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Intelligent Route Guidance of Heavy Vehicles

Exploitable results

All European countries are experiencing an ever increasing volume of traffic. In particular, the volume of freight transport on roads has increased even more over the years and demand is expected to grow significantly over the next decade. Coupled with this, the increasing gross weights and the changing load configurations of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) has led to accelerated damage to bridges and pavement fatigue as well as creating major traffic management problems to maintain safety and reduce congestion. For truck operators, there are the combined challenges of reducing ever increasing fuel costs, maximising efficiency and profitability whilst maintaining safety. As for the truck drivers they have the additional task of ensuring compliance with driver's working hours regulations and finding appropriate, safe and secure overnight rest areas. In 2000, the total volume of road transport in the EU-25 was in 1482 billion tonne-kilometres and is predicted to grow to more than 3133 billion tonne-kilometre by 2030 (DG Transport and Energy - 'Trends to 2030'). This will lead to significant congestion and damage to road network infrastructure over that period. In addition, freight distribution is predicted to out pace passenger cars as the largest source of CO2 from transport over the same period. With over 50 000 road users killed in the European Union annually, road freight also has a role to play in achieving the road death reduction targets set by the EC. Clearly the growth in the volume of trucks (increasing faster than passenger car traffic) coupled with the increasing size and weight of trucks on the network will create particular problems. These will include such safety related factors as: - increased bridge and infrastructure damage due to tight-turning circles at normal traffic speeds or other geometric conditions; - growing accident risk at major junctions for passenger cars attempting to cross lanes congested with trucks; - increased accident risk due to longer stopping distances for trucks compared with passenger cars; - restrictions on use of unsuitable rest areas preventing adequate rest breaks fro drivers. Finding a way to reduce the costs associated with the increasing traffic volumes is therefore a major challenge for the road research community as well as the road authorities and operators. An advanced route guidance and advice system for HGVs would therefore be a valuable tool for deriving the safest and, by also including other aspects such as capacity, environmental effects, vehicle operating costs and impact on road and bridge deterioration, the most cost effective routes for road freight transports through Europe. Working together with all major stakeholders, the Heavyroute project has provided the tools, the systems and the data collection and interpretation processes that will effectively link Europe's road infrastructure via electronic mapping systems to the truck operators and drivers. This will provide a major boost to the efficiency, profitability and safety of the haulage sector whilst contributing to overall road safety and congestion and infrastructure asset management objectives. Three main applications were developed based on vehicle/infrastructure interaction models together with detailed data on the vehicle itself, the infrastructure and the traffic. 1. Pre-trip route planning - Allowable route were derived based on 'HGV specific data' together with physical and legal restrictions on the infrastructure. - Arguments addressing fuel consumption, emissions, noise, safety, driver comfort and infrastructure maintenance costs. 2. Driving support - Real-time driver warning and recommended driving to avoid critical situations (for example recommended speed to avoid roll-over). 3. Monitoring and management of HGV's at bridges - Advice on speed, minimum vehicle spacing and/or lane change to keep appropriate loading of bridges. The special feature of the system is its ability to locate the trouble spots of the road network where problems can be expected; for some of them information to the operator may be the most efficient measure taken while for others more tailored and efficient regulations may be the solution. More tailored regulations at trouble spots may also open up other part of the network for less strict regulations which will enhance the efficiency of the European transport sector.

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