CLUSTER 7: COORDINATION

Introduction

Coordination of R&I and testing activities across Europe is required to address the current fragmentation of R&I efforts and the lack of a coherent, longer-term vision and strategy. Harmonised approaches, common methodologies and tools to facilitate the exchange of best practices and lessons learned will support the collaboration across the complex cross-sectorial value chain needed for the organisation of Large-scale Demonstration and future scale-up to the impacts of complete CCAM solutions.

Cluster 7 Objectives

• Provide the Common evaluation methodology to be applied in Large-scale Demonstrations, tests and pilots of EU and as much as possible national projects (to Clusters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).
• Provide a Common test data exchange infrastructure (data space) with features facilitating the development and validation of CCAM functions and services, and further develop and adapt a data exchange framework by sharing lessons learnt and best practices to Cluster 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
• Provide knowledge base and guidance on R&I needs, gaps and tools (to all Clusters).
• Provide means of assessing the level of awareness and attitudes of European citizens (to Cluster 6) and decision makers.
• Coordinate the CCAM Stakeholder forum and maintain stakeholder engagement tools (e.g. workshops) to consult for expectations and feedback for all Clusters.
• Facilitate dissemination of information among past and ongoing R&I and demonstration activities in order to ensure early awareness of plans, results and lessons learned to prevent silos, overlaps and redundancies.
• Support the monitoring of the progress made on the targets and impacts set by the CCAM Partnerships regarding the use of harmonised methodologies and tools.
• Support the work of the States Representative Group and stimulate cooperation between Member States.

The necessity of cross-sector collaboration in Europe for the development, testing and deployment of Connected Automated Driving (CAD) has been highlighted in the Declaration of Amsterdam, the GEAR 2030 final report and the Communication from the European Commission “On the road to automated mobility”. The objective of this cluster is to capitalise on shared knowledge and develop harmonised approaches and European frameworks for the assessment of impacts of CCAM technologies, systems and services, testing on public roads and sharing of Test data, building on the work carried out by EU-funded Coordination and Support Actions and by Working Group 2 of the CCAM Platform in 2019-2020. The cluster will also create a stakeholder forum to improve collaboration and extend stakeholder engagement beyond the Partnership members. It will also maintain and extend the EU-wide Knowledge Base that will publish and disseminate R&I and piloting activities and their results, as well as standards and methodologies enabling the exchange of knowledge, experiences and lessons learned. The different activities of the cluster will support the coordination and cooperation of R&I, testing activities and living labs across Europe, facilitating the collaboration between stakeholders from all sectors and create the fundaments to move from testing and piloting towards the harmonised deployment and operations of CCAM with consensus on how it supports the societal goals.

For the first two phases of the Partnership, the Knowledge Base and tools developed by Cluster 7 projects and coordination actions will enable the necessary exchange of experience, practices and methodologies to develop the key building blocks and set up large scale demonstrations. The EU Framework for testing on public roads is being progressively developed by the first Cluster 7 project FAME with the involvement of all CCAM projects funded under the Partnership so far. While the final version of the framework and associated common evaluation methodology will be available in 2025, intermediate versions and associated tools will be available from 2024. For the last phase of the Partnership, these tools should also provide support for stakeholders to move into operations by identifying key building blocks and standards for deploying pilot services and enable capacity building for key actors of different use cases /applications domains.

The successful deployment of CCAM solutions largely relies on meeting the needs of citizens and users. It is essential to involve end-users in the process, through activities such as co-creation, and to consider societal needs right from the start of technology and service development. The Knowledge Base can assist in this effort by producing easily understandable content for non-experts, with additional approaches and formats, and collaborating with public authorities to increase awareness and comprehension of CCAM. For existing solutions, it should also provide information about limitations and related risks.

The European framework for testing on public roads consists of several components necessary for efficient legal approval processes, validation, data exchange and analysis.

• Help streamlining the different national and local processes for obtaining testing permissions; facilitate mutual recognition of procedures across Member States, ultimately resulting in unified testing approaches for a better data analysis, verification and validation of systems and services.
• A common evaluation methodology for large-scale demonstration pilots, including but not limited to user evaluation and socio-economic impact assessment will allow comparability of results, complementing evaluations and meta-analysis over multiple evaluation studies. Similarly, the effectiveness of large scale testing in Europe can be largely increased by a more systematic exchange of experience, test results, and test data.
• Once developed and available, the evaluation methodology will need to be implemented for existing and innovative use cases by CCAM projects and aligned with national mobility strategies and approaches. Training programmes for CCAM projects will be necessary to integrate the methodology and to collect feedback on lessons learned during its implementation.

Member States and Associated Countries to Horizon Europe will have an active role in this cluster and in the related R&I and Coordination and Support Actions. A strong link will be required with the States Representatives Group (SRG) of the Partnership as well as with the national/local clusters and ecosystem for the operational aspects, in particular regarding testing conditions and regulations and associated harmonisation aspects. The SRG will need support to collect and analyse information on national R&I initiatives and to implement cooperation activities.

