Deliverable 11.2 is part of SP1 of UDRIVE. It is integrated in WP1.1 which is dedicated to develop the project’s research questions and the preliminary analysis plan. It describes the planned analysis to answer the research questions from UDRIVE.
With this deliverable the first phase of the project, the selection of research questions (SP1) is completed. The work will be continued in SP4 (Analysis) to prepare and perform the actual analysis. To ensure a seamless handover between the subprojects, this deliverable was created in a joint effort between SP1 and SP4 partners. Regular phone conferences and an in-person meeting of partners helped to develop a common understanding about the analysis of planned SP4 tasks and incorporation of research questions from SP1.
Together with SP4 a list of prioritized research questions per task was developed and used as a basis for this deliverable. An initial set of research questions was developed in the beginning of the project about a year ago in Deliverable 11.1 (Pereira, Utesch, Baumann, Bärgman, Petzoldt, Lai, Carsten, Engström, van Nes, Ligterink, Kurol and Winkelbauer, 2013). At that time the focus was on identifying the functional requirements for the data acquisition system (DAS). This set covered a broad range of research questions to make sure that all necessary measures could be identified. The resulting list contained more research questions than could reasonably be addressed within the project, and it was clear that not all requested variables would be available in the end. Now, after more than a year of preparation, most of the required sensors and variables are identified. Thus it was possible to further develop the initial set of research questions and adapt them to the available measures. The selection of research questions was done in close cooperation with SP2 (Data Management). While SP1 provided the needed measures, SP2 translated the measures list to necessary sensors and made an evaluation about what could reasonably collected within the limits of UDRIVE. This exchange led to the configuration of the Data Acquisition System (DAS). The development of research questions was then tailored to the available sensors of the DAS by taking the available variables into account.
A selection was made to identify those research questions that are best suited to address the goals of UDRIVE with the available data sources and within the budget available in UDRIVE. Here the selection of research questions was done in close cooperation with SP2 (Data Management) as well. SP2 provided the list with available variables and SP1 dismissed research questions for which no data would be available. In some cases new research questions were introduced, in other cases the “old” were refined if the development of the project since the last deliverable required an adaptation. The updated list contains 32 research questions from five research areas grouped into 10 tasks:
Within UDRIVE data is collected on cars, trucks and scooters. The selected research questions cover the five UDRIVE research areas listed above. Table 1 shows for each research topic what data they will focus on. Trucks and cars are addressed by all areas, PTWs are addressed by the topics Vulnerable Road Users and Crash Causation and Risk. This has several reasons. The everyday driving of PTW, like speed behaviour, is covered in the topic Vulnerable Road Users. Distraction and inattention is hard to study for PTW riders, as they are less likely to be involved in secondary tasks and it is hardly possibly to observe head and eyemovements because of the helmets. Eco-driving is less of an issue for scooter riders than for car and truck drivers, and also here the adequate measures are not available to study this. As for many of the research questions stated in this document, CAN data is required to study this topic. Since there is no CAN data available from PTWs in UDRIVE these questions cannot be addressed for PTWs. PTW rider behaviour in naturalistic driving is still a young research area which has to be explored before testing hypothesis. As a consequence there are not as many specific research questions as for trucks and cars. In UDRIVE most PTW related research questions are grouped into the area vulnerable road users since PTW riders are part of this group (Table 1).
| Crash Causation and Risk |
Everyday Driving |
Vulnerable Road Users |
Distraction and Inatention |
Eco Driving | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trucks | x | x | x | x | x |
| Cars | x | x | x | x | x |
| PTW | x | x |
The document is intended to help UDRIVE analysts plan their analysis, and exchange their ideas with the project partners to identify possible opportunities for harmonization. To allow easy access to each research question a hierarchical approach was used to organize the document. The analysis is described per research question and sorted by research area and analysis task respectively. Each research question is identified by a unique research question number that was first used in D11.1. All research questions that did not change since the first deliverable have the same number. Research questions that are new or have been modified in a major way, are identified with a new ID with increasing consecutive numbers from the previous research questions of the related research topic. The input for each task was written by the researcher leading that activity to ensure a high relevance to the actual analysis that will be performed in the end.
The final analysis and list of research questions will also depend on the quality and amount of data that will be collected later in the project. Further, since much of the intended research is novel and new methods are used, it is not clear exactly how much researcher resources will have to be spent in realising the present research. This means that the final number and scope of research questions addressed in the project may be slightly different from what is included in this deliverable. Thus this report only shows the current status of the set of UDRIVE research questions and corresponding analysis plan. The list and scope may still be subject to change, especially when the first data becomes available. This document will later be updated into the final analysis plan. That is, this document is submitted as Deliverable 11.2, but will serve as a working document until the final analysis plan is submitted.
