The societal impact of ITS Chapter | 12 139by intelligent rerouting based on the traffic situation (the current status to guide
all vehicles approaching a traffic jam through a narrow bypass is not the best
option as this likely leads to an even worse traffic jam in the bypass). In the
United States about 11 billion liters of gas are wasted yearly in traffic jams.
Assuming just half of it could be saved by cooperative automated driving, enor-
mous benefits would result, such as cost savings, fuel savings, emission reduc-
tion, reduction of wasted time, etc.
ITS is contributing to tap the high potential of vehicle automation among
others by linking the two big automotive market drivers “automated driving”
and “electrification” (for both of them, ITS is a basic enabler) by utilization of
fail-operational perception and propulsion systems in order to achieve higher
contribution to reaching the emission targets. All of the burning mobility chal-
lenges ask for accelerated introduction of electrified, connected, and automated
vehicles. Acceleration of the market ramp-up of electrified vehicles is a major
topic of ITS. Hybrid vehicles as well as electric vehicles with distributed pro-
pulsion, thus vehicles with several energy sources and sinks represent excellent
approaches to address the previously mentioned societal challenges. Distributed
propulsion systems offer redundancy possibilities. ITS considers the multire-
dundant propulsion systems as a key and basis for achieving the high safety,
reliability, and availability requirements for vehicle automation levels 4 and 5.
ITS further enriches the optimization of the multiredundant propulsion systems
in view of energy saving using information from the perception system and
human-inspired decision modeling.
12.2.6 Social inclusion and mobility for all
It is straightforward to think pedestrians and cyclists as vulnerable road users
that must be protected from autonomous vehicles as well as “bad” drivers, or
driving conditions. However, there are many more user groups, such as impaired
or elderly people and young children that use the road network or move in
between vehicles, especially in the urban environment. Although the increased
safety procedures and vehicle mechanisms (air-bags, passive and active safety
systems, etc.) have significantly reduced severe injuries and fatalities among
passengers, the number of VRUs that are injured or killed in road accidents is
still decreasing slowly. The antidotes, in this case, are (1) to increase drivers’
awareness for VRUs and evoke a better and safer driving behavior, and (2) to
improve the road infrastructure in order to early alert drivers or autonomous
vehicles about neighboring or approaching VRUs.
ITS is an excellent means to support, for example, elderly and disabled peo-
ple to keep their individual mobility, and to considerably reduce their accident
risk while driving a car. With the results brought about by ITS, that is, human-
inspired control, automated vehicles will behave like well-trained experienced
human drivers, who are driving in a cautious and defensive way, thus consider-
ing potential mistakes by other traffic participants and avoiding accidents.