New safety technologies are to be trialled on London buses this year in a bid to “eliminate death and serious injury”.
As part of the Transport for London (TfL) Bus Safety Innovation Challenge bus operators are being paired with innovative developers to come up with solutions to road danger that could complement TfL’s Bus Safety Standard.
Five products will be tested for their effectiveness in reducing casualties. They are:
- A tool that calculates the risk of fatigue in real time
- Vulnerable road user intent prediction software that analyses people walking or cycling near a bus, anticipates their behaviour and alerts the driver
- A video-based driver safety coaching programme that uses clips of actual events so that everyone can learn from them
- A lighting system that illuminates areas of greater risk around buses to other road users, comes on and off automatically in slow-speed circumstances and that flashes to indicate when a bus is turning
- A pedestrian and cyclist detection and driver alert system that detects vulnerable road users faster than a human can
“We’re determined to eliminate death and serious injury from our roads, but we know that we can’t do it alone,” said Claire Mann, Director of Bus Operations at TfL.
“Our Bus Safety Standard is resulting in safer buses arriving in London this year, and this fund will harness the power of innovators – ensuring it complements our standard – helping to make deaths and serious injuries on our roads a thing of the past.”
