Reduce the number killed and seriously injured by road traffic accidents. The UK has the second best record for road safety in Europe, after Sweden. However, there are still around 3,500 deaths and 40,000 injuries a year. With vehicle numbers still expected to rise above the current level of 27 million, preventing road accidents and mitigating their effect is mandated by the Government. Compared to the average for the period 1994-1998, a 40% reduction is required in deaths and serious injuries by 2010. For accident prevention, there are significant opportunities to develop and implement vehicle control strategies based on advanced electronics, sensors and telematics using both on-board and infrastructural based systems. This includes pedestrian and vehicle sensing, hazard analysis, adaptive cruise controls and active safety system deployment. Behaviour monitoring and performance alerting through advanced sensors and evaluation algorithms will help reduce potentially dangerous driver error events. Technologies will need to be capable of manageable degradation so as to fail safe, with global standards adopted both for operation and design.

Reduce the death and injury rate for occupants of vehicles involved in accidents. Further advances in vehicle and structural design will impact the mitigation of the effects of accidents, both for vehicle occupants and those external to them. New materials and structures developed for lightweight cost-effective application will need to be compatible with the need for improved safety standards. Improvements to the physical infrastructure, e.g. increased provision and use of motorways (with no pedestrians, small differences in vehicle speeds, no intersections and no on-coming traffic) can also significantly contribute to reducing accidents.

Provide greater choice for vehicle purchase and usage. Individual choice is leading to the need for a wide variety of tailor made vehicles, with pressure on the manufacturing to deliver made to order solutions in a short time frame with minimal inventory.

Produce more vehicle variants. Increasing modularisation technology is needed, as well as the possibility of configuration at the dealer. Vehicles which can be reconfigured, either for fashion
or functionality, will need appropriate new design and manufacturing systems.

Improve journey time reliability. “Transport 2010. The 10 year plan” requires a modern, safe, high quality network better meeting peoples needs. Mobility and avoiding congestion is a key need, requiring improvements to be made through the development and use of advanced
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and vehicle flow control. New models for system usage, such as road use charging, avoidance of bottlenecks and limiting access to reduce pollution, likewise will be enabled by the application of ITS and associated control and information systems.

Provide an infrastructure capable of interfacing with emerging vehicle technologies. Infrastructure and vehicle developments need to advance and be deployed at a similar rate to be effective, although without focussed road capacity investment, ITS of itself will not solve the congestion problem. Performance measures and targets for the infrastructure itself have not been included either in this or Version 1.0 of the roadmap and bringing them together in a future version needs consideration.

Reduce vehicle related crime. Materials and systems aimed at prevention of access and theft continue to be required. ‘Smart’ technology must be developed to avoid both key theft and targeting of individuals being adopted as a means of taking vehicles without consent.

Prevent vehicle use in acts of terrorism. A growing global concern is the use of vehicles in terrorist attacks, brought into focus by events across the world, e.g. for use in suicide bombings, and how this can be prevented.

Improve profitability for manufacturers. The development of advanced manufacturing methods is required, particularly to take advantage of new materials and structures. Elimination of processes e.g. paint shops, will bring both environmental and economic benefits. Reduce development time and increase value. Design systems are required which will significantly reduce development time and raise value. The introduction of more sophisticated virtual engineering tools for all aspects of vehicle design is required, with the ultimate target of “zero prototypes prior to Job 1”.

Transfer technologies from/to other industries. Opportunities exist for economic advantages associated with the use of technologies from other sectors and use by other sectors. Use of Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) will help facilitate take-up and implementation of such
technologies. Advanced concepts will allow the introduction of multi-purpose manufacturing facilities, capable of servicing the needs of more than one industrial sector.

Reduce or contain costs of ownership. Technologies aimed at increasing effective life, whilst enabling the upgrading of emissions and safety systems, will be needed. Preventative maintenance via on-board diagnostics can reduce operational costs, whilst more durable components, capable of operation in a zero maintenance environment are required.