Sweden will host three international conferences later this year that will focus on autonomous vehicles and active safety systems. Safety experts from North America, Europe and Asia will discuss the safety issues within autonomous driving and integrated safety at the 24th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV2015), which will take place on June 8-11 in Gothenburg. The event is hosted by Swedish Transport Administration (STA) and the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Center at Chalmers University of Technology. The conference theme, ‘Traffic Safety Through Integrated Technologies’, will feature presentations from: Mark Rosekind, administrator at the USA’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); Peter Mertens, senior vice president at Volvo Cars; Seigo Kuzumaki, chief safety technology officer secretary at Toyota; and representatives from the Swedish Transport Administration and the European Union
The focus will be on topics that need careful deliberation as Governments develop plans for future transport activities, such as: which technologies and policies should be considered for evaluation; what processes should be used to evaluate them; and for those found to be effective, what means should be used to encourage their deployment. Panelists will elaborate on safety aspects at all levels in two special sessions on Automated Vehicles and Integrated Safety. ESV2015 will also be offering technical sessions on a variety of safety topics, an exhibition, Ride & Drive demonstrations, and technical demonstrations at the AstaZero proving ground.
The 2nd Towards Zero Conference will be held in parallel with ESV2015, and will focus on: Safety Culture – Vision Zero as a tool for dedicated leadership from both a societal and organizational perspective; Automated Transport – What changes to our society will automated transports generate?; and Urbanization and livable cities – Bicycling, walking and public transport will form the basis for urban transportation in the future. How do we design urban transportation in a way that death and serious injuries are eradicated?
Later in the year, September 9-11, Gothenburg will also host the 3rd International Symposium on Future Active Safety Technology Towards zero traffic accidents (FAST-zero’15). After two successful events held in Japan in 2011 and 2013, FAST-zero will focus on active safety and autonomous vehicles. Keynote speakers will include: Dr Erik Coelingh from Volvo Cars; and Professor Anders Lie of the Swedish Transport Administration. The symposium’s Vision Zero concept is based on the principal that no loss of life in traffic is acceptable, and that instead of making the driver responsible, vehicles and traffic systems must be designed so that accidents are avoided.
