Record number of delegates attended SAFER’s 6th International conference on Driver distraction and Inattention
Nearly 190 delegates from 26 countries attended the 6th edition of the International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (DDI2018) held in Gothenburg, October 15-17, 2018. The co-organisers SAFER, the French institute IFSTTAR and Australian ARRB Group are very pleased with the outcome, which shows that there is a great need for scientific knowledge related to distraction and inattention in the context of automation.
This was the sixth time that representatives from research, industry and academy met to get up-to-date on current and recent developments and trends in the field of inattention and distraction in driving. The conference's theme was “Driver engagement during assisted driving” and a majority of the research results gave new valuable knowledge about how self-propelled vehicles should be designed to enable drivers to handle them.
Groundbreaking results presented
At the conference 43 oral presentations and 17 poster presentations resulted in 15 full papers being published in the DDI2018 proceedings and about 20 papers being submitted to the scientific journal IET Intelligent Transport Systems special issue scheduled to August, 2019. DDI2018 proceedings with extended abstracts and peer-reviewed papers are available on the conference website http://ddi2018.org/ .
Trent Victor, one of the Scientific leaders for the event says:
“As an organizer, and from a scientific perspective, I am pleased that the theme “Driver engagement during assisted driving” generated such high quality work and discussion, along with the exiting new methodologies and other results presented. As a whole, the conference has taken a step into the future of attention research in driving.”
On the conference there were also three key note speakers, one special session, an engaging panel discussion, technical visits, e.g. to Volvo Cars, AstaZero, VTI and Smart Eye and plenty of time for networking and knowledge exchange.
Advance research vehicles on site at the conference
Volvo Cars unique research vehicle Wizard of Oz attended DDI2018. This Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) car has been used on public roads and test tracks to study automation. In these experiments, the WoZ car was equipped with special, test-unique software which had self-driving capability to precisely follow the road, maintain speed, and keep a constant headway with highly.
Veoneer presented their latest version of their Learning Intelligent Vehicle (LIV) 2.0 from CES 2018® in Las Vegas. The concept car shows how a real interaction between human machine will affect consumers' acceptance of self-driving cars. In the exhibition there were also demonstrations and stands by the conference’s sponsors Smart Eye, AstaZero, VTI, V-Traffic and Robocars.
Next conference in Lyon 2020
The next edition of the conference will be held in Lyon, France in October/November 2020. An invitation will be distributed shortly.
About DDI
The International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention is the premiere international event on this topic, attracting delegates from more than 20 countries. It is designed to bring participants – from government, industry and academia – up-to-date on current and recent developments and trends in the field of inattention and distraction in driving. Topics include theory, causation, measurement, impacts on driver performance and safety, and options for countermeasure development, e.g. education, training, laws, enforcement, design, licensing, research, etc.
Whilst the main focus of the DDI conference series is on driver distraction and inattention, presentations and papers on distraction affecting other road users, e.g. pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and from domains other than road transport, e.g. aviation, medicine, rail, are also welcome.
The conference features keynote speakers, plenary and parallel sessions and special symposia – focussing on topical issues and designed to cater for the practical needs and interests of government, industry and academic delegates. All papers are peer-reviewed.
SAFER has hosted four conferences in Gothenburg, one in Sydney and one in Paris. Today the conference plays an important role within the field. DDI will be held biannually, in even years.
DDI2018 was hosted and co-organised by the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers in Sweden, the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR), and the Australian Road Research Group (ARRB).
