Mid-term review meeting, San Sebastian, December 2022

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PANACEA partners came together in December 2022 for the project’s mid-term review. Progress towards all the project deliverables was discussed with PANACEA’s Project Officer and there was also an opportunity to see how DATIK’s fatigue sensor, which will be used in the Use Cases, works in practice. We were pleased that all the project deliverables submitted so far were accepted by the Commission at this meeting. Many thanks to everyone at DATIK for being a great host!

PANACEA research on measuring distraction published

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A difficult challenge for today’s driver monitoring systems is the detection of cognitive distraction.

New research, recently published in the journal ‘Sensors’ by members of the PANACEA project team, presents the development of a theory-driven approach for cognitive distraction detection during manual driving based on temporal control theories.

It is based solely on changes in the temporal variance of driving-relevant gaze behavior, such as gazes onto the dashboard (TDGV). Validation of the detection method happened in a field and in a simulator study by letting participants drive, alternating with and without a secondary task inducing external cognitive distraction (auditory continuous performance task).

The general accuracy of the distraction detection method varies between 68% and 81% based on the quality of an individual prerecorded baseline measurement. As a theory-driven system, it represents not only a step towards a sophisticated cognitive distraction detection method, but also explains that changes in temporal dashboard gaze variance (TDGV) are a useful behavioral indicator for detecting cognitive distraction.

EU Road Safety: Towards “Vision Zero”

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PANACEA was pleased to have been included in the CINEA brochure, EU Road Safety: Towards “Vision Zero”. This brochure presents a comprehensive overview of projects managed by CINEA and funded under Horizon 2020 – the EU’s R&I programme (2014-2020) – that develop, test and exploit innovative solutions for a safer road transport.

PANACEA project leaflet available for download

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The PANACEA project leaflet gives a short overview of the aims and ambitions of the project as well as details of the pilot sites and all the partners involved. The leaflet can be viewed and downloaded in the project documents section of the website.

Plenary meeting – Thessaloniki June 2022

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After a year of online meetings, PANACEA project partners were pleased to meet each other in-person for the first time in June 2022, when they came together for the 2nd plenary meeting held in Thessaloniki. Held at CERTH premises, the meeting was also an opportunity to see CERTH’s car and motorbike simulators that will be used in Use Case B by taxi drivers and delivery riders. Many thanks to everyone at CERTH for hosting us!

75% of French drivers admit to using the phone behind the wheel

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A new survey carried out by IPSOS says 75% of drivers admit to using a mobile phone at the wheel.

Distraction is a major cause of road collisions. The PANACEA project is investigating monitoring of and countermeasures of distraction as part of a holistic fitness to drive trial system.

Read about the IPSOS survey.

“Ignore your boss” – new campaign in Belgium tackles distraction at the wheel

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A new road safety campaign in Belgium tells drivers to ignore their boss, by refusing to take business calls while driving.

Using a mobile phone while driving is a major cause of distraction and collisions. The PANACEA project is looking at countermeasures for distraction as part of its work on a holistic fitness to drive system.

Read about the new road safety campaign.

One in four drivers admit to being over the limit the morning after a night out

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One in four motorists admit that they may have been over the limit when driving the morning after a night out, according to new research from the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA).

The RSA’s Driver Attitude and Behaviour Survey found that 9% of motorists indicated they had consumed alcohol before driving in the past 12 months

A total of 26% agreed ‘there were times when they may have been over the limit when driving the morning after a night out’.

Read the full story on the Irish Times website.

The PANACEA project is looking at drink-driving as one aspect of fitness to drive and will trial technology to detect drink-driving before and during shifts for professional drivers.

Report for the European Commission finds benefits of alcohol interlocks for HGVs outweigh costs

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A new report on drink-driving for the European Commission suggests mandatory fitment of alcohol interlocks in heavy goods vehicles could be a worthwhile investment.

The PANACEA project is looking at how to best monitor drink-driving among professional drivers before and during driving, in light of the latest technological developments.

Read more about the report on the ETSC website.

New minibuses, buses and coaches in Spain must be fitted with alcohol interlocks

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Spain will require all new types of M2 and M3 vehicle, i.e. mini-buses designed to carry more than eight people, buses and coaches, to be fitted with an alcohol interlock device later this year.  That coincides with new EU rules that require an interface for such a device on all new types of road vehicle.  France already requires alcohol interlocks on buses and coaches used in public transport, but Spain has gone even further than France and also included mini-buses.  The government had also proposed fitting them to HGVs – but that category was dropped during the legislative process.

Read more on the ETSC website.