Hi-Drive addresses a number of key challenges which are currently hindering the progress of developments in vehicle automation. The key aim of the project is to focus on testing and demonstrating automated driving, by improving intelligent vehicle technologies, to cover a large set of traffic environments, not currently achievable. Hi-Drive enables testing of a variety of functionalities, from motorway chauffeur to urban chauffeur, explored in diverse scenarios with heterogeneous driving cultures across Europe. In particular, the Hi-Drive trials will consider European TEN-T corridors and urban nodes in large and medium cities, with a specific attention to demanding, error-prone, conditions. The project’s ambition is to considerably extend the operational design domain (ODD) from the present situation, which frequently demands interventions from the human driver. Therefore, the project concept builds on reaching a widespread and continuous ODD, where automation can operate for longer periods and interoperability is assured across borders and brands. The project also investigates what factors influence user behavior and acceptance, as well as understanding the needs of other road users interacting with these vehicles. The removal of fragmentation in the ODD is expected to give rise to a gradual transition from a conditional operation towards higher levels of automated driving. With these aims, Hi-Drive associates a consortium of 41 European partners with a wide range of interests and capabilities covering the main impact areas which affect users, and the transport system, and enhance societal benefits. The project intends to contribute towards market deployment of automated systems by 2030. All this cannot be achieved by testing only. Accordingly, the work includes outreach activities on business innovation and standardization, plus extended networking with the interested stakeholders, coordinating parallel activities in Europe and overseas.

FLOW sees a need for a paradigm shift wherein non-motorised transport (often seen from a transport policy perspective simply as a nice “extra”) is placed on an equal footing with motorised modes with regard to urban congestion. To do this, FLOW will create a link between (currently poorly-connected) walking and cycling and congestion by developing a user-friendly methodology for evaluating the ability of walking and cycling measures to reduce congestion. FLOW will develop assessment tools to allow cities to evaluate effects of walking and cycling measures on congestion. Our aim is for the tools to become the standard for assessing the impact of walking and cycling measures on congestion. The tools include a congestion impact assessment (including socio-economic impact, an assessment of soft measures, congestion evaluation based on KPIs and a cost benefit analysis) and traffic modelling. Current modelling software will be calibrated and customised in FLOW partner cities to analyse the relationship of cyclist and pedestrian movements to congestion. The modelling and impact assessment will identify the congestion reducing effect of walking and cycling measures. FLOW partner cities will develop implementation scenarios and action plans for adding or up-scaling measures that are shown to reduce congestion. FLOW will target three distinct audiences, with appropriate materials and messaging for each. Cities will learn about the value and use of new transport modelling tools, businesses will be made aware of the potential market in congestion busting products and services and decision makers will be provided with facts to argue for walking and cycling to be put on equal footing with other modes of transport. FLOW will meet the challenge of “significantly reducing urban road congestion and improving the financial and environmental sustainability of urban transport” by improving the understanding of walking and cycling measures that have potential to reduce urban congestion.

AUGMENTED CCAM aims to understand, harmonise and evaluate in an augmented manner adapted and novel support solutions of Physical, Digital and Communication (PDI) infrastructure, to advance its readiness for large scale deployment of CCAM solutions for all. The project will elaborate, extend and harmonise PDI classification and support levels mapping co-determined PDI priority requirements and adaptations. Based on this and by deploying an open sharing technology agnostic service operational framework and architecture for PDI enabled CCAM, addressing all CCAM actors via multi-cooperation models, the project will develop 11 PDI support solutions (aiming at TLR 6-7) that will apply and evaluate in different configurations in seven (7) test sites across three (3) European Countries (France, Latvia, Spain), encompassing a vast spectrum of physical (living labs, closed areas, open traffic highway, urban and peri-urban/rural environments) and virtual (DT, AV & driving simulators) test beds. AI and Big Data advanced techniques and crowdsourced HD maps will leverage the whole transport system and its users’ situational awareness, prediction and actuation. The different test activities findings, supported by micro and macroscopic traffic simulations, will allow the assessment of different PDI support on functional safety of the whole transport infrastructure, on traffic safety and efficiency, driving behaviour, environmental footprint, service reliability, trust & security, considering the socioeconomic benefits and costs of all actors, and the issue of roadmap and recommendations, proposing risk-aversion decision making tools and methodologies for policy making and CCAM - ready infrastructure investments. AUGMENTED CCAM, coordinated by FEHRL, consists of a multi-stakeholder Consortium of 26 Partners from 12 European countries and one Associated partner from Switzerland. Roughly 50% of them are firms (30% Industries, 50% of which road operators, and 18,5% of them SMEs).