Final Report Summary - ASSET-ROAD (ASSET advanced safety and driver support in essential road transport)
Ten years ago, almost 50 000 fatalities per year were counted on the roads of the EU-25 territory. A number that is equal to the number of inhabitants of a medium-sized town. The European Union (EU) has set the goal to halve that number within 10 years. During the past few years, safety on European roads has improved continuously, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. The ambitious target has not been reached yet.
Road traffic safety was a key element of the ASSET-ROAD project. Utmost priority was attributed to accident prevention by improved driver awareness and early warning procedures in case of incidents and hazards and control of violations. Therefore, the primary goal of the ASSET-ROAD project was the enhancement of traffic safety, whereby cleaner traffic was a by-product of more fluent traffic flow and enhanced safety. It was to be achieved mainly by the following main objectives:
1. Development of sensors and innovative acquisition methods allowing the automated detection of traffic offences and of hazards;
2. Development of driver assistance tools;
3. Create a road safety theory including practical recommendations.
Both, developed sensors as well as the driver assistance systems, particularly focus on heavy traffic, as Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) represent a major share of the hazard potential on motorways. Above all, the potentially destructive impact of any traffic rule violations in terms accident consequences and highlighted the need of such developments.
The overall objective of the ASSET-ROAD project was to develop and test a holistic and integrated safety system incorporating driver support and control, economic road transport, infrastructure protection and cooperation between authorities to lead to an enhancement of traffic safety.
The project used existing sensor technologies in an innovative way, developed new sensor modules also putting emphasis on the fusion of data from multiple sources. In addition to the development of sensors different innovative acquisition methods were integrated allowing the automated detection of traffic offences and warning of hazards as well as driver assistance tools. Both focus on HGVs representing a major hazard potential on motorways. Their potentially destructive impact of any traffic rule violations in terms accident consequences and deterioration of the road infrastructure emphasizes the need of such developments.
The developed sensors include a new matrix high-speed weigh-in-motion sensor detecting passing overloaded HGVs prepared for future automated overload enforcement (e.g. overweight of axles, axle groups, truck, trailer or gross weight), an RFID reader which can reads the technical data stored on RFID tags of passing vehicles, a new thermal image monitoring system to check vehicles and to detect defective brakes, tyres, bearings, shafts and other elements of the drive train system in an efficient and effective way at reduced costs and less time, a new generation of multi-purpose pavement sensors for measuring pavement loads and environment conditions to reduce pavement life cycle costs, a system using a special near-infrared camera to detect ice and water on the road surface as well as an automatic seat belt monitoring system checking seat belt compliance.
The developed driver assistance systems is based on a 'regulation knowledge base framework' enabling a fully automatic observation system, a virtual multi-agent system aiming at the automatic detection of rule-violating driver behaviour by video surveillance and an interactive intelligent human-machine interface (LISA) alerting drivers of road scenarios and regulations. Above all, a TransportML middleware for intelligent interactive services was developed to allow road operators and administrations to share their information using Web services that interact to fulfil common tasks. Four different test sites were established in Germany, Finland (mobile), Austria and France to demonstrate and test the project developments.
Technically, the focus is on road monitoring, vehicle and driver monitoring and the integration of this information. At the practical level, ASSET-ROAD added value by developing methods and practices of close co-operation and data fusion with different users: drivers, TMC, emergency centre, police and rescue authorities, in order to prevent incidents and hazards and to increase road safety. See also the project website: http://www.project-asset.com.
Road traffic safety was a key element of the ASSET-ROAD project. Utmost priority was attributed to accident prevention by improved driver awareness and early warning procedures in case of incidents and hazards and control of violations. Therefore, the primary goal of the ASSET-ROAD project was the enhancement of traffic safety, whereby cleaner traffic was a by-product of more fluent traffic flow and enhanced safety. It was to be achieved mainly by the following main objectives:
1. Development of sensors and innovative acquisition methods allowing the automated detection of traffic offences and of hazards;
2. Development of driver assistance tools;
3. Create a road safety theory including practical recommendations.
Both, developed sensors as well as the driver assistance systems, particularly focus on heavy traffic, as Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) represent a major share of the hazard potential on motorways. Above all, the potentially destructive impact of any traffic rule violations in terms accident consequences and highlighted the need of such developments.
The overall objective of the ASSET-ROAD project was to develop and test a holistic and integrated safety system incorporating driver support and control, economic road transport, infrastructure protection and cooperation between authorities to lead to an enhancement of traffic safety.
The project used existing sensor technologies in an innovative way, developed new sensor modules also putting emphasis on the fusion of data from multiple sources. In addition to the development of sensors different innovative acquisition methods were integrated allowing the automated detection of traffic offences and warning of hazards as well as driver assistance tools. Both focus on HGVs representing a major hazard potential on motorways. Their potentially destructive impact of any traffic rule violations in terms accident consequences and deterioration of the road infrastructure emphasizes the need of such developments.
The developed sensors include a new matrix high-speed weigh-in-motion sensor detecting passing overloaded HGVs prepared for future automated overload enforcement (e.g. overweight of axles, axle groups, truck, trailer or gross weight), an RFID reader which can reads the technical data stored on RFID tags of passing vehicles, a new thermal image monitoring system to check vehicles and to detect defective brakes, tyres, bearings, shafts and other elements of the drive train system in an efficient and effective way at reduced costs and less time, a new generation of multi-purpose pavement sensors for measuring pavement loads and environment conditions to reduce pavement life cycle costs, a system using a special near-infrared camera to detect ice and water on the road surface as well as an automatic seat belt monitoring system checking seat belt compliance.
The developed driver assistance systems is based on a 'regulation knowledge base framework' enabling a fully automatic observation system, a virtual multi-agent system aiming at the automatic detection of rule-violating driver behaviour by video surveillance and an interactive intelligent human-machine interface (LISA) alerting drivers of road scenarios and regulations. Above all, a TransportML middleware for intelligent interactive services was developed to allow road operators and administrations to share their information using Web services that interact to fulfil common tasks. Four different test sites were established in Germany, Finland (mobile), Austria and France to demonstrate and test the project developments.
Technically, the focus is on road monitoring, vehicle and driver monitoring and the integration of this information. At the practical level, ASSET-ROAD added value by developing methods and practices of close co-operation and data fusion with different users: drivers, TMC, emergency centre, police and rescue authorities, in order to prevent incidents and hazards and to increase road safety. See also the project website: http://www.project-asset.com.