARRATOR: So, what causes pileups in the real world?

The causes of crashes are really complex.

It's not just a single factor, like speed or weather or distraction; it's often many factors coming together.

(siren wailing) NARRATOR: Going too fast for the conditions is a common feature of pileups.

ANDY SHELTON: So in February of 2021, in the Fort Worth area on Interstate 35, there was a chain reaction crash.

About 133 vehicles were involved in the crash.

Multiple fatalities.

Half a dozen people died.

Numerous people injured.

NARRATOR: One of the likely factors in this horrific pileup was black ice.

SHELTON: All of a sudden, they're in an uncontrollable situation.

And once they hit the ice, there is no stopping.

(banging, screeching) (repeated crashing) ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: It's incidents like this that have inspired the scenario for James's experiment.

His plan is to replicate the conditions of icy roads for the crash.

(sirens wailing) If we can make the road more slippery, then you will start to see what the effect of that will be on the stopping distances of the cars.

(booming) NARRATOR: To identify the perfect surface to match the slippery conditions, James and his team have covered a section of tarmac with three different ice substitutes.

Gravel... oil and water... and oil on its own.

The gravel, we know that could be a bit like marbles.

Could be a little surprise on that one.

And oil on its own, obviously, we're expecting that to reduce friction, so that could skid quite well.

However, I am kind of pointing more towards the oil and water, if I'm brutally honest.

But I could be wrong.

NARRATOR: But which surface most closely replicates the stopping distance on an icy road?

To find out, stunt driver Paul will drive at a moderate 40 miles per hour then hit the brakes when his car reaches each surface.

(clicking) First up: oil.

BASS: Okay, Paul.

So, right lane, just the oil.

(on radio): In three, two, one.

Action.

(engine rumbling) (screeching) (engine stops) Okay.

Turn your Logger off.

Stay there for a second.

NARRATOR: The next lane combines oil and water, and because oil floats on water, the team believes this mixture will reduce traction even further.

BASS (on radio): Okay, Paul.

So this is oil and water.

(on radio): In three, two, one.

Action.

(engine revving) BASS: Blimey.

To be honest, that's-- that's a shocker.

That's like a foot and a half further than oil on its own, and that's it.

NARRATOR: Neither option has come anywhere close to providing the reduced friction the team needs, so they are now pinning all their hopes on the loose gravel.

BASS (on radio): Okay, Paul, stand by.

So it's Gravel Lane.

(on radio): Ready?

And three, two, one.

Action.

(engine revving) (tires squealing) BASS (chuckling): That actually is a surprise.

That-- that is a surprise.

Okay, folks, stay there.

NARRATOR: Unexpectedly, loose gravel looks to be the best substitute to replicate ice.

As soon as I touched the brakes, there's nothing.

It just went on and on.

Was it just-- (mimics engine sputtering) constantly trying to do something?

Yeah.

And, um, whereas the other two, they felt exactly the same.

And the distance was... BASS: Very, very predictable.

PAUL: Yeah.

NARRATOR: The gravel reduced the grip on the road just as freezing conditions affect traction.

The team decides to use it in the crash test in Scotland.

But ice on the road isn't enough.

Something will still need to instigate the crash.

One of the worst accident types is where a vehicle crosses the central reservation into oncoming traffic.

NARRATOR: And it's this very scenario that James and his team will aim to recreate.

We've chosen a heavy truck which will initiate the accident.

NARRATOR: This truck, also remotely controlled to keep the driver safe, will cross the center line and block the entire road, leaving the drivers only seconds to react.

With all the vehicles now fully-prepped, drivers chosen and a mechanism for the crash decided upon, the team is ready to stage the multi-car pileup.

A crew of automotive engineers and technicians has descended onto the west coast of Scotland.

Where the crash test will take place in less than a week.

Go very left, first.

That's it.

Keep it on that.

That's it.

Keep it on there.

Now straighten up.

NARRATOR: For the unsuspecting drivers, the true nature of the experiment will only become clear once their remote-controlled cars are barreling down this.

♪ ♪ This taxiway is available to the crash team for a week.

After that, they'll lose access.

But for now, it's been transformed into a nearly two-mile stretch of highway.

With white lines, a shoulder, and highway-grade barriers designed to contain the crash.

