Safe Highways Conference Succeeds in Bringing Together Vehicle and Road Players
IVsource.net
31 January 2001

Here's a review of the action and key results reported out of this recent conference, which attracted automakers, infrastructure operators, and policy-makers from throughout Europe and beyond.

Meeting under spring-like cloudy skies at the "Palais des Festival et des Congrès" in Cannes, France, the First European Summit on Safe Highways of the Future was held on January 10-12.  About one hundred people -- mostly Europeans -- attended, representing highway agencies, ITS supplier companies, vehicle makers, and technology companies.

The strength of the conference was its varied agenda, which went beyond the bounds of a standard conference in either the ITS, highway, or vehicle domains.  In fact, all three areas were bridged and brought together under the umbrella of the "safe highways" theme.  The conference was the brainchild of Kevin Borras, editor of Traffic Technology International magazine, who sponsored the conference.

According to the conference brochure, the intent of the gathering was to examine, in an open forum, the ways by which the safety process can be accelerated through government, private, and public sector support; and to illustrate how new and rapidly developing technologies can be used to create radical improvements in highway safety.

Both the lectures and exhibition encompassed topics such as improving highway infrastructure, in-vehicle driver assistance, automated highways, simulation in road design, vehicle design for safety, and paramedic & rescue support.

Reducing Fatalities

Day One of the conference was focused on "improving highway infrastructure with the specific objective of reducing fatalities."  Of interest to those familiar with the IV world: the meeting was opened by Fotis Karamitsos, who heads driver assistance research for the European Commission's (EC) Information Society Directorate General.  Mr. Karamitsos provided a review of the EC's work in promoting safety via ITS.  Following talks focused on the ITS contribution to road safety in France and the UK.  Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) programs from the UK, Netherlands, and Sweden were each discussed, as well.

Peter Whitfield of the UK Highways Agency noted that they spend 13 million pounds annually on safety research (an amount roughly equivalent to the funding level of the USDOT's Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program).  "Future infrastructure," he said, "must support in-vehicle driver aids," as he noted that ISA has been estimated to save £ 31B per year in crash costs, at only £ 2-18B cost of implementation.  His agency is also starting to examine driver alertness technology.

Advanced approaches to automated highway systems were described on Day Two.  "The ultimate payoff is well worth the effort" for automated highways, noted Mr. Whitfield in describing the UK approach.

Driver distraction and human factors issues got their due with presentations from several perspectives, including that of Tom Granda of the US Federal Highway Administration, who is part of the USDOT Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Human Factors team.

Vehicle design and vehicle safety technology approaches were discussed by André Rault, general secretary of the European Council for Automotive R&D, and Daniel Augello of Renault.

Day Three saw a presentation of IV consultant Richard Bishop's study addressing the worldwide status of Cooperative Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (see related article at IVsource), the latest issues on Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) from Ian Blake of Jaguar Cars, and BMW's vision for driver assistance as reflected in their current Connected Car concept (presented by Dr. Thomas Bachman).   Edwin Bastiaensen of the Dutch Ministry of Transportation presented his government's vision for Automated Vehicle Guidance development through pilot projects planned over the next several years.

ACC Looking Good

Regarding ACC, Blake noted that the system Jaguar adopted uses a 76 GHz mechanically scanned radar.  They have logged in excess of 500,000 miles on the system in testing, and in evaluations drivers have concluded that the system reduces mental workload and improves concentration on the road scenario -- producing, overall, a more relaxing drive.  For next steps to improve ACC performance, Jaguar is looking for better data on road condition and improved vehicle path prediction.

Advanced map databases for driver assistance were discussed by Jerry Feigen of Navigation Technologies, in the context of the EC-funded NextMap project.  Participating in the effort are Centro Research Fiat, Renault, DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Jaguar, ERTICO, Navigation Technologies, and TeleAtlas.  The project evaluates the  technical/commercial feasibilitity of  the extensively detailed map databases -- which include lane-specific data, etc. -- that are required to support Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).  NextMap is defining just these ADAS mapping requirements and expects to propose propose extensions to existing standards.

In addition to the speakers noted above, other attendees came from Ford, Saab, Volvo, and DaimlerChrysler on the automotive side; from suppliers Acunia and Iteris; from the UK Highways Agency and Cofiroute on the infrastructure operator side; and from user group representatives the UK Automobile Association and Federation Internationale Automobile, as well as the ITS UK organization.    The conference was held side-saddle with an advanced tire technology conference, which provided for some interesting mingling.

And it must be said:  the food was excellent, at least according to one uncultured American palate….

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For More Information ...

Next year's event is already in the planning stages, and is likely to be held in either Strasbourg or Maastricht sometime in February 2002.  For more information, contact Kevin Borras of TTI at k.borras@ukintpress.com.

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