Editorial

Abstract

ICT-based ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) has been rapidly developing since the 1990s. ITS technical solutions have great potential for improving traffic safety, traffic efficiency and energy efficiency. During the past decades enabling technologies (such as positioning, communications, sensor and computer vision) have been substantially developed. This paves the way for the deployment of connected vehicles and possibly, in the near future, automated driving. Research and innovation in the ITS domain are outstanding. Technologies and scientific results have been presented during the World Congresses on ITS since 1994. The annual congress is alternately held in the regions Europe, Asia/Pacific and North America, and organised by, respectively, ERTICO (ITS Europe), ITS Japan and ITS America. The basic format of the Congress includes Plenary Sessions, Executive Sessions, Special Sessions, Scientific Sessions, Technical Sessions, Interactive Sessions, Exhibitions and Demonstrations. The 20th ITS World Congress was successfully held on 14–18 October 2013 in Tokyo with around 10,000 participants, including representatives from industry, academia, governments, local authorities and the general public. Experts from all over the world gathered to discuss ITS solutions for sustainable and seamlessly connected transport systems, development and expansion of business opportunities, R&D deployment and recent results. As the Guest Editor of this Special Issue of IET Intelligent Transport Systems for the 20th World Congress on ITS, I would especially like to acknowledge my colleague Dr. Alan Stevens and the IET Editorial Office for their kind support during the editing process. I am pleased to introduce the four selected papers. [Xing, 2014] presents characteristics of wrong-way incidents and crashes that occurred on the entire motorway network in Japan. Statistical data were analysed: nearly 40% of vehicles in wrong-way crashes took U-turns on the main carriageway; 20% entering the wrong way at interchanges after passing the tollgate; 18% at interchanges before passing the tollgate, and 12% at rest areas. Furthermore, the main contributing factors for wrong-way crashes were determined as being wrong entries and dementia. Countermeasures for some major factors are proposed. The causations of wrong-way crashes were investigated and quantified. [Füssl, et al., 2014] reports on a study concerning riders of powered two-wheelers (PTWs). It focuses on the acceptance of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) systems for improving the safety of PTW riders. The paper identifies the factors that affect the acceptance of ADAS by PTW riders and the obstacles that may prevent them from using such systems. The research result shows that the acceptance of systems depends on their safety attitude, riding behaviour and risk behaviour. There is a large potential for increasing acceptance through influencing the attitudes of the PTW riders or by modifying the system (function) itself. [Chou and Nichols, 2014] use traffic queue parameters that can be relatively easily measured to predict the safety impacts of freeway operations such as survey patrols and planned maintenance. Through micro-simulation with a VISSIM traffic model they identify that queue duration, impact area and the number of vehicles exposed to the end of the queue are all significant parameters. Innovations in the field of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are driven by the automotive industry to reduce fuel consumption (and thereby greenhouse gas emissions). Energy management systems are used to control and optimise distribution of power use of the two embedded power sources. Previous studies that used classical fuzzy rule-based strategies demonstrated a lack of optimality because their design focuses on the actual vehicle state rather than the driving conditions. [Denis, et al., 2014] investigates a blended control strategy based on fuzzy logic for a PHEV to increase the controller effectiveness. From 2011, Program Manager International at Dutch Institute for Advanced Logistics. In 2009 and 2010 Visiting Professor at the National Laboratory for Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, P.R. China. Since 2002 active in the area of ICT-based Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Participation in (FP6 and FP7) EU-funded projects. Since 2011 also active in the area of logistics and supply chain as Project Coordinator and Work Package Leader. Selected Memberships : Chair, IBEC (international forum for the evaluation of ITS development and deployment); Board of Governors, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society; Member, International Programme Committee of the World and European congresses on ITS; Member of the Editorial Board of IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) ITS. Education : PhD, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University, Sweden; Dutch Master's degree of Engineering; participation in a Business Administration Programme at Nyenrode University, The Netherlands; Master's degree of Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology in P.R. China.