Evaluation Framework for Commercial Vehicle Safety Systems and Services (EFrame). Final Report

Rapport, 2016

The main project aim was to develop a structured framework for traffic safety evaluation in an industrial (commercial vehicle manufacturer) context. The resulting framework facilitates more efficient development of crash/injury countermeasures by (1) identifying and focusing on the most important safety problems, (2) estimating the potential and actual safety benefits of safety systems and services and (3) identifying the data sources needed to perform these analyses. The project started with identification of the general types of safety evaluation analyses needed from an industrial development perspective (the Evaluation Use Cases, EUCs). The EUCs helped to keep the project focused, in spite of its broad general scope, and constituted the basis for all remaining work in the project (WP1). Next, an initial sketch of the framework, in terms of the data sources and analysis needed to address the EUCs were developed (WP1). This was followed by a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of existing data sources and road safety analysis methodologies that could potentially be used as components in the framework (WP2). Based on this, existing methods were adapted, or novel methods developed, to address the Evaluation Use Cases (WP3). Finally, the methods adapted/developed in WP3 were applied to a set of concrete evaluation test cases in order to demonstrate the framework and identify needs for further improvement (WP4). Based on this, the final framework was defined (WP4). Thus, the project objectives have generally been met, although further development and testing is needed on other concrete test cases beyond than those addressed in WP4. The framework has the potential to reduce the number of killed and injured in traffic by focusing industrial development and academic research on the most effective safety systems and services and increases AB Volvo’s international competitiveness by further strengthening its safety system/services offering. The project has also, thanks to its broad scope, fostered increased collaboration between different sub-fields of traffic safety analysis (e.g., passive safety, active safety and road user behavior analysis) and thus contributed to the development of a critical mass of competence at SAFER/Chalmers/Volvo in this area.