The Dutch Officially Kick Off Lane Departure Warning Assistant Field Operational Test
IVsource.net
25 January 2003

The Dutch DOT has provided IVsource with details and photos of the recent kickoff event for this eagerly anticipated project.

The Netherlands' Department of Transportation recently provided IVsource with details of their kickoff event last fall for an important test of a vital commercial vehicle safety feature.

The Dutch Field Operational Test with Lane Departure Warning Assistant Systems (LDWA FOT) was officially opened by the Vice Director General DGP of the Ministry of Transportation, Public Works and Water Management on October 1, 2002.  The venue was a test site in Lelystad, The Netherlands, where a large number of people representing a wide range of organizations converged to witness demonstrations: policy makers, researchers, truck drivers, manufacturers from the automotive industry, and transport companies.  All were playing some role in the FOT, in which 35 trucks and one coach have been equipped with LDWA systems.  These systems give the driver a warning when they are about to leave their lane unintentionally.

The FOT is commissioned by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and conducted by the AVV Transport Research Centre.  The research is carried out by a consortium consisting of TNO Human Factors and TNO Inro, ITS (Institute for Applied Social Sciences, University of Nijmegen), Arcadis, PATH (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways, University of Berkeley) and the University of Minnesota.

The goals of this LDWA FOT are to obtain insight into the effects of driving with LDWA -- with regard to both traffic safety and traffic flow -- and to create awareness about Advanced Driver Assistant systems in general and LDWA in particular.

To meet these goals, professional drivers are gaining experience with LDWA while driving LDWA equipped trucks during a period of approximately six months.  The LDWA systems being used in the test include the Lane Guard System (MAN), Spurassistent (DaimlerChrysler) and the SafeTRAC system (DAF).  In addition to the data that will be provided by the participating drivers, five trucks are also equipped with data loggers to provide more detailed information about the impacts of LDWA.  Literature reviews, theoretical studies, and a driving simulator test are also being performed as part of the FOT, to gain more insight into the effects of driving with LDWA.  

The kickoff event in October proved to be very successful.  Because so many different parties and participants were present, it was possible to have multidisciplinary discussions where researchers and policymakers are confronted with actual trucks and drivers rather than numbers.  All participants were also able to make test drives in one of the 15 LDWA equipped trucks in order to experience the system first-hand.

The results of the LDWA FOT are expected to become available approximately in June 2003.

[Top]

For More Information ...

... see www.ldwa.nl or contact Mirjam Korse at avg@avv.rws.minvenw.nl.

More photos of the event are available in the IVsource Photo Gallery.

[Top]