IP PReVENT’s recent events

Date: 09 June 2005

The EC-supported PReVENT Integrated Project continued its busy agenda of project activities with its General Assembly and participation in the Hannover ITS Congress.

Its second General Assembly 17-18 May was held at the DaimlerChrysler Training Centre, Haus Lammerbuckel, in Wiesensteig, Germany. The goal of the event was to foster and guarantee the integration of results between IP PReVENT subprojects and other activities - including other IPs, STREP, and national projects. In total, 85 participants - including representatives from the AIDE, EASIS, SPARC, and APROSYS projects - contributed to the success of the event. 

The General Assembly started with an introduction of the new changes in the IP and the first feedback from European Commision project officers following IP PReVENT's annual review. To initiate the integration with external activities, three project representatives presented their progress: Johan Engstroem (VTEC) of Adaptive Integrated Driver-vehicle Interface (AIDE), Dr Armin Sulzmann (DaimlerChrysler) of Secure Propulsion using Advanced Redundant Control (SPARC) and Massimo Osella (CRF) of Electronic Architecture and System Engineering for Integrated Safety Systems (EASIS).

The afternoon was devoted to discussions within working groups on integration. The groups planned for better integration and hoped to intensify collaboration within the IP and outside. The result was a set of short and mid-term integration milestones which aim to pave the way to a better harmonisation of the research on active and preventive safety.

During the second day, the different working groups presented their next steps towards a harmonised integration and concluded with a series of integration milestones for IP PReVENT and the other participants.

IP PReVENT at Hannover
The 5th European Congress and Exhibition on ITS held 1-3 June 2005 in Hannover, Germany, featured a strong presence from IP PReVENT, including participation in the Congress programme, at the Exhibition, as well as on the ADAC test track.

IP PReVENT partners contributed to the Congress programme with a Special Session on preventive and active safety that presented project results during the first 15 months of activities. Mr Fabrizio Minarini of EC DG INFSO, Project Officer of IP PReVENT, served as moderator. (Presentations from this session are available on the IP PReVENT website.) Besides the Special Session, 9 technical papers were presented at the Congress, dealing with a variety of key issues of the project, including several of the subprojects such as SASPENCE, LATERAL SAFE and MAPS&ADAS.

IP PReVENT was also present at the EC stand in the Exhibition, where it displayed a Mercedes S class vehicle equipped with state-of-the-art active safety sensors such as 77GHz sensor (Distronic) and pre-crash and braking assistance functionalities. The vehicle also showed a simulation of a short-range communication system, which allows it to get data relative to traffic and local dangers in the area (WILLWARN application). On the first day of the event, the stand was visited by Dr Manfred Stolpe, German Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Housing (see photo at left). IP PReVENT coordinator Matthias Schulze presented IP PReVENT and its main activities and goals to the offical delegation. Minister Stolpe saluted the European-wide initiative as a contributor to the reduction of road fatalities through the use of ITS technologies and, in this case, active safety systems.

Last but not least, IP PReVENT rounded out its Hannover highlights at the ADAC test track, where an APALACI vehicle demonstrated the functionalities of pre-fire and pre-crash. The vehicle was equipped with four ultrasonic sensors and four short-range radars and could fuse the data in order to create reliable data enabling the passive safety systems to prepare for the impact.

For more information, visit the IP PReVENT website or contact ERTICO Director of Development Michael Nielsen