Making Use of Data Generated from Connected Vehicles for Road safety
This opinion piece by Monica Olyslagers, Global Innovation Manager, International Road Assessment Programme, originally appeared in the European Transport Regulation Observer, “Making use in the public interest of data generated by connected vehicles” (December 2024).
The meeting on ‘Making Use of Data Generated from Connected Vehicles for Road Safety’ discussed road safety and how to use data generated from connected vehicles to enhance it. The focal questions discussed in the meeting explored why such data are needed, the potential benefits and challenges, and how they can be used in urban planning and road asset management. The European Commission (EC) has an important enabling role via regulation and legislation that can help achieve this potential.
Connected vehicle data are emerging as a valuable asset in improving road safety. Vehicles are becoming increasingly equipped with advanced sensors and communication systems and they generate vast amounts of data that can be harnessed to monitor various factors crucial to road safety. These include data related to vehicle speed, harsh braking, swerving, G-forces, weather conditions, intervention data (e.g. when advanced driver assistance systems such as pedestrian auto emergency braking have been triggered), emergency service alerts and traffic congestion. These data are already being used extensively to pinpoint places where there may be a higher likelihood of crashes, identify risky driving behaviour and better understand the factors contributing to crashes and near misses.
To maximise their potential, policy, regulatory and legislative approaches to connected vehicle data should be organised according to safe system principles. The safe system is a holistic approach to reducing road trauma in five areas: safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe road user behaviour, safe road infrastructure and effective road crash response.
How connected vehicle data can be best utilised is slightly different in each of the areas. The connections with the first three are quite clear. For safe vehicles, sensor data from autonomous and semi-autonomous cars can significantly contribute to the design and improvement of vehicle safety features. For safe speeds, real-time vehicle speed data can help authorities enforce speed limits more effectively, while also informing where speed management interventions, such as speed cameras and lower speed zones, are needed. For safe road user behaviour, connected vehicle data can provide insights into driver behaviour, such as reckless driving and frequent harsh braking, which can indicate dangerous areas or driver habits that need addressing through public safety campaigns or law enforcement.
Data are also relevant for safer roads. Connected vehicle data can be used as data inputs in established predictive road safety models, such as safety star ratings. Organisations like the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) are already utilising information about traffic speed, acceleration, deceleration and evasive manoeuvres in road safety assessment models that evaluate the ‘built-in’ risk of roads. This is used to identify and address locations with a high risk of fatal and serious crashes. Additional data made available by vehicle sensors, such as the presence of water on the road surface, can help identify and address a wider range of factors which contribute to the likelihood and severity of crashes.
Connected vehicle data can have the dual benefit of improving the safety of roads through improved maintenance and prioritisation. By analysing patterns in the data, road managers can determine where road maintenance is required, whether it is to repair potholes, replace worn-out signage or upgrade lighting at dangerous intersections. This type of data can also aid in traffic control measures, such as adjusting traffic light timings and redirecting traffic in case of crashes or congestion.
Last, real-time data from vehicles can improve post-crash responses, which rely on fast detection and responses to crashes, including being able to detect incidents and understand traffic conditions. In the event of a crash, connected vehicles can be used to alert emergency services and provide critical information about the location and severity of the incident. These data can significantly reduce response times and improve outcomes for crash victims.
“Public entities play an essential role in facilitating use of these data. While private companies may collect vehicle data, it is public entities that are ultimately responsible for road safety, urban planning and traffic management. These entities need to access and process these data to improve policymaking, planning and decision-making processes for traffic control, speed limits, infrastructure maintenance and emergency response efforts.”
Realising the full potential of these data relies on public entities, particularly at the local and municipal levels, having the capacity, knowledge and systems to ingest, process and utilise these data to its full potential. To address gaps, there are a growing number of commercial suppliers and consultants acting as bridges between data suppliers and consumers.
It also depends on having integrated data systems and procurement processes across entities that are collectively responsible for road safety: land-use planning, road managers, traffic management and emergency services. This is critical for standardised data structures, a common road network map, interactive software and ensuring that purchasing data and data services are efficient and meet the collective needs of these entities (including system compatibility, sharing and publication licensing, etc.).
Standardisation of data between suppliers and transparency about data sources are also important to give public entities confidence in the data they are using. If different data suppliers use different formats, public entities may struggle to aggregate and analyse the information efficiently, or switch suppliers. It also needs to be easy to check how representative the data are of the population (for example, data collected from high-end car manufacturers may be more concentrated in affluent areas and exclude other road users such as heavy vehicles and motorcycles).
The EC has an important role to play in ensuring that connected vehicle data can be effectively used for road safety. Through regulation and legislation, the EC can provide a framework that addresses data privacy concerns, ensures standardisation of data formats and promotes the sharing of vehicle data between private sector producers and public entities. In addition, the EC can promote best practices and encourage the adoption of connected vehicle technologies that enhance road safety. By focusing on the safe system principles, the EC and public entities can ensure that connected vehicle data contribute to safer vehicles, safer speeds, safer road user behaviour, safer roads and better post-crash responses, ultimately leading to fewer road fatalities and life-affecting injuries.
