i-Dreams kick off meeting

Improving EU’s road safety goals by monitoring driving behaviour and taking real-time and post-trip interventions

How can technology help tackling road safety? To answer this question on May 22-23 in Hasselt, Belgium a consortium of 13 partners, research organisations as well as companies, from 8 different countries will kick-off the EU Horizon2020 project i-DREAMS. During 3 years they will define, implement and test new ways and technologies for monitoring the increasingly complex interaction between driver, vehicle and road environment, and to develop and test interventions to reduce accident risk, both under simulated and in real-life conditions.”

New opportunities to tackle road safety

Several factors of driver state negatively impact road safety, such as distraction (in-vehicle or external), fatigue and drowsiness, health concerns (e.g. illness, frailty, cognitive state) and extreme emotions (e.g. anxiety, stress, anger). Moreover, differences in socio-cultural factors are still among the main determinants of road risks. At the same time, technological developments make massive and detailed operator performance data easily available. For example via new in-vehicle sensors that capture detailed driving style and contextual data. This creates new opportunities for the detection and design of customised interventions to mitigate the risks, increase awareness and upgrade driver performance, constantly and dynamically. The optimal exploitation of these opportunities is the challenge that i-DREAMS faces.

How will i-DREAMS make a difference? The consortium perspective

Prof. dr. Tom Brijs, UHasselt (project coordinator): “i-DREAMS will make a significant step forward towards a safer transport system by taking advantage of increasing automation. We specifically focus on the driver-vehicle-environment interactions and on the human factors affecting the behaviour of drivers. We will make use of technology to monitor and analyse driving behavior. This technology can intervene both during and after the ride. During experiments, for example, sensors in the steering wheel will monitor the driver's heart rhythm, so that both the driving behavior and the alertness and emotional state of the driver are measured in real-time. For example, the vehicle could give a warning if the sensor detects that the driver is no longer concentrated. Even after the ride, the driver can be briefed about any dangerous traffic situations that occurred while driving. This can have a sensitizing effect and can be used for driver training purposes..”

A team of top researchers and companies apply their expertise

Thirteen partners from 8 different countries form the i-DREAMS team: Universiteit Hasselt (project coordinator, BE), National Technical University of Athens (EL), Loughborough University (UK), European Transport Safety Council (BE), OSeven single member private company (EL), Technische Universitaet Muenchen (DE), Barraqueiro Transportes (PT), Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit (AT), DriveSimSolutions (BE), CardioID Technologies (PT), Polis (BE), Univerza v Mariboru (SI), Technische Universiteit Delft (NL). 

The research partners all have a proven track record in road safety and human factors. The companies involved strongly focus on solutions to successfully implement technologies for monitoring and intervention. Futhermore there is a strong link between the consortium and policy stakeholders. Expertise is combined to deliver market and society relevant outcomes with significant exploitation potential.

Contact persons

i-DREAMS project coordinator

Prof. dr. Tom Brijs
Transportation Research Institute (IMOB) – Hasselt University
Wetenschapspark 5 bus 6
3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
tom.brijs(at)uhasselt.be
GSM: 0473/99.99.95

i-DREAMS contact for TUM

Prof. Dr. Constantinos Antoniou

Chair of Transportation Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich

Arcistrasse 21, 80333, Munich

c.antoniou(at)tum.de

More information about the project’s goals and partners can be found on the project website (www.idreamsproject.eu).