The Project is just beginning but expectations are very high. The Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) Knowledge Base update, a stakeholder workshop, a taxonomy for a Common Evaluation Methodology and the EUCAD Conference are just a few of the several initiatives on which partners will work together in 2023.

FAME (Framework for coordination of Automated Mobility in Europe) has an important role within the CCAM (Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility) field because it supports the commitment of the European Commission and the European Partnership on CCAM to provide a long-term coordination framework for R&I and large-scale testing and evaluation activities in Europe. The project aims to facilitate CCAM stakeholders’ engagement, cooperation, consensus building and knowledge sharing for the organisation and evaluation of CCAM testing and large-scale demonstrations. The project builds on the legacy of EU-funded Coordination and Support Actions ARCADE, CARTRE, VRA and FOT-Net, which have developed harmonised methodologies and federated large networks of stakeholders to drive consensus building on challenges, needs and requirements for CCAM and Field Operational Tests.

FAME is now taking the ambition forward to establish a stakeholder-validated European framework for testing on public roads, including a Common Evaluation Methodology (CEM), a CCAM test data space (TDS) and a Taxonomy tool. This framework, which include an ethics component, will enable comparability, complementarity and upscaling of R&I results for future research, development and testing of CCAM-enabled solutions and services, and facilitate the evaluation of their wider impacts.

For FAME, partners’ engagement is key to achieving the project’s objectives. Through a bottom-up approach, partners will contribute to the definition of best practices, recommendations and consolidation of the CCAM community. They will work on an improved and updated EU-wide Knowledge Base, an online “one-stop shop” gathering knowledge about CCAM, including, amongst other, knowledge maps providing knowledge targeted to audience groups, new functionalities such as automatic publication of news and knowledge items linking from e.g., CCAM R&I projects or the CCAM Partnership.

Some stakeholder interaction activities will be launched on the CAD.eu social media to exchange CCAM-related knowledge and expertise. A series of interviews with CCAM stakeholders will enrich the existing CAD VIP blog. (Interested candidates are invited to contact  info@connectedautomateddriving.eu for further information.)

FAME is also co-organising the 2023 EUCAD conference, which will take place on 3-4 May, with the European Commission. After the online format of the past edition, this event will be live in Brussels and will bring together political leaders from the European Commission and Member States. High-level European and international representatives of industry, academia and road authorities will participate. In line with the European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, participants will be involved in discussions concerning the deployment readiness of smart, inclusive and sustainable mobility solutions.

FAME will assemble a detailed inventory of methodologies for evaluation in past and on-going CCAM projects. It will be applied to study the approaches adopted, the best (or worst) practices and lessons learnt through interviews with experts that deal with those methodologies first hand. The methods included in the inventory will be reported in the Knowledge Base. Since evaluation plans of CCAM pilots and demonstrations are typically described in wildly varying ways – with many different interpretations of concepts like use cases and scenarios – FAME will also develop a taxonomy to allow easy understanding of CEM and outcomes of evaluations using it.

Moreover, FAME is analysing the requirements for testing activities on public roads (legal, administrative, technical and ethical aspects) in the 27 EU Member States and associated countries (UK, Norway, Switzerland). FAME will also further investigate recommended procedures for federated data sharing, such as common data formats or “levels” of metadata (where and how metadata can be shared and published), to define the requirements for a data exchange software platform.

Finally, partners will engage in other activities in alignment with the CCAM Partnership and other CCAM projects (such as a first joint stakeholder workshop) to further advance the deployment of automated mobility in Europe.

Engage with us on the FAME twitter account and LinkedIn page to stay up-to-date on the latest progress of FAME partners.