Can connected vehicles help us make roads safer?
Modern vehicles continuously generate large amounts of data about speed, movement, acceleration and braking. But can this data be used more systematically to improve traffic safety?
A new SAFER partner project will explore the potential of connected vehicle data for traffic safety applications in Sweden. The aim is to understand whether this type of data can provide reliable and decision-relevant safety information, and explore how it can complement the data already used by the Swedish Transport Administration today.
The project will start by reviewing international experience and identifying 2–3 concrete pilot cases together with the Swedish Transport Administration. These could include monitoring speeds and speed compliance, identifying locations with frequent hard braking, screening the road network for potential risks, or evaluating what happens before and after a traffic safety measure is introduced.
Connected vehicle data will then be compared with existing data sources and tested in the selected cases to assess its quality, usefulness and potential added value. The project will also look at limitations and costs and provide recommendations on whether, and how, the approach could be scaled up and integrated into future traffic safety work.
More continuous and comprehensive data from across the road network can help identify risks earlier, evaluate safety measures more effectively, and support better decisions about where action is needed.
The partner project is led by Strandroth Consulting AB, in collaboration with Safe Path Consulting, and funded by Skyltfonden. It runs until June 2027.
