3) Develop a methodology to assess the potential impact of intelligent integrated road safety technologies in Europe. Develop a validation methodology and procedures for vehicles equipped with intelligent integrated road safety systems.

End-2008 Release

Activity leader

European Commission, Industry

Introduction

This Recommendation addresses the necessity of starting large-scale test programmes (FOTs) aiming at a comprehensive assessment of the efficiency, quality, robustness and user-friendliness of ICT solutions for smarter, safer and cleaner vehicles and real-time network management. The expected impact will be to demonstrate, analyse and provide proof-of-concept to all stakeholders of the impact of intelligent vehicle systems and co-operative systems on the reduction of traffic accidents, on driver behaviour and on transport efficiency.

Therefore, to measure the progress of this recommendation, two indicators are proposed: one taking into account the methodological aspect of the tests and the other which tracks the tests actually underway. Figure 3 shows the breakdown of the indicator.

Indicators of progress of the recommendations

4.1) Creation of a methodology for operational tests in the Member States

As part of the “phase 1” plans for the EC FOTs activities, the project FESTA, funded under Call 1 of FP7, has established an agreed structure, organisation, and assessment methodology of field operational tests in Europe. The project has delivered the FOT handbook which is now guiding the design and implementation of all future tests to be launched on technically mature ICT-based systems, covering technical aspects, user acceptance, efficiency and deployment aspects. The use of the handbook will, in particular, provide the confidence that FOT results on overall benefits are scientifically robust, in terms of both measured results and cost/benefit analysis. It will also give guidance on the format and type of behavioural measures to be considered when designing an FOT. In the field of ADAS, the euroFOT project is especially active in tuning the existing methodologies, adding specific aspects for system specification, and promoting a shared terminology. While these methodologies for ADAS can make use of other FOT experiences, FOT methodologies for nomadic devices and cooperative systems have not been fully tested yet. TeleFOT has announced that they would contribute to improve the methodology for FOTs on nomadic devices. In addition, Pre-Drive C2X project will use some resources to tune the FOT methodology to the specificity of cooperative systems. The FOT-NET support action is now promoting the use of the FOT handbook through a series of seminars organised by TNO and University of Leeds. The seminars are done in tight collaboration with the existing European FOT (EuroFOT and TeleFOT) but also aim to reach out to all other national FOT activities. Even though FOT-NET does not aim to update the FOT methodology, the support action is gathering inputs from all stakeholders for improvement of the methodology. FOT-NET has also initiated international cooperation with US and Japan to identify how much best practices and methodology should be harmonised.

4.2) Field Operational Tests in the Member States

Several field operational tests have already been deployed  in Europe in previous R&D programmes and at national level e.g. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK (for further details see the section reporting on the progress below). However, none of these tests were led in a European coordinated framework and inter-operability among Member States was not a priority.  The EC is funding a platform (FOT-NET) to coordinate different national and European tests where the participants can build a strong knowledge base and experience through networking and concertation. It also networks with the international FOTs such as in Japan (SMARTWAY, Sky Project, Starwings, ITS-Safety 2010) and USA (IVBSS, CICAS, IVI, VII). FOT-NET held an international workshop in New York in November and will meet up with the Japanese delegation in the beginning of 2009. The international workshop should reconvene in Stockholm in September 2009. At European level, significant large scale FOTs activities have been launched in the summer 2008. In particular, two FOTs are funded by the EC in this “phase 2”: EUROFOT and TELEFOT. The EUROFOT IP aims to assess the impact of advanced driver assistance and preventive safety functions in real traffic conditions. Eight major functions are investigated: Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control,  Speed Regulation System; Blind Spot Information , Lane Departure Warning, Impairment Warning,  Curve Speed Warning, Fuel Efficiency Advisor and Safe Human Machine Interaction. The tests involve 1500 vehicles, both passenger cars and trucks, from 11 European car manufacturers. The practical operation of FOTs is performed through Vehicle Management Centres (VMCs), representing different countries in Europe.  By this coordinated approach across several areas in Europe, the expected results will include relevant indications that could encourage strategic decisions by different stakeholders, like Public Authorities, OEMs, Suppliers, and User Groups The TELEFOT IP, which will run for four years and involve 3000 drivers, will address problems of safe fixing and use of nomadic and after-market devices in vehicles. Functions being tested cover three broad areas: promotion of safe driving; economic driving; and a novel navigator-retrofitted eCall emergency alert system. FOTs will assess their impact on the efficiency of the transport system, usability, driver behaviour and accident causation, safety and the environment. The main emphasis of the work is on speed and traffic information, road weather information and ‘green driving’ support. While the EC-funded FOT activities are very active in 2008, the members states have also been active. Among others, The Netherlands with a series of pilots and FOTs among them an FOT with 3000 trucks (AOS); Sweden has been very active with a fruitful cooperation with University of Michigan (SemiFOT) and other plans; Germany has launched two national funded activities: AKTIV which includes some field tests for the validation part of the project and Sim-TD a cooperative systems FOT collaborating with and using results of Pre-Drive C2X. Other initiatives are still on hold: the French Voltaire has not received the expected national funding and the Spanish eSafety is struggling with the change of government for its eCall national wide test.

