Road and transport research

The results of VTT’s road and transport research have been applied not only to the development of road and transportation, but also to legislative work. In the 1960s and 1970s, the goal was to improve road conditions and road safety. The heating method, developed at VTT, enabled halving the amount of mass required to resurface a road.

The new method also enabled road repairs in just the worn sections of the lane. Traffic deaths due to the increased number of cars could be reduced by implementing general speed limits based on research results.  

Transport system of the future

IT solutions and safety are in a key position in a project by VTT, Mercedes-Benz and other major European car manufacturers with the goal of creating the transport system of the future. In it, the vehicles communicate with each other, receive real-time traffic information and send information onwards to both the driver and other systems. This allows, for example, the reduction of accidents.  

Traffic safety

Boards of inquiry on traffic accidents estimate that during the last ten years, the use of seat belts would have saved over half of the people who died in passenger cars and vans in Finland. In order to enhance seat belt and speeding control, the police have started testing equipment developed by VTT, based on automatic camera surveillance and a wireless network connection.

The equipment also measures the safety distance between vehicles, environmental emissions and the slipperiness of the road surface. In addition to Finland, the equipment is tested in Germany, France and Austria.