Skip to main content

Heavy vehicles to collect slipperiness data for Finland’s road users

EEE Innovations Oy (EEE), the Finnish Transport Agency and Trafi have launched a two-year project in the Northern European state to equip 1000 heavy traffic vehicles including buses and trucks with a data collecting system which will produce real-time road slipperiness data. The trial aims to improve traffic safety for road users, drivers and operators. This application, developed by EEE, can be implemented via a software update which reads the data from the Can-bus of the vehicle’s computer. The driver
January 24, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

8651 EEE Innovations Oy (EEE), the Finnish Transport Agency and Trafi have launched a two-year project in the Northern European state to equip 1000 heavy traffic vehicles including buses and trucks with a data collecting system which will produce real-time road slipperiness data. The trial aims to improve traffic safety for road users, drivers and operators.

This application, developed by EEE, can be implemented via a software update which reads the data from the Can-bus of the vehicle’s computer. The driver guidance system can be installed as part of its current software, or as a separate entity, including both the driver guidance and slipperiness detection systems.

The invention was originally used by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland for heavy traffic research projects and has also piloted in both the country and an EU-level project. It is also intended to be available for private vehicles in the future.

Jarmo Leino of EEE, said: “We offer the slipperiness data collected by the vehicles to be used by all parties in the project. In addition to that, also other information can be derived from the vehicles through the system, such as location and temperature data and information on sudden braking situations. We welcome all interested transport operators to join the project, there is room still.”

Raine Hautala, principal scientist at VTT, said: “The software that is now being implemented can also guide drivers to drive more economically. In addition to the driver of the vehicle, a warning of slipperiness detected can be forwarded in real time to the whole fleet and other operators, for example through map applications. The data can be utilized for other purposes as well, such as targeting road maintenance measures.”

UTC

Related Content

  • July 27, 2012
    Measuring vehicle lengths with a single loop - promising results
    District 7 of Caltrans has been conducting trials to see whether the use of a single inductive loop to measure vehicle lengths and so identify heavy trucks is feasible. So far, the results have been very promising, according to Lead Transportation Engineer Steve Malkson. Between them, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the US's two biggest, cover some 10,700 acres (43km2) and 68 miles (109km) of waterfront.
  • April 2, 2014
    Big data and GPS combine to cut emergency response times
    David Crawford looks at technologies for better emergency medical service delivery. Emergency medical services (EMS) play key roles in transporting, or bringing treatment to, patients who become ill through medical emergencies or are injured in road traffic accidents (RTAs). But awareness has been rising steadily, in the US and elsewhere, of the extent to which EMS can generate their own emergencies. The most common cause is vehicles causing or becoming involved in RTAs, as a result of driving fast under pr
  • March 20, 2018
    Vaisala RWS200 deployed on Aurora Smart Road
    Vaisala is displaying its RWS200, a road weather information system that is playing a crucial role on Finland’s Aurora Smart Road, implemented by the Finnish Transport Agency, and equipped to fit research and development needs in the field of smart transport. Information on the road surface state is crucial for researching and developing automatisation, supported driving and maintenance in Arctic traffic.
  • March 6, 2018
    Nairobi looks to ITS to ease travel problems
    Shem Oirere looks at plans to tackle chronic congestion in the Kenyan capital - where commuters can typically expect it to take up to two hours to complete a 15km journey. Traffic jams in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are estimated to cost the country $360 million a year in terms of lost man-hours, fuel and pollution. According to Wilfred Oginga, an engineer with the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the congestion has been exacerbated by poor regulation and enforcement of traffic rules, absence of