Enhanced Traffic Management Procedures of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in Transition Areas

In light of the increasing trend towards vehicle connectivity and automation, there will be areas and situations on the roads where high automation can be granted, and others where it is not allowed or not possible. These are termed ‘Transition Areas’. Without proper traffic management, such areas may lead to vehicles issuing take-over requests (TORs), which in turn can trigger transitions of control (ToCs), or even minimum-risk manoeuvres (MRMs). In this respect, the TransAID Horizon 2020 project develops and demonstrates traffic management procedures and protocols to enable smooth coexistence of automated, connected, andconventional vehicles, with the goal of avoiding ToCs and MRMs, or at least postponing/accommodating them. Our simulations confirmed that proper traffic management, taking the traffic mix into account, can prevent drops in traffic efficiency, which in turn leads to a more performant, safer, and cleaner traffic system, when taking the capabilities of connected and autonomous vehicles into account

TransAID Deliverable 6.2/2 - Assessment of Traffic Management Procedures in Transition Areas

This Deliverable 6.2 of the TransAID project presents and evaluates the simulation results obtained for the scenarios considered during the project's first and second iterations. To this end, driver- and AV-models designed in WP3, traffic management procedures developed in WP4, and V2X communication protocols and models from WP5 were implemented within the iTETRIS simulation framework. Previous main results from Deliverable 4.2, where baseline and traffic management measures without V2X communication were compared, have been confirmed. While not all TransAID scenarios' traffic KPIs were affected, the realistic simulation of V2X communication has shown a discernible impact on some of them, which makes it an indispensable modelling aspect for a realistic performance evaluation of V2X traffic scenarios. Flaws of the first iteration's traffic management algorithms concerning wireless V2X communication and the accompanying possibility of packet loss were identified and have been addressed during the project's second iteration. Finally, lessons learned while working on these simulation results and assessments have additionally been described in the form of recommendations for the real-world prototype to be developed in WP7. We conclude that all results obtained for all scenarios when employing ideal communication confirmed the statistical trends of the results from the original TM scenarios as reported in Deliverable 4.2 where no V2X communication was considered. Furthermore, the performance evaluation of the considered scenarios and parameter combinations has shown the following, which held true in both the first and second iterations: (1) The realistic simulation of V2X communication has an impact on traffic scenarios, which makes them indispensable for a realistic performance evaluation of V2X traffic scenarios. (2) Traffic management algorithms need to account for sporadic packet loss of various message types in some way. (3) Although important, the realistic modelling and simulation of V2X communication also induces a significant computational overhead. Thus, from a general perspective, a trade-off between computation time and degree of realism should be considered

INDICATEURS DE TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHIQUEMENT DÉSAGRÉGÉS POUR LA BELGIQUE

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

TransAID Deliverable 8.1: Stakeholder consultation report (draft)

TransAID develops and demonstrates traffic management procedures and protocols to enable smooth coexistence of automated, connected, and conventional vehicles, especially at Transition Areas. A hierarchical approach is followed where control actions are implemented at different layers including centralised traffic management, infrastructure, and vehicles. This document summarises the results of the stakeholder consultation activities of the TransAID project. In the context of TransAID, the most relevant stakeholders are authorities and policy makers, road operators, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, road infrastructure and traffic service providers, test and certification institutes, academia and knowledge institutes, future product owners and standardisation bodies. The consultation activities aimed to gather feedbacks on the project results, as well as to hear the stakeholders' view on the impact of prospective automated vehicles introduction. Most importantly, the stakeholders were asked about their ambitions and interests related to role and responsibilities in future scenarios of automated vehicle presence A summary of 7 stakeholder consultation events is provided in this deliverable: - TransAID-MAVEN-CoExist Stakeholder workshop, 10 October 2017, Brussels - TransAID-MAVEN-CoExist-INFRAMIX Expert meeting, 23 October 2018, Greenwich - TransAID session and survey, 8 June 2019, IEEE-IV, Paris - TransAID-U.S. CAMP expert meeting, 25 July 2019, Detroit - EU EIP workshop on ODD, 1 October 2019, Turin - TransAID-INFRAMIX stakeholder workshop, 9 October 2019, Graz - International workshop on ODD, 22 October 2019, Singapore For each stakeholder consultation event a description is given of the scope and aim, participants, plenary and break-out sessions, survey results (when applicable) and implications to the TransAID work. What can be observed from the sequence of stakeholder consultation events is that there is steady progression in the collective understanding of the relation between vehicle automation and infrastructure and the possible implications to the stakeholders involved. By now it seems that there is a common interest, also by vehicle manufacturers, to develop a comprehensive standard and/or taxonomy for classifying operational design domains (ODDs) of automated vehicle systems. The main findings from these events underline the uncertainty associated with the state-of-the-art of vehicle automation and its evolution in the coming decades. From an innovation standpoint these are exciting times, but as we have experienced, the uncertainties will not disappear soon or new uncertainties will arise. Moreover, since Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility and Digital and Physical Infrastructure are such new areas of innovation, the stakeholder consultation did not provide all the answers while for many subjects, nobody has the answer yet

Chemical trace analysis and understanding of odor deviations in drinking water in Ghent

During storage and distribution of drinking water, the quality is influenced by both microbiological and physical-chemical processes, which can lead, amongst others, to taste and odor (T&O) deviations. As these deviations give the consumer a negative quality and safety perception, it is important to measure these T&O compounds and get insights into their formation pathways to ensure tasteful tap water. The major challenge here is that these T&O compounds are numerous and at least partially unknown, and can be perceived already at very low concentrations, which makes their identification and quantification difficult. In this respect, a new analytical method was developed based on thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, proceeded by a concentration step using stir bar sorptive extraction. Different parameters such as extraction time, phase ratio, and desorption conditions were experimentally optimized. The final method was used to investigate odor deviations in drinking water collected in multiple student rooms in Ghent. Nineteen (19) locations with reported bad smelling/tasting tap water were sampled and analyzed. Chromatograms were screened for thirty-two (32) possible T&O compounds, and 9 (13) of them were quantified (identified). In addition, a link was found between the described odor character (musty) of some samples and the presence of 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (0.72 - 1.9 ng.L-1) at concentrations well above the odor threshold concentration (8 pg.L-1). This research contributes to the understanding of odor deviations in drinking water in Ghent

TransAID Deliverable 9.5: TransAID Final Conference

The TransAID (Transition Areas for Infrastructure-Assisted Driving) project focuses on development and demonstration of infrastructure-assisted traffic management procedures, protocols, and guidelines for smooth coexistence between automated, connected, and conventional vehicles especially at Transition Areas. Main objectives are: - Evaluation and modelling of current automation prototypes and the behaviour of the drivers. - Assessment of the impact of Transition Areas on traffic safety and efficiency. Generate requirements on enhanced traffic management procedures. - Development of infrastructure-assisted management procedures and protocols to control connected, automated, and conventional vehicles at Transition Areas. - Definition of V2X message sets and communication protocols for the cooperation between connected/automated vehicles and the road infrastructure. - Development of procedures to enhance the detection of conventional vehicles and obstacles on the roads and to inform/influence conventional vehicles. - Integration, testing, and evaluation of the TransAID infrastructure-assisted traffic management protocols and procedures in a simulation environment. Validation and demonstration of them by means of real-world prototypes at test sites. - Provision of a guideline/roadmap to stakeholders regarding the requirements on traffic infrastructure and traffic management in order to cope with Transition Areas considering mixed traffic. This Deliverable describes the organisation and main outcome of the TransAID Final Conference. The event was first planned on 1 July 2020 (one full day), in conjunction with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) FISTS (Forum on Integrated and Sustainable Transportation System) on 30 June to 2 July in Delft, The Netherlands. A Call for Papers was published, and a Special Session on cooperative and automated driving in a transition phase (dedicated for TransAID) was arranged with scientific papers, and invited speakers without papers. Experts in the domain of cooperative and automated driving outside the consortium and public at large were invited. Various dissemination materials were prepared, and promotion activities were conducted. In addition, a demonstration with automated vehicles (from DLR) on a section of public road in the campus of Delft University of Technology was under preparation. Due to COVID-19, the format of the Final Conference was changed. The demonstration had to be cancelled, and the event was held online on 1-2 July 2020 with a different programme by changing moderator and invited speakers. The online event had around 49-63 participants. On Day-1, the Project Officer Georgios Sarros (EC INEA) gave an opening speech. After a brief project introduction given by Julian Schindler (DLR - Project Coordinator), some TransAID partners presented the main technical results of the project, such as modelling and impact assessment of automated vehicles, traffic management procedures for transition areas, connectivity and signalling, and system integration and evaluation approach. Between each presentation a survey was conducted to get the view of the participants on some specific subjects in the domain and to make the online event interactive. During the break, some project videos were shown (which have been published on the project website). The Day-2 online workshop targeted city participants and non-technical issues. The results are detailed in TransAID Deliverable D8.1 Stakeholder consultation report. In general, the final conference was successful, and achieved the main goals. However, an online event could not be as interactive as face-to-face, and there were no effective networking opportunities for participants. The TransAID consortium planned to have demonstration activities in November, but unfortunately both had to be cancelled in the last moment due to the worsened COVID-19 situation. Instead, a video has been prepared

TransAID Deliverable 8.1: Stakeholder consultation report (final version)

The TransAID project defines, develops and evaluates traffic management measures based on C-ITS equipped road infrastructure to eliminate or mitigate the negative effects of Transition of Control (ToC) along Transition Areas in future mixed traffic scenarios where automated, cooperative, and conventional vehicles will coexist. This document summarises the results of the stakeholder consultation activities of the TransAID project. For TransAID, the most relevant stakeholders are transport authorities and policy makers, road operators, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, road infrastructure and traffic service providers, academia and knowledge institutes, future product owners and standardisation bodies. The consultation activities aimed to gather feedbacks on the project choices (selected use cases, scenarios, modelling solutions, implementation approaches) as well as on the achieved results. Such feedbacks were necessary to confirm the validity of the project's work, and to adapt, whenever possible and needed, its implementation while running. Consultation also allowed obtaining the stakeholders' view on the impact of prospective automated vehicles introduction. Finally, the stakeholders were asked about their ambitions and interests related to role and responsibilities in future scenarios of automated vehicle presence. Hearing about these last two aspects was necessary to identify possible activities beyond the TransAID project's duration. A summary of 9 stakeholder consultation events is provided in this deliverable: Main stakeholder workshops - TransAID-MAVEN-CoExist Stakeholder workshop, 10 October 2017, Brussels - TransAID-INFRAMIX stakeholder workshop, 9 October 2019, Graz - TransAID final event, stakeholder workshop, 2 July 2020, online International liaison activities - TransAID-U.S. CAMP expert meeting, 25 July 2019, Detroit - TransAID + ITS Japan / UtmobI expert meeting, 7-8 April 2020, online Additional stakeholder consultation opportunities - TransAID session and survey, 8 June 2019, IEEE-IV, Paris - EU EIP workshop on ODD, 1 October 2019, Turin - International workshop on ODD, 22 October 2019, Singapore - Joint dissemination of H2020, CEDR projects and other initiatives related to CAVs and Infrastructure, 3 March 2020, Brussels For each stakeholder consultation event, this deliverable gives a detailed description of the scope and aim, participants, plenary and break-out sessions, survey results (when applicable) and implications to the TransAID work. The main common findings that have been identified throughout the various events are listed in the following along with the major implications for TransAID and/or any similar follow-up activity: - Managing mixed traffic in transition areas is still an almost unexplored field. Despite transition areas are recognized as a prospective problem, very little is known or has been studied about it. This simple acknowledgment confirms the need and timeliness of TransAID. - Due to the uncertainty about many technical aspects related to the introduction of AD, it was difficult for transport authorities and traffic managers to provide insights on aspects to be considered for the selection of TransAID use cases and scenarios. Nevertheless, the majority of use cases and scenarios finally selected by TransAID were recognized to be reasonably generic, yet addressing recurrent problems, and hence deemed useful for real-world application. - Connectivity was recognized as a key enabler to extend the Operational Design Domain (ODD) of AD. In this sense, most experts foresee application of hybrid solutions with both ITS-G5 and cellular connectivity capabilities. For this purpose, TransAID's assumption of digitalizing the road infrastructure with additional sensing, computing and communication capabilities was acknowledged to be correct, even if maybe not realisable in the short term. - TransAID traffic management allowing the road infrastructure to provide additional information to CAVs was also recognized as a valid approach in almost all the consultation and twinning events. In this context, European and Japanese stakeholders firmly defend the use of infrastructure support for automated driving and even highlight the need to adapt traffic rules for automation or change the legal frameworks (e.g. authorize the road infrastructure to provide advices that break the traffic rules if needed). On the contrary, US stakeholders are very hesitant and fear possible financial consequences resulting from liability issues. - Remote operation is an emerging possible solution at least for management of level 4 automated public transport (e.g. autonomous shuttles or pods) in edge cases and transition areas, when the vehicles operate without a steward in the vehicle. This use case is not considered by TransAID, and hence it would be interesting to investigate its effectiveness with similar evaluations means as those utilized by TransAID. - Sensitivity of information around OEMs' current and future implementations has prevented obtaining commonly recognized functional descriptions reusable for modelling and simulations of automated vehicles behaviours. Despite that, the modelling solutions developed in the project under the consultancy of Hyundai were considered adequate and meaningful by the inquired stakeholders. - For the TransAID measures to work effectively, vehicle AD capabilities shall be known by the infrastructure, and infrastructure (support) capabilities shall be known by OEMs. Consequently, sharing this data in both directions is needed. From the consultation, this approach was welcomed by infrastructure stakeholders while OEMs were more hesitant mostly due to competition and liability implications arising from sensitivity of the shared information. To preserve sensitivity of information, the TransAID "intermediary service" concept (see TransAID D4.3) was generally supported, but its practical application in real-world deployment scenarios would need to be proven. - In addition, it is considered needed to derive clear and unambiguous definitions of AD ODDs for adoption at both OEMs and infrastructure side. Transport Authorities could use this information for allowing vehicles of different automation capabilities to use specific roads or to provide additional physical of digital support where needed. Nevertheless, defining ODDs is a complex task for the involved stakeholders, and despite initial activities have been started and proposals have been made, there is still a long way to go. - From an even more generic perspective, transport authorities (especially cities) are mostly interested in fulfilling their greener, safer and comfort goals and see AD as an opportunity in that direction. For the moment being, they are not favouring a particular automated transport mode in a proactive way. Rather, they seem to be monitoring the situation to apply reactive policies when AD introduction will be more mature and clearer. In fact, adoption of alternative policies like strategically "managing" private CAVs vs. fostering use of MaaS with public automated shuttles will depend on penetration. For TransAID, it is irrelevant which way authorities will choose, as the proposed TransAID solutions can apply irrespectively of the selected automated transport mode. As it can be seen, some of the findings from the consultation events reflect the uncertainty associated to vehicle automation and its evolution in the coming decades. Nevertheless, from the sequence of stakeholder consultation events a steady progression in the collective understanding of the relation between vehicle automation and infrastructure could be observed. The possible implications to the stakeholders involved became also clearer at subsequent events

TransAID Deliverable 2.2: Scenario definitions and modelling requirements

In D2.1 five services have been described encompassing multiple use cases and scenarios. In this Deliverable 2.2, 5 scenarios are selected, one for each service, and worked out in more detail. The detailed timelines of the scenarios are provided describing what exactly is the sequence of events in the scenario and what the effect of the measures, which being developed in WP4, should be. Also, the simulation networks for each of the scenarios have been created and their specification is documented in this deliverable. Furthermore, the requirements for the simulations have been specified, ranging from several vehicle (type) models to the traffic composition, demand and vehicle mixes. For the second iteration of the project, 5 new or extended scenarios have been selected based on findings from the first iteration. Those findings are also used to update the overall simulation requirements and parameters (i.e. definition of actors, traffic composition, demand and vehicle/driver models). Finally, based on insights from the first iteration, several questions have been formulated which will be used during several surveys (e.g. digital polls or paper surveys during events; interviews with experts). The goal is to gain insights into legal implications, (expected) driver and/or automated vehicle behaviour and infrastructure specific aspects with respect to automated vehicles