Analysis of the progress

Field operational tests (FOTs) are a strong priority for this phase of the eSafety initiative. Even if a number of tests have been already launched, there is the need of a European-wide impact assessment of all mature systems to ensure their wider take-up. The structure, organisation and assessment methodology indicated by FESTA are now used by all the relevant EC-funded FOTs and some national ones. . The methodology should be adopted by all stakeholders to ensure comparable data across different FOT activities and to bring improvements from field experience. Extensive support is still needed to promote, or even force, the use of the European FOT methodology in the different FOTs. The EC should encourage that all planned activities provide a feedback with their lessons learned from the execution of their FOTs to the FOT-NET support action. Also, FOT-NET should promote FOTs and its methodology at national level in order to encourage national FOT initiatives. With comparable data, the national results should be used as a complementary “local” information to the EC results. Besides the two EC-funded FOT activities and the support action, the national FOT activities of the Members States are still not fully coordinated. Even if a full control is not necessary, the EC should reinforce the link between European and member states activities and encourage more “EC-coordinated” local public investments for large scale national testing facilities such as region-wide test sites with all the local involvement necessary to run it.

Report on the progress of field operational test recommendation

Current Status

So far, demonstrations have been used to test the technical and functional behaviour of eSafety systems, but they have always been restricted and limited in scale. What is needed is analysis and assessment in a real environment with everyday drivers for a period of time that allows for the collection and processing of data in a statistically sound way. This is the idea of the Field Operational Tests (FOTs).

Work on FOTs is one of the priorities of FP7, that is, the launch of large-scale test programmes aiming at a comprehensive assessment of the efficiency, quality, robustness and user-friendliness of ICT-based solutions for smarter, safer and cleaner vehicles and real-time network management. As far as FOTs are concerned, Call 1, which closed in the first half of 2007, aims at ramping up the FOTs with the methodological and organisational aspects of the test. Call 2 aims at launching large scale test programmes (FOTs) which includes a comprehensive assessment of the efficiency, quality, robustness and user-friendliness of IT solutions for smarter, safer and cleaner vehicles and real-time traffic management. The objectives of the FOTs to be launched in FP7 are to:

1.       Validate the effectiveness of ICT-based systems for safer, cleaner and more efficient transport in a real environment;

2.       Analyse driver behaviour and user acceptance;

3.       Analyse and assess the impact of intelligent safety and efficiency functions using real data;

4.       Improve awareness on the potential of intelligent transport systems and create socio-economic acceptance;

5.       Obtain technical data for system design and product development

6.       Ensure the transferability of the FOT results at the national, European and international level.

In order to collect data that will allow statistical value and scientifically sound conclusions, FOTs should be carried out at the European level with the necessary fleet of vehicles and infrastructure, appropriate number of drivers and for a sufficient amount of time.

Phase 1: Ramping up.

This phase has defined the basis for designing, running and evaluating FOTs at European level. It started, in FP7 Call 1, with the selection and funding of a support action, called FESTA, which analysed the structure, organisational issues, running conditions and assessment methodologies of FOTs in Europe. The FESTA project, active from November 2007 to May 2008, was aiming at producing a shared methodological framework to perform FOTs. The handbook, main output of the FESTA project, is now used as a reference by all actors involved in future FOTs.

This European FOT Methodology Handbook is a practical guide for the design and implementation of large-scale tests. It considers the whole lifecycle of a FOT, from the analysis of stakeholders needs, the choice of behavioural and other indicators (performance and individual), the methods by which they are measured, (data acquisition) and analysed, reported and integrated, and legal, ethical and procedural considerations.

In addition, an extensive range of ICT-based solutions have been considered with three major areas of interest: vehicle systems, cooperative systems and nomadic devices. The methodology for cooperative systems and nomadic devices is being improved by the respective activities working on these topics.