♪ ♪ Everything must be up and running before the drivers arrive.

Including the radio communication system.

The radio link worked well on the test track in Cranfield, but it could be a very different matter in the continuously changing atmospheric conditions and radio-signal rich environment of a live airport.

(engine idling) (engine starts, revs) Okay.

You're in drive.

NARRATOR: The Audi is the first car to be tested.

With the track cars on the tarmac, all the pods are positioned in a temporary enclosure a safe distance away.

Video screens and blackout drapes have been fitted to enhance the immersive experience for the drivers.

Professional stunt driver Paul is controlling the Audi from its linked control pod.

Yeah, we're going to go straight to 70.

I'm happy to.

Going for it now.

Well he's moving, I'll give him that.

BASS (on radio): Let me know when you're at 70, please.

BRIGHTON: That's 70.

At 70.

BASS: Excellent.

Thanks, guys.

70, whoa!

Whoo!

We have a runner.

NARRATOR: The remote-controlled Audi has achieved the target speed on its first attempt.

It's a milestone for the team.

But then... (loud burst, beeping) PAUL: Hang on, we've had a stop.

BRIGHTON: Yeah, we've just had a stop, Kim.

PAUL: It's not responding.

NARRATOR: The Audi has automatically engaged its brakes-- a critical failure.

James needs to figure out what the issue is, and get the whole pack running, before he loses access to the test highway.

BRIGHTON: Kim, I've just E-stopped it.

Can you just come up to the car and just have a quick check, please?

(engine sputtering) NARRATOR: They meticulously inspect data from the test run to try and understand what happened.

For safety, the cars are programmed to automatically apply the brakes if the radio signal is disrupted, suggesting there was a loss of communication.

So, the car has to be able to communicate continuously with the pods, or the base stations here, or they will stop.

Clearly, it's a massive issue, if we're doing a drive along the road, and one of the cars stops.

NARRATOR: Soon, they zero in on the airport's high powered navigation beam as one of the likely causes of the dropout.

BLACKBURN: One of the challenges of this site is that it's an airfield, and there are some active navigational beacons relatively close to the area.

They're a completely different frequency, but they're really high power.

(on radio): The radios are trying, but when they drop out, they drop out for several seconds.

We can't work reliably.

It's not safe.

NARRATOR: This level of uncertainty could jeopardize the whole experiment, before it's even begun.

BRIGHTON (on radio): So, obviously, we can't change location-- is there another radio solution?

BLACKBURN (on radio): We've tried filters.

It helps.

But this radio is not enough.

NARRATOR: This is a devastating blow to the experiment.

The loss of radio communication isn't just a glitch-- it's a fundamental failure.

And it leaves James with no choice-- he'll have to cancel the crash test and return to Cranfield University.

BRIGHTON: It became fairly obvious our only solution, really, was to say, "Okay, we need to postpone this."

That's a pretty disastrous thing to have happened, But I think our mission had always been to create the best system we could.

And if putting a pause into it is the way to do that, then clearly from our perspective, that's the optimal choice.

♪ ♪ Right, antennas.

Okay, first one 2.4.

Green, right?

That's good.

Yeah, green.

Red.

Okay, ready to power on.

NARRATOR: It's taken a year-and-half, but James and his team have returned to Scotland with a new plan and a new radio system, one they hope will be able to maintain connection with the cars.

SAM: That's good and sturdy.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Instead of a point-to-point system with a single transmission path, they're pivoting to a mesh network.

Like a cell phone network, it allows for multiple connections between the cars and control pods.

14 transceivers called nodes form the network.

One each of the eight track cars, one back at the pod tent feeding the control cars, and five spread throughout the track.

Each one acts as a junction to route data back and forth between the pods and the cars...

This means, if one path is blocked, the signal simply re-routes... and finds another path.

PETE: Green light on it?

SAM: Yeah, Green is good.

NARRATOR: The new system should handle any interference from the airport's antenna, identified as one of the reasons for the radio dropout that led to the Audi's emergency stop.

Well that's the theory, at least.

BRIGHTON (radio squawk): Car is in park, and we're ready... NARRATOR: So with the new system up and running... BLACKBURN: Okay, James, so we've got engine started down this end.

I've got steering initialized.

BRIGHTON: 10-4.

We're ready to move off.

