Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1126183
06.06.19 15 INNOVATION ACCORDING to the UK's De- partment of Transport, around 327 billion miles were driven on the UK's roads in the year ending September 2018. While car traffic was at its highest recorded level ever in the UK, our need to stay mo- bile is also driving widespread adoption of new means of per- sonal transport, raising fresh concerns about safety for all road users. e latest technologies di- rectly integrated into vehicles can go a long way towards im- proving some safety issues. e streets and pavements of our major cities are starting to look like jungles teeming with new contraptions. Along with concerns about traffic congestion, people are turning to different ways of travelling, from electric bi- cycles to scooters and hover- boards to Segways. Global sales of electric two- wheel scooters are predicted to increase from 34.4 million in 2016 to 55 million in 2024, according to Global Market Insights, suggesting that our choices of transport will con- tinue to evolve at a rapid rate. While electric scooters of- fer cost benefits and conveni- ence in traffic congested cities, they are also fuelling questions about whether we need to re- think road safety as cars and lorries share space with a wide and diverse range of new trans- port methods. Leveraging emerging technologies e OCDE report 'Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2018' from November 2018 states that some recent technology developments have huge potential: artificial intel- ligence, machine learning and robotisation can bring con- siderable advantages, comple- menting human competence in an intelligent way. Although fully self-driving cars are not yet on the roads, many new cars are designed with a range of autonomous features to make driving easier and safer. ey have faster reaction times than humans and with V2X connectivity, will eventu- ally communicate with other vehicles, road users and pedes- trians to anticipate any dangers and know what is ahead. In cars, camera and radar technologies, along with lidar (laser radar), are already being used to enhance driving expe- rience and have particularly strong potential to improve el- ements of road safety. For example, the automat- ed parking system in the Nis- san Leaf helps avoid accidents caused by human error, by making it easier to detect pe- destrians, cyclists and those on scooters in blind spots around the car. According to the latest sta- tistics for road safety in 2017, 73 pedestrians and 10 cyclists were killed in Greater London and many more seriously in- jured. Potentially, some of these lives could have been saved using automated methods of detection. ese new technologies also make it possible to control speed as appropriate to the en- vironment, keep vehicles mov- ing in the correct direction, avoid collisions and visualise the area around the car to help with manoeuvres. Soon, they will even be able to analyse how tired a driver is as well as their concentration lev- el, alerting or advising them to take a break before continuing their journey. Safer mobility today Vehicles using new technolo- gies, whether cars, buses, vans or even heavy goods vehicles, are already available – and are becoming commonplace, of- fering safer mobility than ever before. e roll-out of new technol- ogy in vehicles needs to be backed by regulation. One of the key initiatives for this is the extension of the Eu- ropean Commission's list of obligatory components in per- sonal and heavy goods vehicles. In April 2018, the European Union made the eCall emer- gency call system compulsory in all new cars sold within the EU. In addition, cruise control that reads and conforms to speed limit signs and a sys- tem that alerts the driver when they accidently stray from their lane are in discussion. e EU, governments and car manufac- turers need to keep up the mo- mentum on these regulations. New car technologies are a fundamental part of build- ing smart cities of the future. While autonomous vehicles still have a long way to go, in- telligent features built into ve- hicles will inevitably help to vastly improve safety for all road users and establish a prac- tical transport infrastructure. Although fully self- driving cars are not yet on the roads, many new cars are designed with a range of autonomous features to make driving easier and safer New transport technologies will offer safety benefits to all road users