Call: Analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts and assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects for needs based CCAM solutions (CCAM Partnership)

Logo

Programme

Horizon Europe - Cluster 5 - Destination 6: Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods

Acronym

HE-CL5-D6

Type of Fund

Direct Management

Description of programme
"Horizon Europe - Cluster 5 - Destination 6: Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods"

This Destination includes activities addressing safe and smart mobility services for passengers and goods.

Europe needs to manage the transformation of supply-based transport into safe, resilient and sustainable transport and demand-driven, smart mobility services for passengers and goods. Suitable research and innovation will enable significant safety, environmental, economic and social benefits by reducing accidents caused by human error, decreasing traffic congestion, reducing energy consumption and emissions of vehicles, increasing efficiency and productivity of freight transport operations. To succeed in this transformation, Europe’s ageing (and not always sustainable) transport infrastructure needs to be prepared for enabling cleaner and smarter operations.

Europe needs also to maintain a high-level of transport safety for its citizens. Resilience should be built in the transport systems to prevent, mitigate and recover from disruptions. Research and innovation will underpin the three safety pillars: technologies, regulations and human factors.

This Destination contributes to the following Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations (KSO):

C: Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems;
A: Promoting an open strategic autonomy[[‘Open strategic autonomy’ refers to the term ‘strategic autonomy while preserving an open economy’, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council 1 – 2 October 2020.]] by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.

It covers the following impact areas:

Industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies that work for people;
Smart and sustainable transport.

The expected impact, in line with the Strategic Plan, is to contribute to “Safe, seamless, smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable mobility systems for people and goods thanks to user-centric technologies and services including digital technologies and advanced satellite navigation services”, notably through:

Accelerating the implementation of innovative connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies and systems for passengers and goods (more detailed information below).
Further developing a multimodal transport system through sustainable and smart long-haul and urban freight transport and logistics, upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructures for smarter vehicles and operations, for optimised system-wide network efficiency (more detailed information below).
Drastically decreasing the number of transport accidents, incidents and fatalities towards the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 even in road transportation (Vision Zero) and increase the resilience of transport systems (more detailed information below).

Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM)

The aim of relevant topics under this Destination is to accelerate the implementation of innovative connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies and systems. Actions will help to develop new mobility concepts for passengers and goods – enabled by CCAM - leading to healthier, safer, more accessible, sustainable, cost-effective and demand-responsive transport everywhere. CCAM solutions will shift design and development from a driver-centred to mobility-user oriented approach, providing viable alternatives for private vehicle ownership while increasing inclusiveness of mobility. CCAM must be integrated in the whole transport system to fully exploit the potential benefits of CCAM and minimise potential adverse effects, such as increasingly congested traffic or new risks in mixed traffic environments.

The focus is on road transport, but relevant interfaces with other modes (for instance transfers and integration with public transport or rail freight transport) will be considered.

All technologies, solutions, testing and demonstration activities resulting from these actions should be documented fully and transparently, to ensure replicability, increase adoption, up-scaling, assist future planning decisions and EU and national policy-making and increase citizen buy-in.

Actions are in line with the recommendations of the new European Partnership on CCAM. The Vision of the Partnership is: “European leadership in safe and sustainable road transport through automation”. It aims to harmonise European R&I efforts to accelerate the implementation of innovative CCAM technologies and services. It aims to exploit the full systemic benefits of new mobility solutions enabled by CCAM. The European Partnership on CCAM plans to closely cooperate with other European Partnerships, in particular with “Towards zero emission road transport” (2ZERO), “Driving Urban Transitions” (DUT), “Key digital technologies” (KDT), “Smart networks and services” (SNS) and “AI, data and robotics” (AI). The European Partnership will establish cooperation mechanisms to ensure close interaction when defining R&I actions to maximise synergies and avoid overlaps.

R&I actions taking place at a socio-technical level aiming to better understand the science-society relationship (particularly when social practices, market uptake or ownership are concerned) should favour solutions that are grounded in social innovation in order to achieve its desired outcomes, i.e. by matching innovative ideas with social needs and by forming new collaborations between public and private actors, including civil society and researchers from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH).

