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Every year, the Bibendum Challenge brings cars of the future together in a series of

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races.

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It's a lot of fun, but it's also a chance to compare new technologies.

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Some of the vehicles doing battle in the French capital Paris this year are prototypes equipped

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with highly sophisticated technology that could save many, many lives.

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With an ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road, the need to make them safer is

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more and more apparent.

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Around 50,000 people are killed in the European Union every year, a number that Brussels wants

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to halve by 2010 with the help of new technology.

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It's drivers like Frederic Blanc that new safety features will help in particular.

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The Frenchman's still haunted by a serious accident he had two years ago.

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I was driving at 80 kilometers per hour.

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There was ice on the road and the car started to skid.

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I lost control and the only thing that I could do was to close my eyes and wait for the car

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to stop.

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Fortunately, a safety belt and airbag saved Frederic from any serious injury.

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But in the future, it's hoped technology will be able to help prevent such accidents happening

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at all.

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Distance and parking sensors already feature in many modern cars and lorries to assist

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the driver.

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Researchers now want to make the vehicle itself more intelligent and aware of what's happening

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around it, explains Maxime Flaman from the Car Industry Association, ERTECO, in Brussels.

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They have to understand that there is a critical situation.

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They have to perceive their environment.

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They have to interact with the driver.

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And they have to see, okay, the driver is in a dangerous situation and I should act,

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I should brake, for example, or I should try to avoid the accident.

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On this safety track at the French Automobile Club in southern France, drivers like Frederic

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are learning how just a little more speed increases braking distances enormously.

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Safety braking aids have been developed by some car makers, but they're still suffering

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from teething problems.

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Different sensor systems work either with radars or normally invisible lasers to scan

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the environment.

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But with the European Commission's PREVENT project, researchers are trying to develop

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systems that could be incorporated by all manufacturers.

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The project allows us to try out new technologies that car manufacturers would not necessarily

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develop.

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But PREVENT also gives us the opportunity to work together to test systems that would

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not work on their own.

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Together with Flaman in Brussels, German telematics expert Matthias Schulze is coordinating a

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number of different projects in a Europe-wide network of developers, including the car industry

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and research institutes.

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In Athens, Angelos Amditis and his team are working on smarter software programs that

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could improve the performance of safety systems, like automatic braking or lane-keeping assistance.

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Key to all this is enabling the car to understand what's going on around it and react in the

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right way, like warning the driver in case of a dangerous situation.

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So Amditis and his team of engineers are developing sophisticated software to teach the car to

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recognize its environment.

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They are changing their position very fast.

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So if you are in a local area where you have a number of different cars, changing directions,

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changing positions, having different speeds, then you need to have a way to localize these

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cars in a very accurate way, very fast.

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And then you need to have ways to create what we call local dynamic networks between different

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cars in order to be able to achieve this communication.

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This is what Angelos Amditis and his team are trying to achieve.

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When one car comes across a hazard, such as icy roads, it will be able to pass this information

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on to other vehicles in the area in order to warn them.

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In these local dynamic networks, cars and lorries will also recognize construction sites

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or other obstacles and communicate them wirelessly to other cars.

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The aim is that eventually the elements of these systems will interact intelligently

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with each other, whatever make of car you're driving.

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All these elements allow the creation of common solutions for the future and common platforms,

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which in turn allow reduction of costs and creating all this critical mass that is needed,

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both in developing these new solutions, but also in supporting their penetration to society.

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Amditis is optimistic that his vision will become reality in the not-too-distant future.

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His hometown Athens has experienced a traffic revolution in the past few years with major

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investment.

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This has turned round a city that was once notorious for its smog and traffic chaos.

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And in the future, more intelligent systems will help to save more lives in Europe and

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worldwide.

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What you need in this area, you need really new, advanced human-machine interaction systems

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as we call them, which are capable of managing all this information and decide when, which

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information and how this information can be presented to the driver.

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Unlike existing dumb electronic systems that sometimes annoy and distract drivers, the

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virtual co-drivers of the future will only intervene in case of a possible danger.

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But such human-machine interaction requires highly sophisticated technology.

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Night vision, for example, is nothing new, but in regular vehicles it only makes sense

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when the electronic assistant works intelligently in the background.

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It should only interact with the driver when the situation appears to be getting out of

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control, like when vigilance devices warn drowsy drivers of their tiredness.

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The system needs to be designed in a way so the driver does not feel incapacitated.

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Ideally, he or she should not even be aware of it working in the background.

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In the meantime, Frederic will have to make do with improving his skills within the safety

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of the automobile club.

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What counts most is to be a good driver and to react correctly to whatever situation on

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every journey, not only here on the track but when driving to work or going on holiday.

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And that's vital.

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Even when the current technology is under development, make it off the test track and

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onto real roads, good driving skills will still be the most important factor in making

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it safer.

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It's just that soon we should all get a little extra help along the way.

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