The initiatives of this cluster are building on a strong legacy of EU-funded projects as well as ongoing European, national and international harmonisation activities. The successive projects VRA, three FOT-Net Projects, CARTRE, SCOUT and ARCADE have federated large networks of stakeholders and driven consensus building across stakeholders on challenges, needs and requirements for CAD and Field Operational Tests. These actions allowed building harmonised views and contributed to the development of European R&I agendas. The online Knowledge Base initially developed by the ARCADE CSA and subsequently extended in the FAME project gathers up-to-date information on CCAM related R&I projects and pilot activities in Europe and beyond, regulations and policies, standards, and impact assessment and data sharing methodologies. FAME is developing knowledge summaries in order to deliver more targeted content to specific stakeholder categories like public authorities or cities. Other projects like WE-TRANSFORM and SINFONICA are developing Knowledge Bases focusing on societal aspects and impacts.

This is complementing the CORDIS and TRIMIS ^[6]online databases maintained by the European Commission, the latter aiming at supporting the development and monitoring of the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA). JRC regularly carries out a foresight and horizon scanning with a similar objective. Similarly, some Member States have set up knowledge sharing, testing monitoring or cooperation platforms.

^[6] Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (https://trimis.ec.europa.eu/)

Several instruments and evaluation methodologies have been developed and are being used by EU funded projects or international initiatives. These include the FESTA Handbook, the Trilateral Impact Assessment Framework for Automation in Road Transportation (EU–US–Japan cooperation), the C-Roads Evaluation and Assessment Plan 119 the LEVITATE 120 Policy Support Tool (PST) as well as the methodologies of L3Pilotand the follow-up project Hi-Drive, AUTOPILOT, AVENUE, EU EIP, ENSEMBLE, MANTRA, SAM and SHOWprojects. Collaborations between some of these projects on harmonised methodologies have been carried out and different approaches have been collected by ARCADE and made available in the Knowledge base. 

FAME is developing a common evaluation methodology (CEM) building on the knowledge gathered from these initiatives, The CEM will provides guidance on how to set up and carry out an evaluation or assessment of direct and indirect impacts of CCAM solutions. It will be a part of European framework for testing on public roads that should be used by all projects from the CCAM Partnership carrying out evaluations.

Similarly, initiatives in Europe have defined common formats or have set up data catalogues to facilitate the exchange of test data, e.g. L3Pilot Common Data Format, FOT-Net Wiki, Catalogues and Data Sharing Framework. Common data formats for CCAM are also being specified by standardisation bodies like ASAM, ISO TC204 & CEN TC278.

The High Level Meeting on CAD organised by the Finnish Ministry of Transport in October 2020, highlighted the need to develop means towards mutual recognition of testing authorisations to facilitate experimental testing. Some initiatives have been collecting information about testing regulations across Members States in Europe, collecting best practices or developing guidelines and recommendations to facilitate the organisation of cross-border testing. The CCAM Knowledge base has gathered content on Regulation & Policies with a focus on testing exemption procedures. ENSEMBLE started discussions on the requirements for mutual recognition of exemption procedures for platooning. Preparatory work is also being carried out on a framework for mutual recognition of exemption authorizations as part of the DE-FR-LU cross-border testbed. Working Group 4, on Safety Validation, of the CCAM platform set up by the European Commission has worked on “Guidelines for testing of automated and connected vehicles” and preparing recommendations for mutual recognition. The FAME project is working with the SRG on an analysis of CCAM testing procedures and administrative frameworks as well as of testing initiatives (on public roads) and CCAM use cases including legal, administrative, technical and ethical aspects per member state. L3Pilot has developed a Code of Practice and the SHOW project is looking into the issues and solutions for cross European test permits.

Beyond Europe, initiatives have been launched to gather data about testing activities to evaluate the readiness of AVs for public use, increase transparency and raise public awareness. The AV TEST Initiative from US DOT (NHTSA) provides an online platform for sharing automated driving system on-road testing activities and other pertinent information with the public. Similarly, the Autonomous Vehicle Monitoring and Evaluation System (OLIVE) from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority gathers data from Automated Vehicles and CCTV systems for evaluation purposes.