To test CCAM solutions, applicants can seek possibilities of involving the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in order to valorise the relevant expertise and physical facilities of JRC in demonstrating and testing energy and mobility applications of the JRC Living Lab for Future Urban Ecosystems https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/living-labs-at-the-jrc

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting connected, cooperative and automated mobility under this Destination are:

Validated safety and security, improved robustness and resilience of CCAM technologies and systems.
Secure and trustworthy interaction between road users, CCAM and “conventional” vehicles, infrastructure and services to achieve safer and more efficient transport flows (people and goods) and better use of infrastructure capacity.
Seamless, affordable and user oriented CCAM based mobility and goods deliveries for all and high public acceptance of these services with clear understanding of its benefits and limits as well as rebound effects; based on the changing mobility needs and desires of a society in transition (digitally and environmentally).
Better coordination of R&I and large-scale testing activities in Europe and expanded knowledge base on CCAM solutions.
European leadership in the development and deployment of connected and automated mobility and logistics services and systems, ensuring long-term growth and jobs.

Multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and goods

Multimodal and sustainable transport systems are the backbone for efficient mobility of passengers and freight. In particular, the areas of infrastructure, logistics and network/traffic management play a major role in making mobility and transport climate neutral, also through the digitalisation of the sectors. At the same time, being vulnerable to climate change and other disruptions, resilience in these three areas need to be increased. New and advanced infrastructures across all transport modes are required to enable the introduction of new vehicles, operations and mobility services. Furthermore, efficient and smart multimodal logistics are key for seamless and sustainable long-haul, regional and urban freight transport movements. Finally, dynamic multimodal network and traffic management systems are the “glue” of the entire transport network, for optimised door-to-door mobility of both passengers and freight.

To test solutions related to multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and good, applicants may seek possibilities of involving the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in order to valorise the relevant expertise and physical facilities of JRC in demonstrating and testing energy and mobility applications of the JRC Living Lab for Future Urban Ecosystems[[https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/living-labs-at-the-jrc]].

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting Multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and goods under this Destination are:

Upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructure for clean, accessible, affordable, connected and automated multimodal mobility.
Sustainable and smart long-haul, regional and urban freight transport and logistics, through increased efficiency, improved interconnectivity and smart enforcement.
Reduced external costs (e.g. congestion, traffic jams, emissions, air and noise pollution, road collisions) of urban, peri-urban (regional) and long distance freight transport as well as optimised system-wide network efficiency and resilience.
Enhanced local and/or regional capacity for governance and innovation in urban mobility and logistics.

Safety and resilience - per mode and across all transport modes

Safety and resilience are of primary concern for any transport system. The EU set ambitious targets in its 2011 Transport White Paper, the third Mobility Package and, more recently, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy[[COM(2020) 789 final.]]. COVID-19 has been a stark reminder of the importance of resilience to external disruptions, particularly for transport. Research and innovation will underpin the three pillars affecting safety and resilience: technologies; regulations (alongside acceptable level of risks); and human factors (individual and organisational aspects, including interaction with automation). The approach is risk-based and systemic, including transport means/vehicles, infrastructure, the physical environment (e.g. weather) and the various actors (e.g. manufacturers, regulators, operators, users) as well as all their interfaces, including certification and standardisation bodies.

Synergies should be exploited across research at national, EU and international level together with national authorities, EU agencies and international organisations to improve rulemaking, safety promotion and oversight.

The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting transport safety and resilience under this Destination are:

Safety in Urban Areas/ Road Transport Safety

50% reduction in serious injuries and fatalities in road crashes by 2030.
Improved reliability and performance of systems that aim to anticipate and minimize safety risks, avoiding risks and collisions, and reducing the consequences of unavoidable crashes.
Drastic reduction of road fatalities and serious crash injuries in low and medium income countries in Africa.
Better design principles of future road transport systems enabling also better traffic flow in big cities.

Waterborne Safety and Resilience

Ensure healthy passenger shipping by preventing and mitigating the spread of contagious diseases and infections.

Aviation Safety and Resilience

Decrease number of accidents and incidents due to organisational/human/automation factors and external hazards in all phases of flight, also beyond CAT category (80% goal in FlightPath2050), while enabling all weather operations.
Saving lives following a crash (post-crash survivability).
Anticipate emergence of new threats that could generate potential accidents and incidents (short, medium, and long term).
Ensure safety through aviation transformation (from green/digital technologies uptake up to independent certification).
Maintain safety and resilience despite the scale, pace and diversity of new entrants.

