ERTICO: Can you describe your activities in the ITS field?
Oliver Carsten: The Institute for Transport Studies (we had the ITS name before it was ITS!) has been involved in research on Intelligent Transport Systems since DRIVE I and actually even before that – for example we were involved in the original research projects on the benefits of route guidance systems for Berlin and London in the late 1980s. Since then we have had significant and continuous activity in the ITS domain. One example is our extensive work on driver assistance systems such as Intelligent Speed Adaptation and Forward Collision Warning with both national and European funding. Our driving simulator which is world-class facility has been an important enabler for that research.
Professor Oliver Carsten Unstitute for Transport Studies University of Leeds
ERTICO: Why have you joined ERTICO?
Oliver Carsten: We see ERTICO as an organisation that promotes research in intelligent transport systems and also one that links research organisations with transport operators and industry. So ERTICO is a natural organisation for us to join since it has influence on the research agenda and can provide us with activities and contacts that allow us to have an influence at the European level. We are aware of the growing importance of European research and of the increasing role of Europe in policy-making on transport. We also recognise that intelligent transport systems are increasingly central to the operation of the transport system as a whole.
ERTICO: What are your expectations for this partnership?
Oliver Carsten: We wish to be active members in ERTICO and hope that ERTICO will work for us as a conduit or enabler in both directions – providing us with crucial information on current and future activities at a European level and in the other direction helping us to make sure that our research is translated into appropriate best practice standards and policy.
ERTICO: Are there any projects activities or sectors that you are particularly interested in?
Oliver Carsten: We are very interested in systems that promote safety and environmental benefits. But as I said earlier our interests and skills cover a wide range including choice modelling policy issues network simulation and transport economics. All those skills are relevant to Intelligent Transport Systems and we have been involved in a number of projects where we have made use of these multi-disciplinary skills. For example all these aspects are required when carrying out the “scaling-up” part of an FOT in order to estimate the global benefits of system introduction.
About the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS)
The Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) is a free-standing academic school of the University which carries out wide-ranging research as well as providing Masters and PhD programmes in transport. The Institute’s primary purpose is to advance the understanding of transport activity operations and use and to develop skills and best practice among transport professionals and decision-makers.
ITS is one of the world’s largest academic centres for transport research and has been consistently recognised for the quality of its work. The national Research Assessment Exercise in 2008 confirmed ITS as a leading research institution with 95% of the research submission identified as being of “internationally recognised” quality for originality significance and rigour.
ITS research ranges from blue-skies exploration of new ideas and concepts to targeted commissions for specific clients. A substantial proportion of it is conducted in collaboration with other leading institutions often as part of European Framework Projects.
In 2010 ITS was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for “sustained excellence – 40 years impact in transport research and teaching”.
Link to original Article
http://www.ertico.com/the-ertico-february-2011-interview/
Original Publication Date: Wed 09 Mar 2011
