Skip to main content

TRL develops vehicle safety standards for Europe

Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has developed new vehicle safety standards which it claims will save 25,000 lives and assist European countries in the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Matthias Seidl, senior researcher - vehicle safety & regulation at TRL, says the advanced safety measures will protect all road users. “Intelligent speed assistance and drowsiness and distraction recognition will support drivers in their ongoing tasks, autonomous emergency braking and emergency lane keeping wi
February 28, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) has developed new vehicle safety standards which it claims will save 25,000 lives and assist European countries in the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs).

Matthias Seidl, senior researcher - vehicle safety & regulation at TRL, says the advanced safety measures will protect all road users.

“Intelligent speed assistance and drowsiness and distraction recognition will support drivers in their ongoing tasks, autonomous emergency braking and emergency lane keeping will intervene in the most critical situations to avoid a crash and improved crash tests will ensure that injuries of occupants as well as pedestrians and cyclists are minimised in the remaining collisions,” Seidl adds.

The standards were approved by members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).

Richard Cuerden, head of TRL’s Academy, says: “We are pushing very hard for relevant and practicable standards to be introduced for our vehicles, not only in the UK but across Europe.”

In 2014, TRL began working on behalf of the European Commission (EC) to assess the feasibility of the measures and assembled a group of unnamed car manufacturers, non-governmental organisations, governments and safety organisations.

TRL hosted a forum to analyse each safety measure and allow group members to offer feedback for consideration.

Looking ahead, TRL has been chosen by the EC to help develop the technical rules for the new systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Visible road markings: an essential for older drivers and intelligent vehicles
    March 20, 2015
    The RAINVISION project, co-financed by the European Commission, recently held its final meeting. Over the past three years, the project has researched the impact of road markings on driver behaviour under different night weather conditions (dry, wet and wet and rainy) and has assessed how different age groups and gender groups adapt their driving based on the above mentioned conditions. The results of the project were presented and in particular, the outcomes of three different trials conducted over the pro
  • BlackBerry’s Jeff Davis: ‘Hands off 5.9GHz!’
    September 25, 2019
    As a US Marine, BlackBerry’s Jeff Davis saw the world’s trouble spots. But much of his attention is now focused on what he sees as the ITS sector’s biggest issue: cybersecurity. Adam Hill finds out more Oh, I often feel I’m the dumbest guy in the room,” laughs Jeff Davis, senior director, connected transportation, at BlackBerry. It’s hard to credit this. Davis has a range of experience that sets him apart from most people in the ITS sector. He was in the US Marine Corps, with seven tours of duty, inclu
  • Cities get road priorities right
    March 22, 2022
    Cities including Paris, Milan and London have all announced serious expansions to their bicycling infrastructure over the last few years. The era of active travel is here, finds Alan Dron
  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 1, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones. Highway construction zone safety is taken seriously enough in the US to merit a special spring National Work Zone Awareness Week, which in 2010 ran from 19-23 April. Headed by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), this aims to reduce an annual toll of work zone deaths - 720 in 2008 (an average of one every 10 hours) with more than 40,000 traffic injuries (an average of one every 13 minutes).