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1 1 ABSTRACT 2 In view of the increase in traffic volume and the growing demands on traffic, alternative mobility con-3 cepts like the automation of the driving task are increasingly being investigated. As an alignment of this 4 developmental course, the project KONVOI was initiated in which an interdisciplinary research team 5 carried out the electronic coupling of trucks. As the technical feasibility of such automated systems had 6 already been proved, the project KONVOI focused on the quantification of the impact of automated sys-7 tems on the traffic and on the interaction between humans and machines. Based on traffic analyses, the 8 technical development of the system took place with preferential consideration of the human being. The 9 KONVOI-system was analysed with regard to the acceptance and the workload by means of test persons 10 in a driving simulator. The results had a direct influence on the technical development of the system. 11 After the prototypical approval, the traffic effects of the KONVOI system were examined in the context 12 of real German highways. The results of this impact analysis served as a comparison of the developmen-13 tal concept and the evaluation of the system. Open questions concerning the effects of the KONVOI sys-14 tem on car drivers were subsequently investigated through additional test drives in the driving simulator. 15 Within the project KONVOI an automated system was run in real traffic for the first time in Europe. This 16 and the strong consideration of the human being within the development have provided new insights con-17 cerning the development of driver assistant systems and automated driving systems. 18 19 INTRODUCTION 20 A further increase in the traffic in Europe has been predicted for the next years. The German highway 21 transport in particular has forecast a rise of up to 84 % (2004 – 2025) (1). In contrast to this, the German 22 highway network was mainly planned and built in the 1960s and 1970s and is no longer suitable for the 23 growing requirements and the traffic loads. The capacity of many routes has already been reached or will 24 be reached within the next few years. A massive extension from 4 to 6 lanes or from 6 to 8 lanes is taking 25 place at the moment to minimize the negative consequences, for example traffic breakdowns. It is already 26 obvious that these constructional adjustments are not sufficient to guarantee a secure, efficient, sustain-27 able and environmental mobility in central Europe for the future. Therefore, new concepts of mobility 28 have been developed and tested for some years. In addition to the efforts for the electrification of the 29 individual traffic and the intense usage of information channels, concepts for the automation of the driv-30 ing task are being pursued. The aim of this research is the enhancement of driving comfort, road safety 31 and an increase in the traffic performance through a better exploitation of the roads. 32 The technical feasibility of autonomous and automated driving has already been demonstrated in many 33 cases. In addition to concepts for in-plant automated traffic or competitions like the Darpa Grand Chal-34 lenge Race (2), the EUREKA-PROMETHEUS-Project (e.g. (3) - (5)) was one of the biggest research 35 projects in the area of automated driving in Europe. 36 As intermediate steps towards autonomous driving, concepts for partially autonomous driving are 37 being developed. One scenario is designed as a combination of manually driven vehicles and vehicles 38 with a high automation level. This area has been researched nationally and internationally since the 39 1980s. American initiatives like PATH (e.g. (6) or (7)) and many European projects (e.g. PROMOTE 40 CHAUFFEUR I und II (8), ADASE 2, AIDER, CarTALK etc.) have already tackled this topic. 41 42 THE PROJECT KONVOI 43 The main scenario for the operation of electronically coupled trucks on German highways was arranged 44 within the project MFG (9) and requirement specifications for the realization of the categories human, 45 organisation, technology and legislation were developed. Within KONVOI, according to this scenario, a 46 system was implemented in which individual trucks were able to merge into a platoon while driving on a 47 highway, to cover a certain distance as a KONVOI and to be able to detach themselves from the platoon TRB 2011 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal.