The handbook produced by FESTA is now promoted be the FOT-NET support action through a series of seminars for EC and national FOT activities.

Phase 2: Large-scale FOTs.

Two large scale FOTs are focussing on mature technologies and systems resulting from previous EC-funded projects, or cover issues that are critical for market implementation. The EC is funding two integrated projects under the FP7 Call 2: EUROFOT and TELEFOT.

The EUROFOT IP assesses the impact of advanced driver assistance (ADAS) and preventive safety functions in real traffic conditions. Eight major functions are investigated: Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control,  Speed Regulation System; Blind Spot Information , Lane Departure Warning, Impairment Warning,  Curve Speed Warning, Fuel Efficiency Advisor and Safe Human Machine Interaction. The tests involve 1500 vehicles, both passenger cars and trucks, from 11 European car manufacturers. The practical operation of FOTs is performed through Vehicle Management Centres (VMCs), representing different countries in Europe.  By this coordinated approach across several areas in Europe, the expected results will include relevant indications that could encourage strategic decisions by different stakeholders, like Public Authorities, OEMs, Suppliers, and User Groups

The TELEFOT IP, which runs for four years and involves up to 3000 drivers, will address problems of safe fixing and use of nomadic and after-market devices in vehicles. Functions being tested cover three broad areas: promotion of safe driving; economic driving; and a novel navigator-retrofitted eCall emergency alert system. The FOTs will assess impact of functions on the efficiency of the transport system, usability, driver behaviour and accident causation, safety and the environment. The main emphasis of the work is on speed and traffic information, road weather information and ‘green driving’ support.

The EC has also selected for funding a support action. The two year FOT-NET project has created a structure to support FOTs, with a view to networking European FOTs with national initiatives and projects ongoing in other world regions, and helping the EC to achieve an integrated approach to FOTs.

They have established a networking platform, representing all public- and private-sector stakeholders; promoting adoption of FESTA results and a common methodology; creation of an FOT-portal to increase visibility of FOT activities; and, finally, disseminating FOT results among the general public to increase awareness of the potential of ITS.

Phase 3: Future calls.

This will build on the experience of the first two phases. Future FP7 calls are expected to cover further work on cooperative systems for safer and more efficient transport systems, which started as a result of FP6 Call 4. The project Pre-Drive C2X is preparing the basis for this FOT on cooperative systems.

An FOT-based ‘naturalistic driving’ study to investigate accident causation could also be funded by the EC during this phase and the issue of preventive safety and driver assistance will also continue to be covered, addressing more specific problem areas eg intersection safety or protection for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

FOTs are not a new activity for EU Member States, as many have already conducted demonstration and FOTs activities within their national research programmes.

Sweden

Regarding ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaptation), the Swedish experiment is probably the most significant, by virtue of the number of cities and equipped vehicles. The city of Umeå had no less than 4000 vehicles that were fitted with an informative system. In the cities of Lidköping, Borlänge and Lund, there were about 4000 vehicles fitted with informative and/or active ISA.

The IVSS Programme, set up to stimulate research and development for the road safety of the future, will run until the end of 2010. The end-result will probably be new, smart technologies and new IT systems which will help reduce the number of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries. Key areas are active safety, preventive solutions and further development of the road holding and crash safety characteristics of cars and commercial vehicles. Another focus area is the development of intelligent vehicle and road infrastructure systems, which includes systems that can improve safety for unprotected road users. Some of the technical solutions are still on the drawing board, while others are closer to the production stage. Because the IVSS Programme acts as a forum for new ideas and the technology of the future, the most innovative solutions are probably still to come.

Regarding FOTs, SAFER is leading a national initiative with close cooperation of road authorities, automotive industry and research institutes.

Italy                 

The Italian Ministry of Transport is promoting the development of pilot applications to test and validate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the technical/organisational schemes defined by Italy’s national ITS architecture. Priority areas for pilot applications include multimodal transport of hazardous goods, integrated management of emergency calls, and goods distribution in urban areas.

Finland

VTT is aiming at creating a test community of vehicle drivers to assess the long term impacts of selected safety functions provided by means of mobile after-market devices and raise wide awareness of the utilities driver assistance functions have in daily travel (TELEFOT).

France              

The most relevant FOT carried out in France was LAVIA (2002 – 2006). This ISA trial was conducted on a significant scale (20 vehicles) and placed volunteer drivers in a real situation to provide valid results to assess system ergonomic, user acceptance and influence on driving behaviours. This trial was organised in two phases:

·          Pre-evaluation phase using two prototypes and ten drivers

·          In-traffic evaluation phase using twenty vehicles and involving a hundred drivers who each used a LAVIA-equipped car for eight weeks. They used this vehicle instead of their usual car for daily trips (both work-related and leisure).

