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The development and large-scale deployment of connected and automated mobility is expected to make the EU's mobility system safer, cleaner more efficient and more user-friendly. While significantly improving the knowledge base for automated driving, it is also expected to strengthen European industry's position in intelligent vehicles and road safety.
However, it is important to ensure that the proposed innovations take into consideration drivers' needs, the legal requirements and the cost of adapting to new ways of doing things.
One of the main aims of the EU-funded ADAPTIVE project was to advance automated driving functions to the next level, whilst taking full account of drivers' needs in a constantly changing driving environment.
'The underlying rationale of our approach was the changing role of the driver, from an active controller to a more passive supervisor,' says ADAPTIVE project coordinator Aria Etemad from Volkswagen Group Research.
With this in mind, the ADAPTIVE team developed and tested automated driving (AD) functions in three main areas: low-speed parking scenarios; mid-speed urban scenarios, dealing with traffic complexity; and high-speed motorway scenarios, addressing a full range of continuously operating functions, with speeds of up to 130 km/h.
The development of the demonstrator vehicles with several implemented functions produced advances in many areas. The design guidelines produced by the project are now being exploited by automotive manufacturers to develop next-generation vehicles which are expected to be available within three to six years after project end.
The results of the ADAPTIVE project are also feeding into the ambitious, large-scale EU L3Pilot project which will test the viability of AD as a safe and efficient means of transportation. L3Pilot will involve 1 000 drivers and 100 cars across 10 European countries, including cross-border routes, and will pave the way for large-scale field tests of series cars on public roads.