Integrating Safety Systems for Trucks

Research Project, 2025 – 2028

Road transport of goods is critical for society but comes with the issues associated with large and heavy vehicles mixing with smaller passenger cars and unprotected road users on a common road network. Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) have limited passive safety regulations to address collisions with other cars and crash statistics highlight the deadly consequences when trucks and cars collide. HGVs already have legislated automated safety systems as new vehicles after 2013 must meet UNECE 137. Unfortunately, these safety systems have not had a significant influence on the fatality rate for truck involved crashes as they may not have the functionality needed to address all crash scenarios.

Exploiting the potential for automation of heavy goods vehicles can be facilitated using the Safe Systems approach for traffic safety. Combining both active and passive safety systems, new designs can increase the total safety for trucks. This is particularly relevant now with new regulations allowing longer and innovative truck designs not permitted earlier. Teaming with Euro NCAP, the project team proposes to develop new standards and policies that can leverage automated safety systems while building in safety resilience through new passive safety designs. An integrated safety evaluation methodology is needed to provide guaranteed safety levels without overdesigning structural components of the HGV which reduce fuel and transport efficiency.

A strategy to promote and evaluate safety for heavy goods vehicles is needed to complement existing activities for passenger cars. The proposed project will create a new international safety evaluation platform that will initiate new safety functionalities for HGVs. The project’s addresses:
-Protection of people inside and outside the vehicle – promoting and measuring vehicle safety performance and their direct influence on occupants in both the truck and passenger car

-Integration of vehicles and infrastructure for safe transport solutions. Safe System principles guide the project activities to ensure that the vehicle-driver-environment characteristics are used efficiently
and collaboratively 

-Enabling methods and technologies with clear application for the development and deployment of safe automation

– the foundation of the project is a verification procedure for vehicle safety that addresses varying automation levels.

It aims to create an industry standard that guides development activities and allows all manufacturers to be judged equally and objectively.