TeleFOT, field operational tests of aftermarket nomadic devices in vehicles, early results

This paper presents the European Large Scale Collaborative Project TeleFOT, describing its status and its first results. The paper is structured into two main sections: The first paragraph briefly introduces the justification and core elements of TeleFOT, showing the scope and primary objectives of the project. Significant research and development in Europe in recent years have been focusing on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), since they are contributing to a change in mobility. The number of devices supporting transportation is increasing. In particular, the market penetration of aftermarket nomadic devices as personal navigation devices (PND) or smart phones is growing exponentially according to the market trends, but no scientific evidence of impacts directly related to the use of aftermarket and nomadic devices in vehicle exist yet. Therefore there is a need to test via Field Operational Tests (FOT) the impacts of driver support functions on the driving task, including future interactive traffic services that will become part of driving environment systems. The second paragraph of this paper illustrates the Field Operational Tests to be conducted in TeleFOT and progress reached so far in the project. These include (but are not limited to) large scale test sites in 8 member states, FOT framework creation, benchmarking, piloting and data analysis planning.