Authors: Martin Böhm (corresponding author), AustriaTech-Federal Agency for Technological Measures

Co-operative Systems applying infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are one of the key means to ensure safe and efficient driving through the increasing overloaded infrastructure. Within the European project COOPERS, that is a 48-month integrated project co-funded by the European Commission, a simulator tests of I2V communication systems have been performed with 51 participants to evaluate driver behavior and user acceptance. I2V communication systems influence the driver behavior in a positive manner. Drivers keep calmer in stress situations and the direct influence on road safety can be seen in reduced driving speeds previous to dangerous situations. So a positive support of the driver during dangerous situations could be achieved. User acceptance results show that the already high expectations of End Users towards Co-operative systems were outperformed. The fact that the test persons agreed to purchase cooperative systems like COOPERS as soon as commercially available underlines the positive attitude towards the system