The impact of road traffic on local air quality is a major policy concern and MODALES* is a new EU research project that will contribute to a reduction in air pollution from all types of motorized vehicles by encouraging the adoption of low-emission oriented driving behaviour and maintenance choice.
The main goal of MODALES is to advance the fundamental understanding of the co-variability of user behaviour and vehicular emissions from powertrain, brakes and tyres, and modify user behaviour via dedicated training, including a driver assistance app and awareness campaigns, in order to support effective air quality plans and enforcement strategies to be developed by local and national authorities.
Funded under the Horizon 2020, the EU framework programme for research and innovation, MODALES will be led by ERTICO – ITS Europe with a consortium of a further 14 European beneficiaries including ERTICO partners ACASA (RACC), CERTH, FIA, University of Leeds, Okan University, LIST, Bridgestone, Michelin and VTT. This is an international cooperation project which will also include input from three academic institutions in China.
‘MODALES will be the first major project considering the interaction of powertrain, brakes and tyres together with the driver’s behaviour, to develop knowledge and guidance for “low-emission driving”, together with maintenance and retrofit aspects. With MODALES, we will build on valuable previous work on eco-driving (which deals with fuel and CO2 reduction) to research the effects of driving behaviour and maintenance on other types of emissions, such as NOx and particle matter,’ said Andrew Winder, an expert on clean mobility at ERTICO and MODALES project coordinator.
“Clean Mobility” is one of the four major focus areas of the ERTICO Partnership, promoting the use of Intelligent Transport Systems to reduce emissions and improve air quality. The move towards cleaner engines, including electric vehicles and other means of clean propulsion, has increased focus on the scope for reducing pollution from other parts of the vehicle, notably the brakes and tyres.
