The International Experimental Safety Vehicles Programme (ESV) originated in 1968 under NATO's Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society and was implemented through bilateral Memoranda of Understandings between the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and the governments of France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan and Sweden. Participation in the programme has expanded over the years and now includes the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Poland and two international organisations - the EEVC and the EC.
The participating nations agreed to develop and build "Experimental Safety Vehicles" to advance the state of the art in automotive safety engineering and to hold international conferences periodically to exchange technical information on their programmes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Research and Development programme area was designated as the leading governmental official responsible for the implementation of this programme.
Early Fiat experimental safety vehicle.
Approximately every 2 years, an international conference was held for the purpose of technology exchange in this vital area of motor vehicle safety. As work on experimental safety vehicles was completed, the research programme was expanded to cover the entire range of motor vehicle safety. The Conference now serves as an international forum through which progress in motor vehicle safety technology is reported. To reflect this broader scope, at the 1991 Conference, the participating governments approved the change of the Conference name to "The International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)". The 14th ESV Conference, which was held in Munich, Germany, marked the first use of the new name.
During the 15th ESV Conference, held in Melbourne, Australia, May 1996, a new 5-year priority research programme was approved by the participating governments. This programme, named International Harmonized Research Activities (IHRA), was developed under the auspices of the ESV Programme and consisted of 6 priority international research programmes - Biomechanics, Advanced Offset Frontal Protection, Vehicle Compatibility, Pedestrian Impact Protection, Intelligent Transportation, and development of a process to determine Functional Equivalency of Motor Vehicle Regulations. During its regularly scheduled biannual meeting (November 1997) the Steering Committee decided to remove functional equivalency from the priority list. It was further agreed that all participating countries would participate in these priority programmes, and that programmes would be governed by a government only Steering Committee, which comprised mainly of the ESV Government Focal Points. Five working groups were formed, each being led by one of the participating governments. The working groups are comprised of government and industry experts. At the 16th Conference, the Steering Committee agreed to add Side Impact as a new research activity.
This highly technical conference provides a unique international forum that focuses attention on a broad range of motor vehicle safety issues and research. As the lead country, DOT/NHTSA is responsible for the programme initiatives as well as the publication of the conference proceedings, which is considered the most definitive document on the state of automotive safety research available.
The ESV Conference continues to be one of the world's foremost events in the field of motor vehicle safety research with 16 conferences being held to date. The 17th Conference is scheduled to be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the year 2001.