With the increased attention on the impact that transport has on the environment, drivers are becoming more interested not only in alternative transport modes, but are also often interested in learning how their driving can make a positive difference. On Friday 28 May, the European project MODALES, coordinated by ERTICO – ITS Europe, took as step towards this with its online event “Mid-term results on the road to low emissions”.
The European-funded project MODALES (MOdify Drivers’ behaviour to Adapt for Lower EmissionS) is working to reduce air pollution from road vehicles by encouraging the adoption of low-emission driving behaviour and proper maintenance choice. The 16 project partners representing industry, research, user associations and the legal sector shared the project’s latest findings in a half-day webinar.
Topics discussed ranged from the impact of user behaviour on vehicle-related emissions, low emission driving guidance and training, the demonstration of the MODALES driving app and the on-road trials with real users, continuing with data access from On-Board Diagnostics, simulation and real-world test of retrofits and tampering and inspections.
With its user-centric approach, the MODALES project team plans to continue encouraging the adoption of low-emission driving behaviour and proper maintenance choice in the upcoming months through its user trials, as well as with upcoming presentations in The Spanish ITS Congress in July and the ITS World Congress in October.
Project Coordinator Andrew Winder (ERTICO) said “This online event was a key milestone in MODALES, which at this mid-point in the project has created a substantial body of knowledge on factors affecting vehicle emissions and ways to reduce these, from technical solutions such as OBD data and retrofits, to behaviour change (training and a driver assistance app), inspection, maintenance and legal considerations. Now MODALES is entering its testing phase with on-road trials of the app in several regions of Europe and beyond. I look forward to the next event, hopefully a physical one, where we can build on the positive outcomes of the project so far”.
All presentations will be available soon. To stay up to date with MODALES’ latest developments, and to get in touch with the project’s experts, all interested parties are encouraged to join the project’s LinkedIn group and follow #MODALESproject on Twitter.
