Press Release: The closure of the project entitled "Safety and Economic Platform for Partially Automated Commercial Vehicles" (Project-number: VKSZ_14-1-2015-0125)

A successful R&D project that was launched in 2015 is to be completed in June 2017 by the project consortium. The project was funded by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Fund and it was coordinated by the Institute for Computer Science and Control (MTA SZTAKI). The technical objectives of the project were to define and implement a set of automated control functions for commercial vehicles, as well as to test the implemented functions in the vehicular environment via on-road tests carried out in real traffic. The R&D objectives included the reduction of fuel consumption and of the emission of air pollutants, as well as the improvement of road safety and driver comfort.

The project management tasks and the coordination of the R&D activities fell under the responsibility of the Institute for Computer Science and Control (MTA SZTAKI). The Institute is a leading research entity in Hungary; it pursues internationally acclaimed research e.g., in the fields of control and mathematical systems sciences and vehicle control. The related R&D experience enabled its leading role in the project. Further members of the research consortium were as follows: the Knorr-Bremse Braking Systems Ltd. (a multinational company with a significant R&D portfolio in the field), the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (the leading educational and research institution of control in Hungary), IKARUS Ltd. (a bus-manufacturer company) and Trigon-Electronica Ltd. (a drive-train R&D company). Following and accommodating the global trends of the vehicle technology, the consortium sought solutions for R&D tasks that necessitated the reduction of fuel consumption and of the emission of air pollutants for commercial vehicles, as well as the cost-effective improvement of road safety and driver comfort particularly for commercial vehicles. The consortium had success in developing concepts for vehicle control to be used in commercial vehicles that makes possible the automated traffic of these vehicles on one hand and their economic and environment-friendly operation on the other. Also, concepts for using electro-mobility in public and community transport were elaborated in the frame of the project. The results of the project have relevance towards the national and international research strategies, furthermore they accommodate the international development trends associated with the field. The achieved results and their national and international reception encourage the enterprises involved in the project to pursue further R&D activities. It is worthwhile to note that the project made allowance for setting up and financing a number of new research positions. It also set a firm basis for coming up R&D cooperation, e.g., in the frame of the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, namely in Smart, green and integrated transport topic within the Societal Challenges.

The project-closing presentation will be held on 19 July, 2017 at 9.30 am, at the headquarters of Knorr-Bremse Braking Systems Ltd., 1119 Budapest, Major u. 69.