Link

Link to Programme

Call

Analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts and assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects for needs based CCAM solutions (CCAM Partnership)

Description of call
"Analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts and assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects for needs based CCAM solutions (CCAM Partnership)"

Expected Outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

For Area A:

A well-founded understanding of effects and impacts (positive as well as negative), benefits and costs of CCAM systems and services (short, medium, long-term).
Methods and indicators to assess the impacts of CCAM solutions on mobility and wider socio-economic and environmental aspects (public health, land use/infrastructure need, accessibility, affordability, economy, employment, working conditions and required skills, energy use, air quality, carbon emissions, etc.).
Definition of KPIs incorporating societal targets with individual mobility needs.
Methods and tools for CCAM developers and manufacturers, authorities, municipalities and citizens enabling design and decision-making based on an integrated understanding of all its possible short, medium and long-term impacts, thereby avoiding negative rebound effects, such as discrimination or bias towards certain user groups, like women, the elderly, and disabled persons, but also ethnic minorities, persons from low income backgrounds, persons with varying digital literacy and skills, and those living in rural or peri-urban areas.
Input for the design and evaluation of CCAM partnership activities, in particular for the large-scale demonstrators (ex-ante and ex-post) and for public engagement activities aimed at realistically informing users of CCAM capabilities and expectations.

For Area B:

Methods and measures that capture the mobility needs of European citizens in the context of economic, social and environmental objectives at national, regional and local levels and that provide guidance on how to engage with citizens on CCAM solutions aiming to address these needs.
Robust and documented knowledge (e.g. knowledge maps) of users’ and implementers’ expectations, concerns and desires with regards to CCAM solutions for the mobility of persons and goods, with special attention to the needs of vulnerable users and under-researched groups, including women, disabled persons, and the elderly, but also ethnic minorities, persons from low income backgrounds, persons with varying digital literacy and skills, and those living in rural or peri-urban areas. This knowledge is to be integrated into the design and development of CCAM solutions to support these specific needs.
Tools that allow CCAM developers, deployers and public authorities to implement user-centred CCAM solutions that effectively contribute to societal targets, including equity, and the uptake of CCAM systems at regional level.
Recommendations for large-scale demonstration projects to include user and societal aspects taking into account location-specific characteristics of the implementation area, such as local policy targets, population density, and cultural matters.

All the above expected outcomes should support the uptake of CCAM solutions (including acceptance and adoption).

Scope:

With the increasing digitalisation of road transport, CCAM solutions have the potential to deliver an improved quality of life, by increasing safety and providing more sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions. However, for these solutions to be successful, a comprehensive understanding of all effects of CCAM on individuals, society and the environment over time is needed. Moreover, the successful deployment of CCAM solutions will depend on their availability and accessibility to future users, including the deploying organisations, as well as on the willingness of the general public to use and accept future CCAM solutions.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions, as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.To make sure that the proposed actions reflect the realities of a society with changing mobility, digital and environmental needs, participatory processes with a wide and diverse range of future user groups, civil society organisations, citizens, experts, deployers and decision makers at various levels are strongly encouraged. The resulting methods and tools should therefore be designed and developed in a co-creation manner between authorities, municipalities and citizens, as well as CCAM developers and manufacturers. To this end, it is recommended to develop solutions that are grounded in social innovation.

Actions must address the activities either under area A) Analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts of CCAM systems and services OR under area B) Assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects for needs-based CCAM solution development and deployment.

Area A: Analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts of CCAM systems and services

The analysis of CCAM benefits and risks are, or have been, addressed in R&I projects, which has resulted in the creation of several impact assessment frameworks and decision support tools. However, these are not sufficiently comprehensive and lack a higher-level systems approach to fully understand and assess the short, medium and long-term risks of CCAM solutions on societal and environmental aspects. The maturity level of existing assessment tools varies: the analysis of accident risk of automated vehicles has been considered extensively, while the understanding of wider health and equity effects on users’ mobility experience is much less developed.

Actions will enhance existing methods/frameworks or develop new, broader, more comprehensive and inclusive methods for the assessment of how CCAM solutions, systems and services impact mobility and wider socio-economic and environmental aspects to ensure that the design of CCAM solutions are tailored to evolving mobility and environmental needs.

The proposed actions should include all the following aspects:

Develop comprehensive impact assessment methods that cover the full range of effects of CCAM systems and services by taking a systems perspective that includes e.g. effects on jobs, health, inclusiveness, affordability and access to essential services, environment.
For these methods, existing KPIs should be reviewed and updated if needed. In addition, new KPIs need to be developed, to capture aspects like equity in terms of access to mobility, or sustainability. User expectations towards e.g. comfort, perceived safety, necessary digital skills and access to information should also be addressed with qualitative assessments (e.g. observations, surveys, interviews).
Ensure practical usefulness of these methods by addressing regional specifics within Europe, as well as the evolving needs and dynamics of a society in transition towards more sustainable and shared mobility for both people and goods.
Cover under-researched fields in terms of impact assessment of CCAM solutions, such as the inclusion of underserviced or socio-economically challenged geographical areas and specific population groups.

