Work starts on European ‘interactIVE’ safety systems project

A consortium of 29 partners has commenced work on the Accident Avoidance by Active Intervention of Intelligent Vehicles (interactIVe) European research project at the Ford European Research Center in Aachen, Germany. During the planned 42 months duration of interactIVe, the partners will test the performance of implemented safety systems through active intervention, including autonomous braking and steering in critical situations, with the aim of avoiding collisions – or at least mitigating the impact severity in accidents.

The European Commission will cover more than half of the project’s overall budget of Euro 30 million (US$42 million). The consortium – headed by Ford – consists of seven automotive manufacturers, including BMW, Fiat, Daimler, Volvo and Volkswagen, six suppliers, 14 research institutes and three other stakeholders. New technologies for environmentally sensitive driving will also be supported by the project, in addition to collision avoidance and mitigation systems.

Left: The Ford Research Center Aachen represents Ford in external organizations such as the German Automobile Industry Association, and EUCAR, a federation of European car-makers involved in precompetitive, cooperative research

Advanced driver assistance systems inform drivers about potentially dangerous situations, in order to provide as much reaction time as possible. Whenever the driver does not react at all or react in time to the warnings provided by the different assistance systems, the collision avoidance subsystem will intervene autonomously. Although the driver keeps control and responsibility using ADAS, the intervention systems exceed these limits and offer new potential. Active safety systems are seen as one of the key enablers to increase future road safety.

28 January 2010