Lane Departure Warning Assistant:  Dutch DOT Advertises for Partners in Field Operational Testing
IVsource.net
25 September 2001

The Dutch Rijkswaterstaat is seeking partners to explore Lane Departure Warning Assistants ... but hurry: replies are due October 15.

The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) is continuing with its pioneering activities in Advanced Vehicle Guidance through a new solicitation.  They are seeking participants in an investigation of the benefits and opportunities provided by Lane Departure Warning Assistants (LDWA).

As a follow-up to their Demo ’98 -- which introduced driver assist systems to both the Dutch public and policy-makers -- ministry officials want to understand the effects of LDWA on both traffic safety and throughput by conducting on-road testing of commercially-available systems.

Within the Rijkswaterstaat, work in this area is centered in the AVV Transport Research Centre under the leadership of Mr. Edwin Bastiaensen.

The Dutch solicitation defines LDWA as a system which warns the driver when about to leave the lane unintentionally.  For the evaluation, the target groups are drivers of long distance coaches, freight trucks, and lorries.   Their plans call for the Field Operational Test (FOT) to be prepared in 2001, become active in 2002, and generate results for dissemination in 2003.  The eight month on-road testing would run from March to October 2002.  Only LDWA systems based on machine-vision techniques will be evaluated, which points to use of the Iteris Autovue system (offered now in Europe in Mercedes trucks) (see www.iteris.com) and SafeTRAC (manufactured by Assistware, Inc. (see www.assistware.com). 

Project Objectives

The test objectives are twofold:

1. Gain an understanding of the risks and success factors relative to policy-making for LDWA.  Key questions relate to the effects on traffic flow, traffic safety, infrastructure impacts, implementation of narrow lanes, and driver/industry acceptance / attitudes.

2. Increase the awareness of Driver Assist systems in general and LDWA in particular.

The Dutch say that their project is “plugged in” to the broader international context, including the ADASE II and CHAUFFEUR II work within Europe, and the United States' Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program.

The FOT is envisioned as involving a maximum of 60 vehicles, consisting mainly of trucks and buses.  All vehicles will be equipped with some form of LDWA, and a subset will be equipped with data recorders.  The effort is open to the participation of several different fleets and vehicle manufacturers.  Each team participating can bring up to 15 vehicles, some of which must be equipped with data recorders.

Dynamic Cross Section

An innovative approach being considered in the Netherlands is 'Dynamic Cross Sections,' in which the number of lanes on a roadway can be increased dynamically in response to heavy traffic demand.  Physically, this would be done through techniques such as lighted markers in the pavement which can be illuminated to delineate the lanes.  The ability of LDWA to act as a supportive technology, to assist drivers in maintaining safety within narrow lanes, will certainly be one aspect of the research conducted within this FOT.

Proposals Due in October

Proposals are due to the Dutch government by October 15, 2001.  A full solicitation (click here to download the file [Adobe Acrobat, 167Kb]) provides a great deal more information about the FOT, details on preparing proposals, and a sample contract.  Participation of a vehicle manufacturer or importer on the bid team is required.

Also available for download here [Adobe Acrobat, 185Kb] is the Research Framework for Dutch Field Operational Tests with Lateral Support Systems, which provides full coverage of an extensive program examining LDWA, Lane Keeping Systems, and “Chauffeur Assistant” (a concept consisting of two subsystems: a Lane Keeping System and a Smart Distance Keeping System.)

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For More Information ...

... contact Aad de Hoog of the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat at A.dHoog@MDI.RWS.MINVENW.NL. 

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