Intelligent vehicle applications worldwide

Intelligent vehicles is an application in which the words "intelligent autonomous systems" represent not only an important research topic but also a strategic solution to the mobility problems of the coming years. Vehicles that can move autonomously and navigate in everyday traffic, in highway;urban, and unstructured scenarios, will become a reality in the next decades. Besides the obvious advantages of increasing road safety and improving the quality and efficiency of people and goods mobility, the integration of intelligent features and autonomous functionalities on vehicles will lead to major economic benefits from reduced fuel consumption, efficient exploitation of the road network and reduced personnel. Furthermore, not only the automotive field (public transportation, trucks, and automobiles) is interested in these new technologies. but also other sectors, each with its own target (industrial vehicles, military systems, mission-critical systems, and unmanned rescue robots). In this second issue of the TTS department-written in cooperation with the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Council-Richard Bishop surveys the major intelligent vehicles projects and activities worldwide, covering not only automotive applications hut also special vehicles. You can download the ITS Council's newsletter from the Council`s official home page at www.ieee.org/itsc (which also contains information and calls for papers for upcoming ITS conferences) or from the Italian mirror site at www.ce.unipr.it/itsc. For further information and for suggestions, contact me at broggi@ce.unipr.it;www.ce. unipr.it/broggi.