European Conference on Human Centred Design for Intelligent Transport Systems, 14-15 Junio 2012, Valencia (España).
Autores: Vega, H., Alonso, M., Morris, A. y Welsh, R.

Abstract: The TeleFOT (Field Operational Tests of Aftermarket and Nomadic Devices in Vehicles) project involves large scale pan-European field trials to assess the impact of functions provided by nomadic devices on the driving task, as well as on the transportation process as whole. A Field Operational Test (FOT) is a relatively new method, especially in Europe, for studying the impacts of functions on transportation, i.e. on driving, traffic and transport. From a technical and methodological perspective, the FESTA Handbook defines an FOT as “A study undertaken to evaluate a function, or functions, under normal operating conditions in environments typically encountered by the participants using quasi-experimental methods.”
The core of TeleFOT research is based on conducting FOTs involving large number of drivers using functions provided by nomadic devices in their own vehicles. The drivers’ interaction with the functions and services provided are studied and data are collected to address research questions related to use of the nomadic devices in specific contexts. Up to 2,500 drivers are involved in the TeleFOT project in total. From these drivers, data on position and speed (via GPS logging) and in some cases acceleration and interaction with the device events are recorded through loggers and transferred to a central database in Finland for analysis.
The FOTs in TeleFOT are organised in three test communities based in Northern (Finland, Sweden), Central (Germany, UK, France) and Southern (Greece, Italy, Spain) Europe. Individual test-sites can be found in each of these countries.
Two of the TeleFOT test sites (namely Valladolid-Spain and UK test sites) are harmonizing their test protocols in order to compare in detail the experiences and results obtained from them. The Valladolid-Spain test site is formed by three entities jointly working in a Large-scale FOT: CIDAUT, BLOM and RÜCKER LYPSA. Similarly, the UK test site is composed by two different organizations, namely LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY and MIRA LTD.  Overall the same approach is being used such that both test-sites are operating a similar subject recruitment and subject ‘management’ policy and are testing more or less the same number of subjects. Furthermore, both test-sites are conducting the field-tests over a similar time-period and are utilizing an almost identical experimental approach.  In addition, the tested function (a Personal Navigation Device) and the Data Acquisition System (DAS) being used are identical at both sites meaning that the results are very comparable. These results will be available in due course.
Meanwhile, this study describes the methodology being used at the test-sites in more detail and in particular, pin-points important lessons that are being learned from applying the FESTA methodology to such large-scale FOT activities. Overall, the study represents one of the first studies of its kind that is able to fully describe experiences with the new FESTA FOT methodology protocols.
The lessons learned are multi-fold and include issues related to study design, recruitment, field test management and both specific and general data-handling issues. The study describes in detail the major issues that have become evident during the FOTs at both test-sites and makes recommendations as to how future FOTs should be organized in order to counteract important matters arising and to overcome unforeseen difficulties. However, just as importantly, the FOTs have revealed many positive methodological aspects that are relevant to future FOTs and these are fully described within the study.
As such, the study will be of significant relevance to future revisions of the FESTA handbook and will be an important source of reference for future FOTs, particularly those involving field-tests of nomadic devices.