euroFOT - Optimised data retrieval process for a large scale field test: manageable by automation?

Road transport in Europe today faces enormous challenges caused by economical and social changes in the last years. These lead to new demands for each individual as well as for the entire economy. The individual demand and need for personal mobility and flexibility is increasing in Europe as it was already over the last ten years. Studies show that the number of vehicles per inhabitant, which has grown from around 400 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants in 1995 to 480 in 2005 within the EU25, caused higher traffic density. This is intensified by an increase of passenger kilometres travelled per year. Among the entire passenger kilometres, the use of passenger cars grew by around 18% between 1995 and 2004. This increase was responsible for around 74% of all passenger transport in 2004 in the EU25 [1]. This growing number of vehicles is accompanied by increased driver workload, due to increased traffic complexity and driving tasks, which results in higher accident risk. In order to support the driver and finally increase the comfort of driving, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have been developed. But the impacts of these ADAS are partly unexplored. Here the idea of the euroFOT project takes place. The euroFOT project aims to investigate these impacts of advanced driver assistance systems and to encourage the deployment of these within a large scale field operational test (FOT). Five vehicle management centers (VMC) are coordinating a fleet of approximately 1000 vehicles across Europe. At the German1-VMC the data acquisition and data processing from 240 FOT vehicles is managed by the Institut fur Kraftfahrzeuge of the RWTH Aachen University (ika). The data collection will start in January 2010 for a period of one year. Within this paper the data retrieval, processing as well as data storage process are presented by considering the single steps of the whole process chain. Thereby strategies for automation are focused.