Worlds largest trial in four Cities

The world's largest trial involving ”Intelligent Speed Adaptation”, called ISA, was conducted in four Swedish cities. Several thousand cars were equipped with intelligent technology to help drivers keep the right speed. It is conceivable that ISA could become standard in the smart, safe cars of the future.

Between 1999-2002 the Swedish National Road Administration conducted a large-scale trial involving Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) in urban areas. Several thousand vehicles were equipped with voluntary, supportive and informative systems to help keep drivers from exceeding the speed limit. Over the three years of the project, the Swedish National Road Administration provided SEK 75 million in funding, and was also responsible for the overall co-ordination of the technology involved, as well as for evaluating the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the various systems.

The aim of the trial, which was conducted jointly by the Swedish National Road Administration and four Swedish municipalities, was to learn more about:

  • driver attitudes and how they use the systems
  • the impact on road safety and the environment
  • the integration of the systems in vehicles
  • the prospects for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) on a large scale.

The systems were tested in Borlänge, Lidköping, Lund and Umeå, where the local authorities were responsible for running the trials in their respective municipalities. 1999 saw the planning of how the trial would be implemented and evaluated, and in 2000 the systems started being installed in the vehicles. Most of the actual field trial was carried out in 2001, when up to 5 000 vehicles, driven by over 10 000 drivers were out in traffic. This means that there are many people who can testify first-hand about what it is like to drive using an ISA system. Numerous surveys and interviews were conducted throughout the trial period. All the data collected trial was compiled and analysed in 2002. At the same time, invaluable experience was gained from which to continue discussing the future introduction of ISA on the market.

The main findings were:

  • Better road safety without increasing travel time
  • If everyone had ISA, there could be 20% fewer road injuries in urban areas
  • High acceptance of ISA, and after the trial most test drivers were of the opinion that ISA should be compulsory in urban areas
  • ISA vehicles were found to have a positive influence on surrounding traffic
  • Minor differences between the systems, with an average speed reduction of 3-4 km/h on stretches between intersections
  • The systems must be improved to become more attractive.

Based on the experience from the Swedish ISA project as regards implementation, evaluation, technology, information and the dialogue on the issues involved in a market introduction, the following recommendations can be made as input in the continuation of this dialogue.

  • The results from the project are clearly positive from a road safety point of view and do not appear to have any essential negative side effects. We therefore strongly recommend that the public and private sectors work in partnership to launch the system on the market as soon as possible.
  • The Swedish National Road Administration should immediately start drawing up regulations that ISA systems be standard in future vehicles (either as compulsory by law, or through voluntary agreement with the automotive industry). These regulations should be fully drawn up by no later than 2005. In the negotiations with the automotive industry, a decision should be made that the regulations would apply from a specific year (like somewhere between 2008 and 2010) which would give the automotive industry a reasonable amount of time to develop and install ISA systems as a standard feature.
  • The Swedish National Road Administration should set a good example by having ISA systems installed in its own vehicle fleet by 2005.
  • In conjunction with this, the speed limit system and surveillance policies must be revised with a view to the new potential provided by ITS.

Text is based on the final report of the Swedish trial: "Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), Results of large-scale trials in Borlänge, Lidköping, Lund and Umeå during the period 1999-2002" which you can download here.