Three, two, one.

And remote control car is rolling.

BLACKBURN (radio squawk): You'll need more left hand lock, more left hand lock.

NARRATOR: For the first time, two cars head out onto the track together to see if the new system can cope.

BRIGHTON (radio squawk): We are right on the edge now here, so I'm just gonna take it gently down to the bottom of the track.

Out of hold and brake applied.

(radio squawk): Okay, so we are now ready to go, so do you want to count us down?

BLACKBURN (on radio): Yes, so three, two, one-- go.

BRIGHTON: Go!

NARRATOR: If either car loses communication, it could kill the experiment once again.

But this time, there'd be no coming back for another try.

Oh nice!

(laughs) BLACKBURN (on radio): That looks gorgeous by the way.

You are picking up speed very quickly.

BRIGHTON: 70 miles an hour.

75 miles an hour.

Gosh, this one's a quick one!

NARRATOR: James and team driver Mahdi, have complete control over the fast-moving cars.

Robotics and the new radio system are working perfectly.

A big relief!

BLACKBURN: It's kind of magic.

The system that we've gone to has got this great robustness and so it just means we can let the cars run.

This is what happy looks like!

(on radio): Okay, James, free to come back in your own time.

Okay Kim, we'll come back in exit one, over.

So that was amazing-- two cars at 70 miles an hour being remotely controlled down the motorway.

Absolutely super.

No drop outs.

Held lane very nicely indeed-- yeah, wonderful!

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Out on the track, attention turns to the remote-controlled truck; the vehicle that will instigate the crash.

BRIGHTON: So we're using a very similar remote control system for this, so we have a radio link.

We have an input, which in this case isn't a pod, it's a second set of driving controls that we're using for the driver to control this vehicle remotely.

It's much better if you can, for the driver to eyeball it directly and then he can take his cue directly from what he sees on track.

NARRATOR: As the unsuspecting drivers approach at high speed, team driver Scotty will launch the truck remotely from a platform overseeing the track.

With steering locked, the truck will cross the centerline to block all three lanes.

ANT (radio squawk): Good to go.

Three, two, one... (engages brakes) BRIGHTON: So Scott, how did that look?

It's pretty good, actually.

Yeah?

SCOTT: Couldn't get any closer to that barrier.

BRIGHTON: Perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

It's about six seconds to this line here.

Yeah, lovely.

This is effectively the scenario that will be painted in front of the drivers, so they'll be approaching this point.

Absolutely, a worse case scenario for someone.

(chuckling): It really is.

Yeah.

Driving along a motorway.

You would not want to be presented with this.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: The next step is to pair each volunteer driver with the car that best suits their individual personality and driving style.

Cautious Lynn gets the eco-friendly Prius, racer Luke takes the speedy Golf GTI, new-driver Caitlan gets the luxurious Porsche, and laid-back surfer Tito is handed the rugged F-150.

Now, they need to learn how to drive them.

♪ ♪ Come on.

NARRATOR: First up for driver training is Tito.

Okay.

That's my car right there.

Got my name on it.

Wow, this is going to be fun Hello, Tito.

Hello, James.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Let's go!

NARRATOR: The Ford F-150, popular in the U.S., has a high driving position.

BRIGHTON: So the main difference, Tito, is obviously you're not moving so you don't feel the acceleration cues.

You've basically got to look at the speedo, okay, to get an idea of how quick you're going.

TITO: All right.

BRIGHTON: Three, two, one-- moving off.

(beeping) Rolling, rolling in the F-150.

(James chuckles) TITO: Look at this.

This is cool.

BRIGHTON: It's pretty good, isn't it?

You are looking cool, it has to be said, you are looking very cool.

I gotta look like...

Cool as a cucumber.

BRIGHTON: That's it.

You're good.

You're good.

TITO: Almost got a sensation of movement there.

BRIGHTON (chuckling): Yeah, you will!

Whoa!

TITO: That was weird.

BRIGHTON: That's it.

It's at 50 miles an hour already and you've only done 500 meters.

NARRATOR: It's a strong start for driver training.

Next up is Caitlan.

She's the least experienced of the drivers.

This is weird.

My seat's gonna have to come right forward.

(laughing): I can't touch the pedals!

The view is weird, isn't it?

Very strange!

