Support for networking activities and impact assessment for road automation

Topic Description

Besides technological progress in developing new automated driving functions, there are still many challenges and uncertainties related to the deployment of connected and automated vehicles. Many of these challenges can be better addressed when European partners work together and cooperate with international partners. Therefore, a coordinated and harmonised approach to support the deployment of automated driving systems at European and international level is needed. More cooperation is also necessary to assess the impacts of connected and automated driving systems. Several methodologies to assess impacts of connected and automated transport systems have already been developed and applied. However, a commonly agreed methodology to assess the impacts of connected and automated driving systems that would allow for informed decision making does not exist.

This topic will be implemented through two sub-topics (two types of actions). Proposals should address only one of the two.

Subtopic 1) Research and innovation action: Assessment of impacts, benefits and costs of connected, cooperative and automated driving systems

Proposals should address all the following aspects:

• Assess the short, medium and long term impacts, benefits and costs of different scenarios/use cases for connected, cooperative and automated driving systems (for passengers cars, automated urban transport and goods transport) considering the full range of impacts including, but not limited to, driver behaviour, mobility behaviour, recharging and refuelling behaviour, accessibility, safety, traffic efficiency, emissions, energy consumption, use of resources, impact on employment, required skills, infrastructure wear and land use.
• Establish a solid multidisciplinary methodology to assess the long-term impacts of connected and automated driving systems.
• Provide a public toolkit for assessing impacts, benefits and costs of connected and automated systems (including required infrastructures) and decision support system to help authorities to evaluate strategic decisions on urban regulations and planning.

Specific attention should be paid to the transition phase towards higher levels of automation when individual vehicles may operate at different automation levels given the circumstances, and where human and machine operated vehicles are both present in varying penetration degrees.

In line with the Union's strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, international cooperation is encouraged. In particular, proposals should consider cooperation with projects or partners from the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and/or Australia. Proposals should foresee twinning with entities participating in projects funded by US DOT to exchange knowledge and experience and exploit synergies

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 4 and 6 million would allow this sub-topic to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Subtopic 2) Coordination and support action: Networking activities to support connected, cooperative and automated driving

Proposals should address all the following aspects:

• Explore ways to strengthen cooperation and experience exchange amongst European and international stakeholders of connected, cooperative and automated driving in areas such as: research and innovation (e.g. human-machine interface, social acceptance of automated driving technologies, digital technologies for automation, impact assessment), global framework and international standards for connectivity and automation technologies, sharing of knowledge and data of large-scale European and national demonstration projects, foster a common evaluation framework across the demonstrations, education and training needs.
• Support programme owners and managers to better coordinate national and multi-national funding programmes in the area of connected, cooperative and automated driving, building on past coordination efforts.
• Support ongoing and extend international cooperation activities in the area of cooperative, connected and automated driving (including road automation, standardisation harmonisation and connectivity issues). An extension of the cooperation to countries and regions beyond US and Japan should be explored.
• Provide a forum for European and international stakeholders of road automation to exchange experiences and knowledge on the development and deployment of cooperative, connected and automated mobility systems and to discuss future challenges. Organise conferences and workshops on connected, cooperative and automated driving in Europe. Interactions fostering discussions on best practices and lessons learned of automated transport solutions across all transport modes are encouraged.

In line with the Union's strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, international cooperation is encouraged. In particular, proposals should consider cooperation with projects or partners from the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and/or Australia. Proposals should foresee twinning with entities participating in projects funded by US DOT^[1] to exchange knowledge and experience and exploit synergies.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 2 and 3 million would allow sub-topic topic to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

• Enable decision makers to promote the most promising scenarios of connected, cooperative and automated driving systems based on a comprehensive impact assessment and knowledge base.
• Demonstrate the expected socio-economic and environmental benefits of future connected, cooperative and automated driving systems and raise awareness and acceptance.
• Minimise uncertainties related to the development and acceptability of different scenarios of connected, cooperative and automated driving.
• Understand which factors and measures can better unlock and foster the adoption of connected, cooperative and automated vehicles.
• Better visibility, comparability and transferability of research and demonstration activities in Europe and worldwide.
• Closer cooperation between stakeholders within Europe and worldwide on common challenges in the area of connected and automated driving. Better coordination of national and multi-national funding programmes will create synergies and reduce overlaps when setting R&I priorities.
• Support to EU Member States and stakeholders that are undertaking, or planning, larger scale public road tests with connected, cooperative and automated vehicles to exchange learnings and data, exploit synergies and propose common ways on how to leverage pilots towards deployment.
• Higher penetration of automated driving functions in the market, resulting in both increased safety on the roads and lower emissions, and stronger market position of European industry in systems for vehicle automation, including through Galileo and EGNOS.

Socio-economic science and humanities
International cooperation

[1]United States Department of Transportation.