# Integration and Field Evaluation of an IoV System for Enhancing Road Safety
## 6 Discussion  
Based on the pilot tests, the applications produced a smoother driver reaction, giving the driver more time (than in real-life) to correct maneuvers and thus reduce the level of risk. In other words, the system allows drivers to be warned and to understand and implement necessary actions in advance. This was particularly evident with the roadworks application, where the driver received information about a closed lane ahead in a much shorter time than they themselves would have seen in real-life, resulting in a very smooth, gentle deceleration and change in the lane. Smooth maneuvers and driving behaviors have beneficial effects on traffic flow and reduce the risk of head-on collisions. In general, early notification of the upcoming conditions on the road ahead provides the potential to apply more appropriate maneuvers with a substantial positive impact on avoiding collisions.  
Avoiding collisions on the road has, in turn, a positive impact on the road infrastructure operators, as incidents on the road are reduced and traffic is kept smooth. The ability of the road operators to communicate directly with the drivers in the area where they will encounter imminent danger plays an important role in this as not only do the drivers become recipients of the information, they can also transfer critical information (through the vehicle to infrastructure communication) to the traffic management center.  
The level of user acceptance, as recorded by the pre and post-questionnaires is very high with even more expectations about future use of the system in their daily commute. Possibly, a reason for such a degree of acceptance, is the ability of the system (through the selected communication channels) to upgrade the existing fleet of vehicles, producing immediate results without this cost being transferred to the users. At the same time, all stakeholders can enjoy the advantages, as in addition to the drivers, the infrastructure operators foresee that if the system is used successfully as a road pavement health monitoring  
Figure 20: Expected impacts of the system.  
assessment system and better schedule of the maintenance plan, the profits in life cycle maintenance savings could be expected in the order of 30%.  
Because of the system's good user acceptance, the authors intend to further expand the system in order to be able to cover more real use case scenarios and expand its service gamut by providing even more meaningful warnings to drivers. Energy efficiency and autonomy of the system are also key parameters that the authors intend to invest in during the system's further development phase so as to reduce the required maintenance cost. This is ultimately going to lead to a system that will be able to guarantee road safety with minimal purchase, installation and maintenance costs. Furthermore, the developed system, being an IoV device, needs to be able to provide future-proof services by incorporating better connectivity options through next-generation networks, such as 5G or 6G networks, while consuming less power [35]. The authors intend to explore various connectivity options for the next iteration of the system in order to achieve better connectivity and extended autonomy.