BRIGHTON: It's quite a quick car, isn't it?

It is.

CAITLAN: It was hard the first go, um, but the third time around, I got my hands around the maneuvering.

The steering was a little bit tough but it's fun as well.

It was exciting.

NARRATOR: Next on the track is self-styled racer Luke.

LUKE: Honestly, I'm so buzzing.

I'm so looking forward to seeing how fast I can go.

I want to try and get a hundred.

NARRATOR: In the U.S. in 2022, about 49% of drivers surveyed reported exceeding the speed limit by 15 miles per hour on a freeway in the previous month.

And 29% of fatal crashes involve speeding drivers.

BRIGHTON: What do you think so far?

Insane.

So even doing like 50 miles an hour, this doesn't feel like you're doing 50 on the screen.

I'm getting the hang of it now.

BRIGHTON: Yeah.

That's 60.

That's 70 miles an hour already.

Mm.

BRIGHTON: That's 80.

You might want to back off a bit.

LUKE: Oh, yeah, 80!

(both laugh) (laughter) NARRATOR: Last up is Lynn, the most experienced and most cautious driver.

(engine idling) BRIGHTON: Okay, so you're now in drive.

LYNN: All right, ooh, and we're off!

There you are!

Oh, yeah.

BRIGHTON: And off you go.

Ooh, Bloody Nora.

Ooh!

I'm going all over the bloody place.

BRIGHTON: No, no, no, no, you're not.

I don't know whether these glasses are... Oh!

BRIGHTON: Just really small movements.

Ooh!

Everything's really gentle.

Crikey!

Tell me, how fast am I going?

You're doing 30 now.

Oh, is that all?

BRIGHTON: Yeah.

Now you're doing 35.

Ah right, there we go, that's more like it.

There you go.

Come on then!

Whee!

There you go.

(laughs heartily) Granny rides again!

Oh, deary me!

Yeah, I just feel a bit, ooh.

Makes you feel a bit weird.

(chuckles) But it's good, all good, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

Apparently, it was going quite fast.

NARRATOR: To create a realistic highway pile up using remotely driven cars, it is crucial that the volunteers are fully immersed in the driving experience.

Experimental psychologist Natasha Merat is interested to see how far this immersion goes.

It's really interesting to see how Tito really feels like he's driving that truck.

The way he's sitting, and he's feeling a bit higher and he's putting his arm on the side, even though he's nowhere near that truck.

You can see that what Luke is seeing in the road is quite an immersive environment.

So it's really interesting how he's basically using his mirrors as he's been trained to do so in a normal driving environment.

BRIGHTON: And then go back into the other lane.

All right.

I'll just go-- That's it-- give it an indicator.

Checking the old blind spot.

Yeah!

Look at that.

MERAT: He's totally, like, he's driving that that Golf.

That was really, really impressive to see, actually.

NARRATOR: It's a good sign.

The drivers are quickly becoming immersed.

The pods are providing the realistic driving experience that this experiment demands.

And the volunteers are still unaware of the experiment's full objective and what they'll really be facing the following day.

ALL: One, two, three-- hurray!

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Hundreds of hours of planning and preparation have all built to this point.

Now the team will discover if it was worth it.

With fewer than two hours to go before the final run... And with the drivers off site, the crash scene is prepared.

As so many piles up are caused by snow or ice... ...the loose gravel selected during the ice simulation test is laid on the track to increase braking distance.

The gravel will also kick up dust and reduce visibility, another common feature of pileups.

Stationary vehicles are positioned on the shoulder to create extra hazards.

Data recorders are switched on.

Dashcams are fired up.

And cameras are secured in the pods to record the drivers as they experience the crash.

Crash analysis expert Janet Bahouth wants to see how occupants of the cars would fare if this were a real accident.

So she has brought along some special passengers BAHOUTH: All right guys, so in this vehicle, we'll have two dummies.

We'll have a dummy in the front seat, passenger side, that dummy's belted.

In the back, directly behind the front seat passenger is another dummy in the rear.

He's unbelted.

So my job in all of this is to take a look at the human aspect of the crash and what happened to the humans.

Because ultimately, we're trying to keep them safe during a crash.

The best scenario would have been to put them in the driver's seat.

But today we can't do that because we have all of this instrumentation, so we'll put them in the front passenger seat.

