Development of an instrumented vehicle for traffic and safety assessment

In recent years there has been an increase in the development of in-vehicle systems technology and an increased availability of portable office equipment capable of being adapted for in-vehicle use. These advances in technology can make available to the driver both business and travel related information. Information would be typically presented on a visual display fitted to the vehicle dashboard and may be supplemented with an audible message. The requirement to assess driver interaction with a wide range of information systems, and vehicle control aids, in both urban and inter-urban situations has prompted TRL to develop an instrumented vehicle. The vehicle may be fitted with systems to be studied, and used to collect data on driver behaviour in test track or road based field trials. The authors outline instrumentation development, and describe the instrumented vehicle and capability demonstration