News

In the last call for SAFER pre-studies to be conducted in 2020, two projects were approved and funding was granted. One of the projects is about how to take appropriate measures to minimize the spread of viruses in research and testing activities involving humans and the other is about multimodal data for road user behavior analysis to support safe driving patterns. The overall aim of the pre-studies is to support strategic knowledge creation that can lead SAFER forward and contribute to the continued development of the joint collaboration platform.

Hygiene procedures in test with research persons
The main concern for this task force is the health of research persons and test persons and own personnel in the use of driving simulators, VR studios, vehicles or similar test facilities. We all are aware of our corporate responsibility for the well-being and safety of all people in our activities. Now, under- and after the corona pandemic, health concerns are put in focus and we must take appropriate measures also in our research and testing activities. How can experiments involving test persons still be conducted sharing an enclosed cabin or VR equipment? What might standard safe hygiene procedures be? Will we have to require drivers to wear masks? How do we implement distancing while being in preparation or post-experiment interviews? We can all say that there will be a major impact on our procedures and most likely, we will have to deal with this for quite some time. Hygiene protocols for experiments involving test persons will be a concern for all organizations executing these activities, both in industry and academia. Partners in this project are VTI, AB Volvo, Autoliv, Veoneer, RISE and Scania.

Multimodal data for road user behavior analysis to support safe driving patterns
Proposes a rationale for multimodal data consideration in order to analyze road user behavior for determining safe driving patterns and diagnose unsafe driving behaviors. The investigation includes fusing multichannel and multidisciplinary data sources with an application to detect driving patterns that could be used to discriminate unsafe driving situations. A machine-learning based classification methodology is then proposed and its precision degree is analyzed. Follow up works include a scalable database platform that is kept synchronized with its channel sources. Partners are University of Skövde and Smart Eye.

The SAFER Pre-studies
One of the news in the collaboration agreement for SAFER Stage 5 is that we offer research funding to pre-studies and seed-projects. The aim is to support strategic knowledge creation that can lead SAFER forward and contribute to the continued development of the joint collaboration platform. The main idea is to bring together a strategic group of collaborat¬ing partners to create unique, new competence as a basis for e.g. national funding or an entry ticket to prestigious international collaborations. We also welcome proposals that are of a different nature, for instance for finalization of publications from a completed project or investigation of a new area. Simply put, projects that lead SAFER forward and contribute to the continued development of our joint collaboration platform, have been welcomed.

All in all, in 2020, 15 project ideas have been submitted and 9 approved. The next call for projects, to start in January 2021, will close November 29, 2020.