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Last Modified: 05.04.05




GENERAL OVERVIEW

This project is supported within the specific programme Competitive and Sustainable Growth and is in specific response to Growth Task 2.2.5/6 - Development of methodologies and performance measures to assess long term safety implications of new in-vehicle technologies including HMI for road transport.

The aim of HASTE (Human Machine Interface And the Safety of Traffic in Europe) is to develop methodologies and guidelines for the assessment of In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS). To date, there have been attempts to provide manufacturers and testing authorities with a set of guidelines to assess the likely impacts of IVIS on the driving task, usually in the form of a checklist. Such checklists provide a tool that enables the identification of likely problems but they do not attempt to quantify safety problems. This project is fundamental to the development of a valid, reliable and efficient tool that will aid testing authorities in their safety evaluation of IVIS. With the advent of sophisticated technology (mobile and portable) and the increase in the amount of time spent on the road, the car has become a potential home to many different types of systems. Such systems range from those which convey simple information to the driver (for example incident warnings) to those that require the driver to interact with a system in order to extract the required function (for example a route guidance system). There is an urgent need to develop thorough testing and diagnostic procedures for such systems in order to regulate their inclusion in the vehicle. If no such procedures are set up, the driving task may become of secondary importance to tasks relating to interaction with the system. If such distraction occurs, there is evidence that traffic safety will be compromised.

The partnership consists of eight European partners and one partner from a country with a cooperation agreement. A balance of Northern and Southern European countries is represented. Such a balance is deemed necessary to a project such as this not least because drivers' needs and behaviour may vary across Europe. Expertise in the area of driver behaviour and system evaluation is guaranteed by the inclusion of the academic and research institutions, each of which bring a particular speciality to the project. The two industrial partners, one of which is a vehicle manufacturer, will ensure that the project goals are realistic and timely and provide important input with regards to design and manufacturing.