The study of driver behaviour is essential to the safe implementation of new traffic control systems. Into this context of increasing demands placed on drivers in a complex environment, vehicle manufacturers are introducing a broad array of new technologies. Whilst the motivation is driver comfort, there are plenty of opportunities, and pitfalls, for safety that this new technology provides. It is clear that the development and supply of In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) is not taking place in a context of discovering and providing for the information handling capacities of drivers. In addition, the increasing use of mobile phones, GPS based navigation systems and even DVD in cars is almost certainly leading to accidents. Vehicle manufacture and the development of techniques such as intelligent speed adaptation take place on a European-wide basis. It is vital for policy makers, both in Government and Industry, to understand the individual and cumulative effects of this growth in IVIS on the capabilities of drivers to manage their vehicles in safety. HUMANIST Scientific Scope: Road telematic and driver assistance systems can constitute a real opportunity to support mobility and to improve road safety. Nevertheless, it is necessary to conceive them according to users' needs and requirements, in order to ensure their acceptability and to detect potential harmful effects of their widespread use. Human factors and cognitive engineering competencies exist in Europe but are scattered. For addressing this fragmentation of research capacities, HUMANIST gathers the most relevant European research institutes involved in Road Safety and Transport to contribute to the eSafety initiative and to improve road safety by promoting human centred design for IVIS and ADAS. This integration will allow us to increase Societal Benefits of ITS implementation, to harmonise ITS approaches among State Members, to react quickly to any new technological developments and to face international challenges by producing state of the art research, identifying knowledge gaps, avoiding redundancy of research activities. The goal of HUMANIST is to create a European Virtual Centre of Excellence on HUMAN centred design for Information Society Technologies applied to Road Transport (IVIS and ADAS), with a coherent joint program of activities, gathering research, integrating and spreading activities. Integrating Activities will permit us to manage and to consolidate the NoE structure by promoting the mobility of researchers, by optimising the pool of existing experimental infrastructures, by setting up electronic tools (common database, web-conference, e-learning) for knowledge sharing. Spreading Activities will allow us to spread widely the knowledge from HUMANIST, by organising debates with RTD projects on eSafety and relevant stakeholders, by promoting harmonisation with standardisation and pre-normative bodies, by setting up training programmes, and by promoting and disseminating research results to a wide audience. HUMANIST Educational Activities: The mobility program of the HUMANIST Centre for Excellence enables a close co-operation among European research institutions, which is especially important for young researchers – PhD students and post-docs. This program allows the opportunity to share the expensive and unique infrastructure of each collaborating institution, all of which are usually not available at home. But the greatest benefit of the program is the creation of an opportunity to be involved in important international projects and gain unique professional experience very quickly and efficiently. They are able to present, share, and defend their ideas, thesis, hypotheses, and methodological approaches with the international scientific community, professors, and PhD students from other countries of varied scientific approaches and cultural backgrounds. They are also able to learn scientific procedures on site, and have exposure to valuable information unavailable in any single institution or university. Students who have participated in the mobility program demonstrate many abilities lacking in other PhD students who have not had this unique experience, and provide proof of the scientific maturity of HUMANIST youth. (Author/publisher) This publication may be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.ictct.org/workshop.php?workshop_nr=25
Abstract