Vision and Challenges

Challenges

Until now efforts of the industry have focused on passive and active safety systems on board the vehicle.

Passive occupant safety systems such as structural energy absorption, on-board protection and containment systems have reached a level of performance that cannot be significantly improved without additional cost and weight, thus decreasing affordability and reducing vehicle efficiency. Instead, the continuing development and introduction of active in-vehicle systems will enable further safety benefits, both for drivers and other road users.

The next breakthrough in traffic safety requires an integrated approach to create co-operative systems using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Enhanced communication, interaction and co-operation of driver, vehicle and infrastructure are prerequisites for further significant improvements.

In this framework, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) should support and interface with in-vehicle safety systems to exchange information and reinforce operational strategies in order to optimise safety goals.

On-board functions controlling vehicle dynamics, supplemented by monitoring of vehicle position in relation to other vehicles and information from infrastructure or broadcast systems on road and traffic conditions, have the potential to prevent critical situations by supporting the driver with information and even enable mitigation and correction for drivers’ errors or inattention.

Real time driver information provided by on-board systems, interconnected vehicles and via roadside infrastructure may lead to more responsible and compliant driver behavior and reduce journey stress. Driver assistance functions designed to mitigate the impact of accidents will prove to be key to achieve improved safety within a new trade-off between passive and active safety.

Whilst the safety of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users can be improved by introducing the new technologies which the automotive industry are currently developing, good design of the road infrastructure (openness and lighting of intersections and pedestrian crossings) and education, for example of vulnerable road users regarding traffic regulations and systems designed for their safety, are also vital.

The increase in crimes against private and goods vehicles has led cargo fleet owners, transport industry, insurance companies and private motorists to seek new ways of protecting their assets, lowering the risk to crime as well as ensuring the tracking of the assets in case of a crime. Better theft protection has shifted the danger from breaking into vehicles to hijacking, thus putting the driver at additional risk.