Vaisala raises weather warning with ITS industry and auto makers

Vaisala’s chief scientific officer, Dr Kevin Petty, is a man on a mission. He is here at ITS America 2016 San Jose to tell exhibitors, speakers and delegates that they must make provisions for the effects of weather on transportation. “In the US, there are 5,000 fatalities on the road each year due to weather-related factors,” he said, adding: “If weather conditions are not taken into account, the full benefits of connected and autonomous vehicles will not be realised.” He is excited by the prospect o
June 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Kevin Petty of Vaisala
144 Vaisala’s chief scientific officer, Dr Kevin Petty, is a man on a mission. He is here at ITS America 2016 San Jose to tell exhibitors, speakers and delegates that they must make provisions for the effects of weather on transportation.

“In the US, there are 5,000 fatalities on the road each year due to weather-related factors,” he said, adding: “If weather conditions are not taken into account, the full benefits of connected and autonomous vehicles will not be realised.”

He is excited by the prospect of connected vehicles as data collection probes for road conditions and the potential to convey weather related information to or between vehicles but says: “Weather is such a big factor in road incidents, but when I go round the exhibitors’ stands I don’t see evidence that its effects are being taken into account in the products and services on display.

“Human drivers instinctively slow down when visibility decreases or grip deteriorates but if autonomous vehicles do not, this could expose them to potential problems in the rain, snow, fog or simply darkness. So it is imperative that the ITS industry and vehicle designers begin to factor in weather-related effects and to use the information that is or can be made available.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Reflecting on five years of important ITS progress
    January 7, 2013
    Former head of the ITS Joint Program Office Shelley Row has passed the baton to a new director. Now working as an independent consultant, here she reflects on her five years at the helm of the JPO and what the future may hold for ITS in the US. During a mid-morning in Paris earlier this year, having just landed, I decided to take a trip on the city’s subway (Paris’ underground metro) into the city centre. A family with a small boy – about nine years old – boarded the same train. They were American and we st
    Read More
  • Cost benefit goes under the microscope
    August 21, 2017
    Conventional cost benefit analysis (CBA) of plans for urban smart mobility initiatives needs serious rethinking, according to a recently-completed European study. The three-year Evidence Project (the Project) emerged in response to concerns about the availability and quality of documented research – including CBA – required to prove that investment in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) can be economically beneficial. Covering 22 sectors ranging from electric vehicles to shared spaces, the Project clai
    Read More
  • Is road user charging the first stop for congestion management?
    July 23, 2012
    David Hytch, Information Systems Director at the Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive, considers just where congestion pricing schemes should sit in transport planners' hierarchy of options for managing demand. On the face of it, Greater Manchester in England's proposed congestion charging scheme hit just about every sweet spot possible when it came to convincing the general public of the need for and benefits of such a venture. There was the promise from national government of almost £3bn-worth of
    Read More
  • C-ITS in Europe: jazz or symphony?
    August 18, 2021
    Communication between vehicles on the road is going to be increasingly important. Richard Lax of Kapsch TrafficCom explains why music is a good guide to the way that this could work safely
    Read More

Highlighted Content