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[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
BMW Motorrad Develops C1-E Electric Study as Contribution to eSUM
November 06, 2009
| BMW Motorrad concept C1-E. Click to enlarge. |
BMW Motorrad has developed an electric study vehicle, the C1-E, as a contribution to the European safety project eSUM. This study unit is based on the concept of the BMW C1, and is characterized by a very high level of active and passive safety.
The electric motor employed in the study has been designed for city use and is based on components by the company Vectrix. The motor obtains its power from a lithium-ion battery and thus possesses sufficient power for mastering most inner-city traffic riding. Alternatively the vehicle could also be equipped with an efficient, low-emissions internal combustion engine.
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Volvo Trucks to Highlight Projects at ITS World Congress
September 09, 2009
Volvo Trucks will display several next-generation ITS projects at its stand at the 16th World Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) to be held at the Stockholmsmässan in Stockholm from 21-25 September 2009.
Among its exhibits are “thinking” trucks that automatically handle some of the routine aspects of driving, communicate with other vehicles on the road and, if necessary, intervene automatically in critical situations.
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IIHS Finds smart fortwo Has Strongest Roof Among Tested MY2009 Micro and Minicars
August 20, 2009
The Smart Fortwo has the strongest roof among MY2009 micro and minicars recently tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Smart earns the highest IIHS rating of “good”; IIHS rated the Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Mini Cooper, and Toyota Yaris as “acceptable”, and the Chevy Aveo as “marginal”.
In the Institute’s test, a metal plate is pushed against 1 side of a roof at a constant speed. To earn a good rating, a roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle’s weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. This is called a strength-to-weight ratio. For an acceptable rating, the minimum required ratio is 3.25. A marginal rating value starts at 2.5; anything lower than that is poor. The current federal standard is 1.5.
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TfL To Begin Testing of Intelligent Speed Adaptation Technology
May 11, 2009
| ISA speed map for Greater London. Click to enlarge. |
Transport for London (TfL) will begin a six-month trial of Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) technology which aims to reduce road casualties and help drivers avoid speeding penalties. (Earlier post.) As part of the trial, which will start this summer, a London bus will be fitted with ISA.
The intelligent technology, which works in conjunction with a GPS, enables drivers to select an option where acceleration is stopped automatically at the speed limit specific to any road in London within the M25 area. The unit can be disabled at the touch of a button, at which point it reverts to an advisory status where the current, legal speed limit is simply displayed as a driver aid. There is also a complete over-ride switch with disables the system entirely.
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IIHS Says Its Crash Test Study Suggests Small Cars Can’t Protect People in Front-to-Front Crashes as Well as Bigger, Heavier Models
April 14, 2009
Three 40 mph car-to-car front-to-front crash tests, each involving a microcar or minicar into a midsize model from the same manufacturer, indicate that extra vehicle size and weight enhance occupant protection in such collisions, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which ran the testing. A summary of the study is published in the 14 April IIHS Status Report.
The choice of midsize cars reveals how much influence some extra size and weight can have on crash outcomes, the Institute said. The Institute chose pairs of 2009 models from Daimler, Honda, and Toyota because these automakers have micro and mini models that earn good frontal crashworthiness ratings, based on the Institute’s offset test into a deformable barrier.
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UK Evaluating Intelligent Speed Adaptation Systems for Road Safety and GHG Emissions Reduction
January 03, 2009
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| Summary results of impact of ISA systems on CO2 emissions. Click to enlarge. |
The UK government’s Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) and the Motorists’ Forum (MF) recently issued a joint report evaluating the impact of implementing an Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) system across the entire road network on reducing deaths and injuries on the UK roads and on reducing fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 and criteria pollutants. They partners commissioned the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds to produce the report.
ISA systems use enhanced navigation systems which incorporate speed limit as a road attribute to compare the local speed limit to the vehicle speed. The ISA system automatically detects the road on which a vehicle is travelling—and hence the speed limit—without any user intervention. ISA systems take three basic forms:
