One of the most difficult tasks for any researcher is to understand the complexities experienced by the personnel who operate in those conditions on a daily basis. In the case of TransSec the set of use cases that the project is addressing can only be truly understood when you take to the road in a truck and immerse yourself into those exact situations. As part of our plenary meeting in Stuttgart our hosts, Daimler did exactly this for the project partners. Daimler provided first-hand experience of these situations experienced by truck drivers by driving our “testbed” trucks around the city of Stuttgart (and surrounding towns). The nature of the vehicles are completely different from that of what we would consider normal (cars) as the power, weight, momentum, acceleration, braking and steering is somewhat different from what we would be used of from our everyday driving journeys. These insights hammered home the sheer power and risks associated with these vehicles when used for malicious purposes. It also provided us with a unique view of the city of Stuttgart as the additional height of the trucks gave us the feeling of our own private tour without the clutter of other regular vehicles obscuring the views…
Two members of the project team from the TSSG in Waterford Institute of Technology making the most of the hands on demonstrator with our excellent pilot Roland Trauter at the wheel.
