Motor Transport Institute Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Competence Centre
Motor Transport Institute’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Competence Centre (CK:PAP) was established as part of the project ”Polish Road to Automation of Road Transport” – AV-PL-ROAD – implemented by the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Motor Transport Institute and Warsaw University of Technology the Faculty of Transport.
The Centre is an expert institution supporting the work of the government, mainly Ministry of Infrastructure, in the field of connected and autonomous vehicles by centralizing the competences and implementation processes in Poland, ensuring compliance with the regulations adopted at the EU level. It is a possibility of increasing the competitiveness of national economy in the automotive industry, increase innovation, avoid the trap of average development and the weakness of institutions.
Among the employees of the Centre are experts in the field of: road transport automation, intelligent transport systems (ITS), road safety, transport psychology, national and international vehicle type-approvals.
Motor Transport Institute’s employees have been actively supporting the activities of the Ministry of Infrastructure in the international arena for years, being also an important advisory and opinion-forming unit in the area of e.g. adapting national regulations to EU standards.
Experts take an active part, among others, in the work of the GRVA group, Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles and GRSG group, Working Party on General Safety Provisions, which is an auxiliary and advisory body to the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) – a working group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). This group prepares proposals for changes in legal regulations or develops new requirements about general vehicle safety for WP.29.
CK:PAP experts also participate in the work of groups and associations focusing on the harmonized, efficient and safe implementation of automated transport:
- CCAM Partnership,
- GoE on LIAV (Group of Experts on drafting a new legal instrument on the use of automated vehicles in traffic),
- ITF (International Transport Forum).
Motor Transport Institute is also an institution that actively participates in public consultations at the stage of adopting regulations in the Polish legal order and actively conducts consultative activities on the main legal acts related to road traffic. The statutory activity of CK:PAP in this respect will therefore be a continuation of this work and achievements, while developing knowledge and competencies in the field of CAV.
Management
prof. dr hab. inż. Marcin Ślęzak
Marcin Ślęzak – Head of CK:PAP, Director of the Motor Transport Institute
A graduate of the Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology. In 2003, he obtained a PhD degree in technical sciences in the field of construction and operation of machines. In 2008, he completed postgraduate MBA studies at the Kozminski University. In 2014, he obtained a postdoctoral degree in technical sciences at the Poznań University of Technology. From 2021, a professor of engineering and technical sciences – appointed by the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland.
He has been professionally associated with the Motor Transport Institute since 1999. Since 2013, he has been managing the unit as a director.
Specialist in the field of internal combustion engines, vehicle diagnostics and environmental protection against pollution from the automotive industry. Expert in topics related to autonomous vehicles and electromobility. An expert in the field of road safety.
Manager and contractor of many international and national research projects. Promoter and reviewer of doctoral and postdoctoral dissertations.
Member of scientific societies, including: the Polish Scientific Society of Combustion Engines (board member), the Polish Road Safety Partnership (board member), the Polish Maintenance Society, the Committee on Transport Polish Academy of Sciences (chairman of the Section of Electromobility and Autonomous Transport).
Małgorzata Pełka, M.Sc. Eng.
Małgorzata Pełka – Deputy Manager of CK:PAP
Małgorzata Pełka, M.Sc. Eng. in Road Traffic Management and Intelligent Transport Systems. Currently the Head of Autonomous Vehicles’ Laboratory in Motor Transport Institute and Deputy Head of Transport Telematics Centre. As a national expert participating in the work of European Commission CCAM Platform, ITF and GE in LIAV, she is involved in work on regulatory and standardization areas related to Connected and Automated Driving.
She has been involved in numerous national projects (financed by the National Centre for Research and Development – RID, GOSPOSTRATEG) and EU-funded projects (Erasmus+, Horizon 2020), mostly concerning the use of driving simulators for infrastructure research, Intelligent Transport Systems, driver research and innovative methods of driver training.
Innovation Manager and Leader of the Driver Training pillar in the Trustonomy project. The leader of individual tasks in the AV-PL-ROAD project: ” Polish Road to Automation of Road Transport”.
She received the 2018 ITS LIDER award for the best graduate diploma thesis in ITS.
Aleksandra Rodak, M.Sc. Eng.
Aleksandra Rodak – International Cooperation Coordinator
Aleksandra Rodak, M.Sc. Eng., graduate of the Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology – engineer’s degree in the field of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Engineering, master’s degree in the field of Vehicle Mechatronics.
Since 2019, a part of research team at the Motor Transport Institute. Head of Traffic Psychology and Driving Simulators Laboratory. Since 2021 the expert of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Competence Centre, as of July 2022 responsible for international cooperation in this unit.
The participant of various national and international conferences, webinars and workshops. The representative of ITS in ECTRI – the oldest European association of research institutes dealing with sustainable and multimodal mobility, and Polish Committee for Standardization (KT17).
Researcher in domestic and foreign projects. Co-author of many project proposals founded by the National Center for Research and Development (e.g. Szybka Ścieżka, GOSPOSTRATEG) and by international agencies (e.g. Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, Small Grant Scheme, Fast Track to Innovation).
Currently involved in the DARTS project aiming to develop scenarios database for testing the perception algorithms of automated vehicles. In the project, she coordinates the task resulting in pilot-ready mobile measuring stand for recording 360 deg. of environmental data and vehicle-oriented data.
