The challenge
Almost 95% of the road accidents are due to a human factor. In almost three-quarters of the cases the human behavior is solely to blame. Drivers represent a significant safety risk and need some form of assistance at terms. In the last decade the member states and the automotive industry have been actively involved in improving road safety through both accident prevention and injury reduction. Most of the accident prevention measures have focused on the driver, while the measures to reduce the consequences of an accident have primarily focused on vehicle, through improved passive safety such as crashworthiness, seatbelts, airbags and conventional active safety systems such as braking and lighting. These combined actions have contributed to the continuous reduction of the number of fatalities on European roads. Nevertheless, the number of road accidents and the number if road victims are still unacceptably high in the European Union.
The solution
I-Way platform aims to enhance driver’s perception on road environment and improve his responses in time critical situations by providing real time information from other vehicles in the vicinity and from effectively located roadside equipment as well. The key feature that enhances I-Way innovation is that refers to a co-operative system for road safety, where vehicles co-operate not only by receiving information from infrastructure but also by serving as scouts. The main objective of I-Way is to exploit the technological know how and thrust the scientific knowledge in order to integrate existing information sources and produce an interoperable toolset supporting both road-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communication providing greater transport efficiency and increasing safety.
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