MODELS OF VEHICULAR COLLISION: DEVELOPMENT AND SIMULATION WITH EMPHASIS ON SAFETY. IV: AN IMPROVED ALGORITHM FOR DETECTING CONTACT BETWEEN VEHICLES
O. M. O'REILLY, P. PAPADOPOULOS, G.-J. LO and P. C. VARADI California PATH Research Report UCB-ITS-PRR 98-25, 1998

Abstract
In previous works, the authors developed a computational model for collision detection where each vehicle was modeled as an ellipsoid. This model does not accurately reflect the geometry of realistic vehicles, yet it possesses significant theoretical and computational advantages over other possible models. This report outlines a novel procedure for detecting the geometry of the contact interface between vehicles which employs a better approximation of their actual shape yet it also preserves the advantage of the ellipsoidal model.