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.

Current methods to evaluate Li-ion batteries safety, performance, reliability and lifetime represent a remarkable resource consumption for the overall battery R&D process. The time or number of tests required, the expensive equipment and a generalised trial-error approach are determining factors, together with a lack of understanding of the complex multi-scale and multi-physics phenomena in the battery system. Besides, testing facilities are operated locally, meaning that data management is handled directly in the facility, and that experimentation is done on one test bench. The FASTEST project aims develope and validate a fast-track testing platform able to deliver a strategy based on Design of Experiments (DoE) and robust testing results, combining multi-scale and multi-physics virtual and physical testing. This will enable an accelerated battery system R&D and more reliable, safer and long-lasting battery system designs. The project’s prototype of a fast-track hybrid testing platform aims for a new holistic and interconnected approach. From a global test facility perspective, additional services like smart DoE algorithms, virtualised benches, and DT data are incorporated into the daily facility operation to reach a new level of efficiency. During the project, FASTEST consortium aims to develop up to TRL 6 the platform and its components: the optimal DoE strategies according to three different use cases (automotive, stationary, and off-road); two different cell chemistries, 3b (NMC/Si-C) and 4 solid-state (oxide polymer electrolyte); the development of a complete set of physic-based and data-driven models able to substitute physical characterisation experiments; and the overarching Digital Twin architecture managing the information flows, and the TRL6 proven and integrated prototype of the hybrid testing platform.