Closer to Zero Vision Initiative with New T echnology

Active safety is the future

Throughout my years in the automotive industry, I have closely followed developments in the area of safety. Until a couple of years ago, these developments primarily involved improved passive safety through systems with airbags, safety belts and deformation zones. However, the last few years have brought about great technological progress due to the development of socalled active safety systems. By combining sensor technology, vehicle communication and on-board computers, it will soon be possible for vehicles to communicate both with each other and with their surroundings. In addition to a number of other benefits, this will make it possible to prevent traffic accidents before they occur. Developments to the new safety systems are progressing rapidly and the automotive industry is on the brink of a paradigm shift. Because testing and verification are important elements in the vehicle development process, there is a current global demand for testing tracks and competence within this field. Safety issues increasingly important It is of extreme importance to the Swedish automotive industry, which considers safety to be one of its primary strengths, that conditions are in place to be able to develop and hone the new future technology on the home market. Testing and measuring can be carried out at existing crash laboratories, but there is as yet no infrastructure to study accident-avoidance systems in a systematic way. AstaZero is now building a technically advanced test site in Hllered outside Bors, Sweden to rectify this deficiency. The facility will provide a state of the art environment for active safety, as well as operations and staffing in order to develop world-leading specialist expertise within the field of active safety. In addition to contributing to the Swedish Transport Administrations Vision Zero initiative, AstaZero will strengthen the Swedish automotive industrys competitiveness and pave the way for Sweden to take an internationally leading position within development of the new technology. This will in turn enable new and existing companies to develop and create new jobs in Sweden.

Pether Wallin, CEO, AstaZero

What is active safety?

In its basic form, active safety is about avoiding collisions instead of merely offering protection once a collision has already occurred, as was the objective of previous systems. This is possible through new and advanced technology in which the vehicle and infrastructure communicate and interact with each other. Traffic accidents can thus be avoided before they occur, for example, at an intersection where a bus meets an unobservant cyclist.

Advantages with AstaZero

AstaZero provides many advantages to the general public, to society and to industry.
Closer to Vision Zero with improved traffic safety By investing in active safety, AstaZero will create conditions for reduced traffic accidents, both in Sweden and abroad. Apart from reduced loss of human life, this will also have positive economic effects. As an example, 25,281 people were injured in traffic accidents in Sweden in 2009, and 900 of these needed hospital care. From 1998-2009, medical treatment for those injured in traffic cost about SEK 11.5 billion.* Increased Swedish competitiveness A good level of competence in traditional safety is insufficient for the Swedish automotive industry to be able to maintain its competitiveness on the global arena. New skills are needed and AstaZero is an important link that, together with the formation of centres and academies, provides the prerequisites for efficient skills development and thereby a strengthened competitive position. More collaborations AstaZero aims to offer test sites and know-how that can help the automotive industry, subcontractors, researchers and developers maintain a leading position within the field of safety. Thanks to the wide spectrum on offer, the facility will be a meeting place where small companies within measurement technology, sensor technology and safety systems can form clusters and gain access to a world-unique testing site. This also provides strong incentive for new and important collaborations between public agencies, academia, research institutes and industry to work together to boost competitive development. World-class research environment The ASTA project will not only supply a unique test environment, but will also help clients to analyse and draw conclusions from the results by providing them with employed research engineers and other technicians who can assist in testing, development and research projects. In time, an even higher level of analytical expertise will be built up around the automotive industry in the Vstra Gtaland region. A worldclass research environment will also provide strong incentive to keep automotive production local. New work opportunities AstaZeros test site in Hllered should provide around 20 skilled jobs when it is completed in 2014. Over the next few years, there may well be 100 jobs altogether with the different additional related services that will be needed. The municipality of Bors is responsible for the infrastructure around the site, and is also planning for the possibility of establishing complementary businesses in the area. Environmental benefits Energy-efficient transports in combination with maintained traffic safety puts new demands on tomorrows traffic systems. For technical reasons (battery technology, for example), zero-emission vehicles will need to be considerably lighter than todays private cars. Although reducing the size of cars is advantageous in terms of raw material resource utilization, this also requires safety improvements since the new lighter vehicles will be sharing the roads with large trucks and delivery vehicles. The development of active safety systems at test sites like AstaZero is therefore a prerequisite in order to be able to introduce small, light private cars with maintained safety.

* The facts come from the report Road traffic injuries in medical care 2009 and the statistics are based on the National Board of Health and Welfares patient administrative register (PAR).

What is AstaZero?
AstaZero is the trademark for ASTA Active Safety Test Area AB. AstaZero will develop unique environments for traffic safety research where public agencies, academia, research institutes and industry can work together to boost competitive development. Planning for AstaZero began in 2007. The company is owned by SP (The Technical Research Institute of Sweden) and Chalmers, and is supported by Test Site Sweden, AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Autoliv, Saab Automobile, Scania, the Swedish Transport Administration, Region Vstra Gtaland, Vinnova and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. AstaZero will offer testing services, testing facilities, development support and research aimed at active safety for road vehicles. The first tests at the site outside Hllered are planned for 2014. Why is AstaZero needed? Because the active safety systems are based on entirely different technology (e.g. proximity sensors and automatic vehicle take-over) than todays passive collision protection systems, completely new facilities and equipment adapted for the new technology are required, something that is lacking in Sweden today.

About the test site at Hllered

The Asta facilities will offer a world-unique testing environment and four different testing tracks: Urban environment with vehicle dummies and pedestrian dummies Multilane road with vehicle dummies in two lanes Active safety area (VDA, Vehicle Dynamics Area) with acceleration stretches Stretch of a main road for monotonous driving with suddenly appearing obstacles

The site will have strong links to existing expertise at SP (Bors) and Chalmers (Gothenburg).

Partners:
This project is financed by

P.O. 8077, SE-402 78 Gteborg, Sweden. Tel. +46 767 77 74 00. info@astazero.com Visiting/Delivery Address: Lindholmspiren 3, SE-417 56 Gteborg, Sweden WWW.AsT AZero.Com

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