- A Guide2Autonomy for all stakeholders

Aim of the European research project is to provide guidelines and recommendations for a user-friendly evolution of future connected and autonomous vehicles.

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are at the heart of today’s new mobility and will be even more present in the near future. Autopilot, lane assistance, our new cars have already several features of automation integrated and therewith function already at a level 3 of automation. More is to come. Some buses are already fully autonomous (Level 5).

However, are governments, public authorities, manufacturers, and users aware and knowledgeable about CAVs is questioning Patrick van Egmond, Managing Director of LuxMobility (www.luxmobility.eu), a recognised international mobility and transport consultancy based in Luxembourg? What will be the effects of a full autonomous fleet on how we travel and organise our societies? For sure it will be a challenging task for all stakeholders involved to adapt to the new forms of CAV to the actual needs for personal mobility and best interest for society. 

That´s why PAsCAL, a 3 year research and CAV development project financed by the European Commission, coordinated by LIST and to which ACI is one of the key partners, put as its main  goal to create a “Guide2Autonomy” (G2A), a toolbox filled with guidelines and recommendations that will help to accelerate a user-friendly evolution of connected automated vehicles and transport systems. The research findings of the PAsCAL project will be used to create the G2A containing 100 technical, political, legal and economic recommendations to provide guidance and facilitate the strategic decisions of any CAV actor on mobility at an international, national and local level. 

The G2A and its recommendations will:

• allow an improved understanding of public awareness about CAVs and the requirements and needs of different types of users in relation to CAV. 
• help decision makers to manage the transition to the new form of CAV based personal mobility. 
• provide know-how to integrate more efficiently the “user” and wider citizen interests when moving towards higher levels of connectivity and automation in all modes and mobility services.
• allow education of future drivers, passengers and everyone who will have to share the same road. 

The G2A will contain a strongly interdisciplinary mix of tools, from both human and technological sciences, to capture public’s acceptance and attitude, analyse and assess their concerns, model and simulate realistic scenarios for hands-on practices, based on validated findings in a number of real-world trials.

FLEXIBILITY AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK

As it is recognised that innovation in CAV is rapid, the set of tools, as well as the G2A toolbox will be flexible to allow for the initially integrated tools to be adapted, as well as new tools (e.g. guides, recommendations, methodologies, new design techniques) in the field CAV to be added. 

To categorise the different tools, a framework with several dimensions is created bringing together technology developments, stakeholder interest and societal impacts. Industry, public authorities, user representative organization, no matter the modes (cars, buses, planes or drones) and specific types of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) developments will be able to use these tools in their daily work related to CAV.. 

It will allow them among other:

• To develop and improve public strategies, policies, and regulatory framework: key public policies, developments and regulatory areas related to the implementation of autonomous vehicles and connected systems 
• Understand and steer user acceptance into the design of new CAV services and Infrastructure: Affective and practically oriented transfer of acceptance research into advanced stages (e.g. concept and design) of the development of new CAV technologies and infrastructure.
• Integrated user-specific factors in new CAV ICT software developments: ICT software-related factors which measure levels of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI), communication security, data privacy, trust and data sharing
• Create new management and business models in CAV that are in line with the interest of the local economy and general public: Improved management of CAV developments models, including the wider public management models for the reinforcement of the local economy and the identification of future funding solutions.

The G2A will combine CAV with user experiences or public interest for example in the form of:

• Legislation/ regulation proposals (e.g. Law or directive);
• Societal/ cultural models (e.g. new form of citizen engagement or multi-stakeholder cooperation);
• Economic/ financial setups (e.g. CAV bringing public value);
• Organizational models (e.g. new business models oriented on the users and public interest);
• Technical planning tools (e.g. safety & security planning, ICT strategy);
• New methodologies (e.g. new planning approaches, ways of appreciating public and user’s needs, CAV experiences);
• Usage of new materials (e.g. bringing improved user experience).

LuxMobility will organise an expert consultation including high level experts from ACI will validate the PAsCAL policy recommendations and guides. Joining the forces of our industry, policy makers, interest groups, citizen associations will allow for high impacts and user acceptance of new CAV technology and future innovations.