Cluster 7 R&I Actions

The specific R&I actions relating to “Coordination” are the following: 

• EU-wide knowledge base and stakeholder forum on CCAM. Continue and extend the existing EU-wide Knowledge Base134 on CCAM as the “one-stop shop” for the exchange of knowledge and experiences on CCAM in Europe and beyond and to promote existing and valuable datasets. In a second phase, expand the Knowledge Base to support the CCAM stakeholder community and CCAM Partnership for moving into operations (minimal building blocks requirements, standards and common definitions to run pilot services across Europe). Identify further needs for targeted content for specific stakeholder categories and in particular, develop content that is accessible to non-experts, thereby supporting capacity building of the general public. To support the organisation of large scale demonstration in the last phase of the Partnership, the Knowledge Base should in particular become an Experience Base. The action should also establish a network of experts and provide a forum to facilitate their interaction. 
• Common Evaluation Methodology.  Establish a well-structured overview of European evaluation methodologies for impact assessment and their testing instances (test sites, living labs, simulations, open road) and develop a common evaluation framework and methodology (EU-CEM) with common indicators for large- scale demonstration pilots and a taxonomy tool to ensure that everyone speaks the same language. Align the methodology with national strategies by evaluating and updating it through targeted discussions with Member States/Associated countries. The practical implementation of the EU-CEM (for existing and innovative use cases) will need to be supported by providing training programmes for CCAM projects to integrate the methodology.
• Test Data Exchange Infrastructure and Framework. Develop and adapt a test data exchange infrastructure and framework. The infrastructure shall facilitate data exchange and use of principles in the European data strategy. The framework shall address legal and administrative as well as technical aspects such as data provision, access, protection of user data, and labelling of data and proper description of the data. 
• Harmonized legal frameworks and approval processes for CCAM testing on public road. Establish harmonized legal frameworks and approval processes for CCAM testing on public road based on criteria for mutual recognition of procedures to facilitate the development of both cross border testing and support authorities, and in particular cities, in organising piloting projects. Facilitate the work of the CCAM SRG and stimulate the cooperation between EU Member States/ Associated Countries for improved coordination of activities in the areas identified as priorities by the SRG. Provide an analysis of initiatives in EU Member States/Associated countries and support the SRG in identifying areas for R&I cooperation and how to get to deployment.

Cluster 7 Expected Outcomes

• Comprehensive analysis of all demonstrated CCAM Use Cases and agreed strategy and harmonised approaches for implementing future large-scale demonstrations in Europe.
• Common framework for large-scale demonstration pilots in Europe including the identification of common Use Cases and Operational Design Domains (ODDs) as well as the definition of a common taxonomy and tools for scenario assessment.
• Common evaluation methodology which will allow comparability of results, complementing evaluations and meta-analysis over multiple evaluation studies (building on the outcome and recommendations from working group 2 of the CCAM Platform.
• Test data exchange infrastructure and framework including best practices and guidelines, common data formats, a common openly accessible data exchange infrastructure safeguarding ethical usage of test data in a trusted and transparent manner to improve cooperation across projects and stakeholders. A reference platform should constitute an intermediary step towards future common data spaces that CCAM products and services must be part of or interact with.
• Develop protocols and governance models for a unified European shared and publicly available database on incidents and other events related to safety of automated vehicles.
• Harmonised conditions and processes for tests of CCAM systems on public roads, including criteria for a mutual recognition of procedures (building on the outcome and recommendations from working group 4 of the CCAM Platform).
• Common basis for CCAM Knowledge in the EU through an up-to-date and continuously maintained Knowledge Base on CCAM adapted to the needs of the potential members of the European Partnership on CCAM and all relevant stakeholders.
• Efficient and sustainable governance structure for the collection of CCAM Knowledge in Europe and globally, thus facilitating the engagement and contribution of stakeholders from all sectors and in particular exchanges and cooperation with and amongst Member States.
• Network of experts in the different thematic fields of R&I on CCAM with adequate tools and processes to enable the exchange of experiences and practices, stimulate collaboration and cooperation between all CCAM stakeholders and reach consensus on challenges and future R&I needs.

Cluster 7 Timeline (as of Feb 2024)

Cluster 7 coordinates and supports the partnership and all planned R&I actions of this cluster start early on. The actions advance during the CCAM Partnership timeline to support testing, implementation and evaluation in Cluster 1. Expected outcomes of the first actions will allow for the use of common and harmonised methodologies and lessons learned by projects and testing activities after the first phase of the CCAM Partnership. Coordination and Support Actions will follow to continuously maintain and update the knowledge base and methodologies after the first phase, supporting and collaborating with actions from all Clusters and ensuring harmonised and coordinated approaches that are updated with experience and lessons learned. Once the CEM is developed in the first RIA, a follow-up CSA is needed to reflect the feedback of the first project, try it out in practice and align it with national strategies. The idea is to keep the CEM as a living document like the FESTA Handbook which has been regularly updated to reflect the latest lessons learned and good practices. Similarly, the data sharing landscape will evolve over time and an IA should follow upon the initial RIA to ensure that the infrastructure remains adapted to the developments in CCAM and features of data spaces. The data environment is constantly updated and will be different than today in 4-5 years. A RIA would be necessary afterwards to keep up with the ever changing landscape. The following image aims at making this progression process transparent.