An EU project which aims to better understand the evolving relationship between motorists, vehicles and their environment using new technology has been launched in Belgium today.
It will investigate how technology for vehicle and driver monitoring can be used to mitigate the human factors which affect people’s driving, such as fatigue, stress, anger, age, experience and reacting to distractions.
The three-year venture, i-Dreams, was launched in Hasselt, Belgium, today (May 22) and will share the data it collects with the goal of improving road safety.
The technology, in the form of in-vehicle sensors that capture detailed driving style and contextual data about the vehicle and road environment, will also be used to gather important data from motorists to help experts evaluate the risks drivers now face, and how to assist drivers in responding to them.
Loughborough University’s Dr Ashleigh Filtness, Lecturer in Road Safety in the Design School, said: “This project will make a significant step forward towards a safer transport system by taking advantage of new technology for actively monitor the driver, environment and vehicle in an integrated manner.
“By comparing driver abilities to the challenges of the driving task means interventions can be put in place to assist drivers, and vehicles, to manage and avoid dangerous driving situations.”
The project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Loughborough’s specific role will be to lead the operational design and the project framework, as well as developing the methodology for evaluating the field study data.
The i-Dreams team is: Loughborough University (UK), Universiteit Hasselt (project coordinator, BE), National Technical University of Athens (EL), European Transport Safety Council (BE), OSeven single-member private company (EL), Technische Universitaet Muenchen (DE), Barraqueiro Transportes (PT), Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit (AT), DriveSimSolutions (BE), CardioID Technologies (PT), Polis (BE), Univerza v Mariboru (SI), Technische Universiteit Delft (NL).
More information about the project can be found at www.idreamsproject.eu
Notes for editors
Press release reference number: 19/61
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