ACTUATE’s Mid-Term Partner Meeting and Knowledge Exchange with Experts in Salzburg,
On 11 and 12 December 2013 the ACTUATE consortium came together for a successful mid-term partner meeting in Salzburg, Austria. In addition, external experts from other EU-funded projects in the field of professional driver training participated in an ACTUATE meeting and contributed to a vivid discussion and inspiring knowledge exchange.
After a short welcome note by the host Salzburg AG, day one began with the presentation of the first of a series of ACTUATE e-learning modules. Within ACTUATE individual e-learning courses will be developed for hybrid buses, trams and trolleybuses. Over the next months all partners will integrate the e-learning courses into their in-house campaigns aiming to encourage drivers to use their newly acquired eco-driving skills in their daily routine.
Also the partners reported on first evaluation results regarding training quality and energy savings achieved during the training sessions and in daily operation. Test drives conducted in real traffic as part of the practical trainings, showed the potential of safe eco-driving regarding the reduction of energy consumption: in Salzburg, on average 20 per cent energy was saved for trolleybuses and 13 per cent for hybrid buses in Leipzig. However, the evaluation also showed that it will be extremely difficult to identify the exact influence of safe eco-driving techniques on energy consumption due to the numerous external influences in daily scheduled operation (traffic conditions, weather, number of passengers etc.). In the afternoon two working sessions were organised to work on the alignment and generalisation of developed training concepts and to draft a take-up strategy for other public transport operators to adopt ACTUATE’s safe eco-driving trainings.
On day two of the meeting the focus was put on knowledge exchange with experts from other EU-funded projects active in the field of professional driver training. John Lepine, president of the European Driving Schools Association (EFA), provided insights into the ECOWILL project which aimed at reducing carbon emission by boosting the use of eco-driving in conventionally fuelled vehicles across Europe. Kris Jooris from Key Driving Competences NV shared the results of the ECOeffect project, where an eco-driving training and evaluation scheme for drivers of commercial trucks has been developed.
Tanja Bacher (3s research laboratory) discussed her findings from the ICT-DRV project which analyses the potential for ICT based learning and simulation approaches in professional drivers’ training. Finally, Lutz Rösch (TT-C Training Technology-Consulting GmbH) introduced the SIMTEB project where simulator-based eco-driving trainings for European bus drivers have been developed and assessed. Certainly there will be a future exchange about approaches, findings and synergies between the projects.
