Dynamic In-Vehicle Road Speed Enforcement (DIVERSE)

The project is to research, design, develop and test an intelligent electronic control unit (ECU) that will fit all automotive vehicle types as an aftermarket product or OEM production option.

This unit will automatically limit the vehicle’s maximum road speed and rate of acceleration to that dictated by the specific road for legal and road conditions reasons. The key project innovation is the adaption of speed limit to the vehicle location (i.e. the vehicle speed limit will differ when in a residential or motorway setting).

This project is led by a leading developer and producer of in-vehicle control & interface
products, they have an existing product “EconoSpeed” which is a fixed speed system (i.e.
under 60 mph) and is only suitable for a limited number of vehicle platforms. This project will seek to build on this expertise/experience, our aim now is to research & develop a next generation intelligent system that is:
1 - Able to link GPS data to immediate road speed requirements;
2 – generic production solution, i.e. able to interface with the complete range of vehicle types/producers;
3 – introduces a vehicle-data link that will open up market potential (vehicle location and on-demand car insurance).

The above project has a number of technical challenges which required R&D to overcome. The above lead applicant will be supported in the project by a leading provider of road mapping data (Road Angel) and two vehicle fleet operators (Arriva Group and Maple Fleet Services).

Major project outputs: An innovative commercial product with global market demand;
reduction of road accidents due to speed control; environmental benefits due to fuel
consumption saving; reduction in legal proceeding associated with speeding; reduction in insurance costs/risks.