Area B: Assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects for needs-based CCAM solution development and deployment

The assessment of societal, citizen and user aspects of CCAM has been addressed in a number of Horizon 2020 projects, typically focusing on the acceptance of automated vehicles by drivers and the public, driver needs and trust, and ways to increase driver performance. Yet the assessment of CCAM solutions in terms of inclusiveness, equity and accessibility is lacking in most R&I projects, and rarely goes beyond considering gender, disability and age. While these categories need sustained attention, persons with different income levels, different digital experiences, literacy and access, as well as people living in rural or peri-urban areas, are examples of user groups that also need to be included in these assessment criteria so that extensive analyses of user needs and expectations can be carried out.

The aim is to proactively consider all user groups and societal objectives in the design and development phases of CCAM solutions.

The proposed actions should include all the following aspects:

Develop and apply a systems approach for better understanding and considering user and societal needs, desires and expectations related to CCAM solutions, systems and services. A broad understanding of “users” is to be applied, including persons, public institutions such as hospitals and schools, organisations and businesses.
Analyse equity aspects related to the deployment of CCAM solutions in terms of e.g. income level and solutions for deprived or underserviced areas, digital access and access to essential services, covering personal mobility as well as provision of supplies and necessities to end users.
Map the broad range of concerns and expectations concerning CCAM involving a variety of stakeholders (including citizens, communities, transport service providers, professional drivers, road transport operators, road authorities, vehicle and other industry) and disciplines, including SSH (social sciences and humanities) to invest in social innovation that can complement the deployment of needs-based CCAM solutions.
Define methodologies and mechanisms to communicate with future users/ citizens about CCAM aspects related to trust, ethics and acceptance.
Develop tools that foster capacity building on CCAM among planners and decision makers to enhance their ability to influence solution design and development.
Provide guidance on how to align overarching long-term policy goals and societal ambitions with user needs.

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is advised for all projects of topic (addressing either area A or area B), in particular with projects or partners from the US, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Australia.

Cross-cutting Priorities:

Link

Link to Call

Thematic Focus

Research & Innovation, Technology Transfer & Exchange, Clustering, Development Cooperation, Economic Cooperation, Capacity Building, Cooperation Networks, Institutional Cooperation, Digitisation, ICT, Telecommunication, Mobility & Transport/Traffic , Health, Social Affairs, Sports

Funding area

EU Member States
Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs)

Origin of Applicant

EU Member States
Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs)

Eligible applicants

Education and Training Centres, Federal State / Region / City / Municipality / Local Authority, Research Institution, Lobby Group / Professional Association / Trade Union, International Organization, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, SMEs (between 10 and 249 employees), Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees), NGO / NPO, Public Services, National Government, Other, Start Up Company, University, Enterprise (more than 250 employees or not defined), Association

Applicant details

eligible non-EU countries:

countries associated to Horizon Europe

At the date of the publication of the work programme, there are no countries associated to Horizon Europe. Considering the Union’s interest to retain, in principle, relations with the countries associated to Horizon 2020, most third countries associated to Horizon 2020 are expected to be associated to Horizon Europe with an intention to secure uninterrupted continuity between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. In addition, other third countries can also become associated to Horizon Europe during the programme. For the purposes of the eligibility conditions, applicants established in Horizon 2020 Associated Countries or in other third countries negotiating association to Horizon Europe will be treated as entities established in an Associated Country, if the Horizon Europe association agreement with the third country concerned applies at the time of signature of the grant agreement.

low-and middle-income countries

Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Specific cases:

Affiliated entities - Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above.
EU bodies - Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
International organisations - International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority, other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’actions and when provided for in the specific call conditions.

Project Partner

Yes

Project Partner Details

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions , legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes:

at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State;and
at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Call opens

24.06.2021

Call closes

19.10.2021

Further info

Proposal page limits and layout:

The application form will have two parts:

Part A to be filled in directly online (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system

Page limit - Part B: 45 pages

Type of Funding

Grants

Financial details

Expected EU contribution per project	The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 3.00 and 4.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.
Indicative budget	The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 8.00 million.
Typ of Action	Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
Funding rate	100%

Submission

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOTpossible.