INVENT
Wolfsburg, April 28, 2005 – Volkswagen has participated in the German INVENT (Intelligent traffic and user-friendly technology) research initiative over a period of four years. In Munich today, the project supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research was brought to a close. The project’s goal was to optimize traffic flow and enhance traffic safety. A total of 24 companies and institutions from the automotive, electronics and telecommunications sectors focused on research into safer and more efficient systems for managing ever-growing traffic volumes. Volkswagen’s contribution to the INVENT research activities concentrated on the “Driver assistance and active safety” and “Traffic management 2010” projects.
Under the “Active safety” component project, Volkswagen analyzed accident data, making the information available to the other project partners. The main causes of accidents were analyzed, thus identifying the areas where active safety systems are required. To this end, official accident statistics and the ‘GIDAS’ project (German In-Depth Accident Study) were evaluated. In a second step, the sequence of events in such accidents was analyzed with a view to avoiding these dangers in future.
Research into traffic congestion has shown that a minor driving error or inattentiveness is sufficient to trigger a full-fledged traffic jam. All it takes, for example, is for a driver to brake too late, often combined with a violent braking maneuver. Thanks to Volkswagen technologies, traffic jams caused by such incidents can be avoided in future. Using what are known as traffic performance assistance systems, drivers can predict traffic flows and take preventive action to avoid congestion, particularly in dense traffic. Unlike the driver, today’s electronic technology knows exactly how to follow leading vehicles and select the appropriate distance and speed. Such driver assistance systems are also able to compensate for errors made by other drivers, thus stabilizing the traffic flow. Extensive simulation tests have shown that this approach improves road capacity and reduces the risk of congestion.
“Mobility is an economic factor and an important ingredient of quality of life, self-fulfillment and personal freedom. With its commitment, Volkswagen is making a major contribution to securing individual mobility for the future – not only in the context of INVENT,” explained Matthias Rabe, Head of Group Research at Volkswagen.
In future, vehicles will be able to inter-communicate as well as communicating with the infrastructure. The driver will then receive important information on traffic situations still well beyond his field of vision, allowing an early response and farsighted driving.
Individual sensor systems, however, are no longer sufficient for handling the information required in very many complex traffic situations. For this reason, a further focus of research work has been the networking of various sensor systems (radars, laser scanners, image processing) to form a driving environment sensing system. A comprehensive electronic image of the driving environment is generated in the vehicle itself, allowing an analysis of the traffic situation. Such a system gives the driver advance warning of danger and allows him sufficient time to respond in an emergency. In future, such a system could help avoid accidents or at least avert some of the danger.
Driver assistance systems of the future will be user-friendly and intuitive as well as intelligent. For this reason, INVENT has worked intensively on the interaction between man and machine and on user acceptance.