The study looked at existing technologies and their potential to both enhance safety and reduce environmental impact. euroFOT also revealed a link between these systems and improvements in driver behaviour, fuel efficiency and traffic safety, as well as overall cost savings.

Over 90% of the accidents throughout the European Union are attributable in some way to driver behaviour. Driver Assistance technologies such as those tested in euroFOT may have a positive effect on driver behaviour and improving our understanding of their potential to impact road safety, traffic efficiency and the environment is at the heart of the euroFOT project.  

For over twelve months, one thousand cars and trucks equipped with advanced driver assistance systems travelled European roads, and, for most of them, at each turn, acceleration, and lane change, their movements were tracked and recorded. The field test focused on eight distinct vehicle functions that assist drivers in detecting hazards and avoiding accidents: Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Speed Regulation System (SRS), Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Curve Speed Warning (CSW), safe human/machine interface and Fuel Efficiency Advisor (FEA). More than hundred terabytes of data were collected and analysed, providing the basis for the euroFOT consortium to assess the impact of these systems on our roads.

If widely deployed across the EU, the systems studied by euroFOT could potentially reduce accidents and resources. The socio-economic assessment reveals a cost benefit ratio of 1.3 to 1.8 for ACC in trucks. 

Using the ACC and FCW systems for cars and trucks, euroFOT determined that the costs of equipping the passenger cars and heavy trucks with the combined system leads to annual savings of approximately EUR 1.2b  (passenger cars) and approximately EUR 180m  for heavy goods trucks.

As a result of the euroFOT findings, it is recommended that drivers should consider these functions when buying a new vehicle. Drivers should also follow the on-going development of advanced driver systems. The widespread uptake of these systems throughout the EU-27 can improve efficiency, increase safety and can save money.  

'With the conclusion of the  euroFOT study, Allianz Insurance is now in a better position to create new insurance products which take into account the accident and claim reduction potential of driver assistance systems,' said Mr Johann Gwehenberger, head of Accident Research, AZT Automotive GmbH Allianz Center for Technology, Germany. 'We aim to extend loss prevention activities by, for example, motivating drivers and fleet owners to buy and use promising driver assistance systems,' he added.