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, several national FOTs concerning intelligent vehicles have been undertaken since 1998. An overview of several Dutch FOTs is below:

Past Demos and FOTs in the Netherlands	Summary of key results
Demo ’98 (up to autonomous driving) (1998)	Enthusiasm about technology possibilities
ISA  set external speed assistant experiment Tilburg (1999-2000)	Good acceptance, indications for better safety
LDWA Truck FOT  (2002-2003)	High acceptance, less accidents and less traffic jams
Laboratory Truck FOT “Chauffeur Assistant”; ACC and LDWA (2004)	No negative traffic impacts, workload decreases
Fully automated in PT; Parkshuttle, Phileas (2001-present)	Dutch public transport users have no problem using a fully automated PT system as daily link between metro station and business park.
Floating Car Data; region Noord Brabant (2005)	Extension of gathering & dissemination traffic information by use of mobile phone GPS system possible.
Roadwise; in car speed info (2005)	Positive expectations, better use of the road capacity
Belonitor; awarding good behaviour (2005)	Positive road users, exp. less accidents and less traffic jams, more efficient fuel use
Assisted Driver passenger cars (ACC + LDWA) (2005-2006)	Positive road users, less accidents, more efficient fuel use and less pollution

Within EC-funded RTD programmes, CVIS and SAFESPOT project FOTs are planned in the Netherlands and Belgium (2006-2010).

The FOTs have mainly shown positive societal results. There have been several experiments with autonomous systems, but the Netherlands aims to put an emphasis on cooperative systems, because this is where the Dutch Road Authority finds one of its core businesses: better traffic management.

Germany           

The German experience in FOTs can be clustered in three phases:

1.       In the last 10 years (1997 - 2005), several research projects were carried out mainly dealing with the traffic management infrastructure and mobility services in German conurbations (e.g. Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Dresden). All the projects had a strong development part, but in all of the cases the public authorities responsible for the urban road network were involved in the projects. The operational traffic management environment of the cities was integrated in the demonstration phase of the projects. The effect was that the services used data provided by the operational systems, while the new developed services interacted with the already established services.

2.       Current projects (started in the last two years) can be assigned to phase 2 (e.g. Dmotion in Düsseldorf, Aktiv). They still contain major development parts but compared with the phase 1 projects, phase 2 is characterised by a comprehensive demonstration and evaluation phase. Issues such as the long time operation of project results after completion are an integrated part of the project work. For example, the project Aktiv which deals with cooperative systems for motorways and the secondary road network, had a nine-month demonstration phase.

3.       Phase 3 is currently starting. The development work in these projects will be limited because the focus is on implementation and testing of the application over a longer period (two or three years). All the applications are more or less deeply integrated in the operational systems of the involved stakeholders. In order to prepare the full operation of the applications, the projects are aiming to gather real live experience. As an example, the state of Hessen is operating an FCD fleet together with industrial partners and using the data inside the traffic management systems to operate an extended TMC services. In addition, a large Car2Car FOT is planned.

Belgium

An ISA trial carried out in 2002-2003 in Ghent was composed of 34 cars and 3 buses equipped with the "active accelerator pedal". 20 cars were voluntary users of the ISA-system (private drivers), while 14 other vehicles and 3 buses were used by companies and public administrations.

The goals of the Ghent trial were to:

·          evaluate the effects of ISA on change of speed and traffic safety

·          evaluate drivers' attitudes, behaviour and acceptance

·          create a further carrying capacity of ISA and an acceptance of "ISA as a potential solution for road safety" by opinion and decision makers

UK

An ISA trial has also been carried out in the United Kingdom. After a first phase which essentially involved a simulator, the system was tested in Leeds with about 80 drivers and 20 vehicles.

Europe

With the support of the European Commission, European R&D projects have largely contributed to develop the state-of-the-art of ICT-based technologies and systems for mobility. FP6 Integrated Projects such as GST, PReVENT, AIDE, CVIS, SAFESPOT, and COOPERS have produced the most relevant results in terms of mature technologies with high potential impact for future FOT activities.

Contacts:

Mr Juhani Jääskeläinen, European Commission, INFSO-eSafety@ec.europa.eu

http://www.europa.eu.int/information_society/programmes/esafety/index_en.htm