Exhibition

The euroFOT Exhibition was inaugurated on Tuesday 26 June by Carl-Christian Buhr (on the left), Member of Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes's Cabinet, and the euroFOT project coordinator Aria Etemad (in the middle).   Visitors had the opportunity to experience and be guided through the euroFOT project in three sequential stages - Preparing, Using and Analysing – derived from the FESTA methodology. euroFOT partners were on hand at each stage to explain the euroFOT results, lessons learnt and highlight euroFOT’s achievements.

FESTA, an EU co-funded project running from November 2007 to April 2008, was devoted to creating a methodology for field operational tests.   The FESTA methodology, explained in the FESTA handbook provides practical guidance for developing well-designed FOTs, and it also ensures the comparability and transferability of FOT results.   One important aspect of the FESTA methodology is the clear division of a FOT project into three stages: Preparing, Using and Analysing. It is this sequence which inspires and guides the design of the euroFOT final event exhibition.   The task of updating FESTA has now been taken over by FOT-Net which has released a revised version of the FESTA handbook in 2011. An interactive version of the FESTA handbook is available here.

Preparing

How did euroFOT set its terms of reference? What were the use cases, research questions and hypotheses tested? How was euroFOT designed to rigorously meet the needs of the different test sites testing different functions/functions' combinations using different recruitment approaches in a standardised and comparable way? How was the information actually recorded and analysed?

Find the answers through the different steps of the FESTA Methodology:

- Function Identification and Description

- Use Cases

- Research Questions and Hypotheses

- Performance Indicators

- Measures and Sensors

Using

How was euroFOT actually organised? 1200 everyday drivers, in cars and trucks from 9 major automotive suppliers, testing 8 distinct active safety systems functions in 10 different testing centres across Europe presents an organisational challenge. How was the challenge met? What lessons can be learnt for future FOTs? Which vehicles were actually used, and which active safety systems were tested in which vehicles? How exactly were recordings made?

Find the answers here: Vehicle Management Centres

And learn more about how a Field Operational Test is run by viewing the following video:

Video: euroFOT - Running a Field Operational Test

Analysing

A huge amount of data was gathered by euroFOT. How was it stored and processed? How was the data analysed; which tools were used? How were the original research questions and hypotheses answered? And what are the final results – the impact assessment and cost benefit analysis?

Find the answers through the different steps of the FESTA Methodology:

- Database

- Data Analysis Tool at the Swedish Vehicle Management Centre

- Data Analysis Tool at the German 2 Vehicle Management Centre

- Data Analysis Tool at the French and German 1 Vehicle Management Centres

- Research Questions and Hypothesis Testing

- Impact Assessment

- Cost-Benefit Analysis