In one instance, we'll put another one in the rear.

Some will be belted, some won't be belted, and it's all different scenarios because that's how the real world is.

That's great.

Unbelted, yeah.

Just prop him up nice.

There we go.

NARRATOR: With the cars now all ready...

This is the quintessential lab test with real world combined.

Frankly, we don't know what's going to happen.

NARRATOR: It's time to bring the drivers back to their remote control pods.

They have no idea what is about to happen.

As far as they're concerned, this is just the next driving test.

BRIGHTON: Hello, everybody.

BRIGHTON: Welcome back.

CAITLAN: Hello!

Now what we're going to do is three lanes together, okay?

So what we want to do is drive up to 70, just as if you're in a motorway situation, and then we're just literally trying to simulate a motorway drive this time.

Can I go in the slow lane?

(laughter) LUKE: Race you!

Oh, it's good to be back!

Oh... Caitlan, coo-ee!

Yoo-hoo, Lynnie!

Yoo-hoo!

NARRATOR: All the drivers seem to have bought James's story and are excited to drive as a pack at high speed.

Jay, is there a peepy horn?

(chuckling): I'm afraid there isn't, Lynn.

Aw!

NARRATOR: Four drivers from the engineering team take to the remaining pods.

Mark in the Audi and Chenhui in the Dodge will drive at the front of the pack at highway speeds.

While Aisha in the Mercedes and Pete in the white van will bring up the rear.

(radio squawk): Apex cameras, confirm all cameras are rolling and good to go, please.

APEX (on radio): Apex confirm green to go.

(engine starts) NARRATOR: Out on the track, the truck is fired up.

And team driver Scotty gets ready to engage the vehicle from his viewing platform.

(radio squawk): Okay, let's launch drones please, drones go live.

(drone whirring) APEX (on radio): Drones are live.

NARRATOR: The team is about to find out how the drivers react when a 36-ton truck surprises them by careening across the highway.

All drivers, can you please apply the brake pedal hard?

We have now given you all control.

NARRATOR: Driving remotely, they have no idea what lies ahead.

BRIGHTON: Now we will proceed along the motorway.

Drive up to 70 miles an hour.

Please remember, keep in your lane.

(engines idling) (radio squawk): Okay, track is live.

Cars on the move in five, four, three, two, one-- action all vehicles.

(engine revving) Bloody hell, the Porsche is off!

Blimey, everyone is steaming away!

Oh, look at them go!

(radio squawk): 800 meters.

Very good.

Keep in your lane.

600 meters.

400 meters.

LUKE: Oh, he's veering.

He's veering.

There we go.

There we go!

200 meters out.

TITO: What the hell's that?

(tires screeching) LYNN: Whoa!

I can't see!

Oh, oh!

Oh my goodness!

(metal crunching, glass shattering) TITO: What?

Oh my goodness!

(metal crunching, glass shattering continues) LYNN: Whoa!

(crashing continues) (tires squealing) (loud crash) (engines hissing) CAITLAN: I've just crashed!

(laughing): My god!

(car beeping) BRIGHTON: Drivers, there has been an accident on track.

No cause for alarm.

Everybody is safe.

We will now investigate.

NARRATOR: On the conclusion of "Ultimate Crash Test"... CAITLAN: That is so scary, isn't it?

LUKE: Seeing it now, is really putting it into perspective.

NARRATOR: The team analyzes the aftermath of the pileup.

BRIGHTON: We've got the data, we've got the footage, and we know exactly what happened.

(beeping rapidly) NARRATOR: Which drivers would have survived, and which would not?

Oh, my goodness.

I know.

It's just shocking that within seconds, a solid thing turns into a crushed piece of metal.

NARRATOR: What difference did the drivers' cars make to their chances of survival?

How injured was the person in it, then?

That's going to be a severe head trauma, there's no doubt.

NARRATOR: Can the forensic investigators, kept in the dark about the events, figure out what happened using only the wreckage for clues?

SHELTON: There's a contact from the lower corner of the trailer that's actually gouged into the roadway.

NARRATOR: And what lessons have been learned for the future?

BRIGHTON: Creating a unique experiment like this opens a window to what we might be missing, and how can we now look at improving the future design of vehicles so that we all drive around in a much safer manner?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