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Call key data
Generative AI for smarter CCAM: enhancing perception, decision-making, and validation (CCAM Partnership)
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
Call number
HORIZON-CL5-2026-10-D6-03
deadlines
Opening
04.06.2026
Deadline
08.10.2026 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 13,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,500,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Pilots and demonstrations using Level 3 and 4 vehicle services face major challenges in perception and decision making, highlighting the necessity for low-latency solutions that enhance responsiveness and situational awareness in real-time operating conditions. This is especially relevant for driving in more complex environments like urban areas, where environmental variance is higher and where new scenarios can be regularly encountered. Furthermore, there is the need to limit the latency, bandwidth and energy use for on-board calculations, as well as the need to enhance the security, privacy and reliability (e.g. scene understanding and prediction of near-future scenario development). For rapid decision-making in interactions with VRUs, this is essential for implementing CCAM-enabled solutions and ensuring scalability.
Call objectives
Developments of sector-agnostic technologies show advancements -such as GenAI- that can be beneficial for CCAM. First exploratory steps can be expected from a project funded under HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-02 regarding the potential in the virtual generation of edge cases, which could be used for the development, training, virtual testing and validation of CCAM systems.
Further advancements in GenAI applications specifically for the CCAM domain need to be developed, trained and validated. Thus, proposed actions shall include approaches to exploit further technological advancements for CCAM. Major steps are needed to advance to highly advanced, ultra-safe, trustworthy and energy efficient real-time perception and decision-making systems for automated vehicles, specifically focusing on scalable solutions and the exploitation of GenAI. These advancements should leverage low latency systems or distributed computing resources to facilitate real-time processing, thereby improving system responsiveness and safety. This topic will thus contribute to the AI Continent Action Plan by fostering AI development and adoption in the automotive sector.
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Expected effects and impacts
Proposed actions are expected to address all the following aspects:
- Development of tools and approaches for robust environment perception and decision making (at the edge, on-board, at infrastructure or back-office). These approaches shall aim at accelerating and advancing the reasoning of decision making, increasing the level of efficiency, (cyber)-security and reliability of the applications, with path planning as initial use case. This is to support amongst others the perception of VRUs, the prediction of their behaviour and their intentions, and includes data sharing approaches for CCAM solutions to create a larger time window for actions in near accident scenarios. The use of advanced GenAI, including Large Language Models (LLMs), Vision Language Models (VLMs) or Vision Language Action (VLAs) can significantly enhance these capabilities by leveraging their advanced contextual reasoning and pattern recognition. Furthermore, GenAI can complement existing perception systems by improving sensory input interpretation and providing enriched environmental contexts, which enhance decision-making and adaptability.
- Scenario generation of interactions of CCAM enabled vehicles with other road users, which is essential for advances in validation and testing, extending existing datasets and scenarios as GenAI can, based on existing data, deliver variations of scenarios (e.g. cultural differences of road users and infrastructure variability.)
- Integration of GenAI technologies into existing approaches (development, training and validation) for their further enrichment. Understanding the limits of using GenAI technologies as well as the benefits and develop guidelines for valid approaches for this integration (including consideration of gender biases and fairness to ensure AI systems are transparent and accountable) and providing an outlook on the uptake of the tools and approaches developed can be done for a variety of CCAM components and technologies, as well as for systemic applications such as traffic management and remote control.
- Encouraging collaboration with the European Software-defined Vehicle (SDV) initiative by adopting existing interfaces and building blocks, and proposing new ones developed within the project for potential inclusion in the SDV framework.
Proposed actions should include measures to ensure close coordination with the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA) announced in the European Automotive Action Plan.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility’ (CCAM). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on results to the European Partnership ‘Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility’ (CCAM) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.
Projects funded under this topic are expected to liaise with the ADRA Partnership in order to explore and leverage complementarities between their respective activities and findings.
Projects resulting from this topic are expected to apply the European Common Evaluation Methodology (EU-CEM) for CCAM.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
- Availability and integration of advanced, trustworthy, energy-efficient perception systems, exploiting technological advancements of Generative AI (GenAI) to enhance situational awareness and support safe decision-making;
- Enhanced Vulnerable Road User (VRU) safety, based on elevated, more temper-proof perception and understanding of their behaviour and intention predictions;
- Enhanced robustness of CCAM systems - both on-board and on the infrastructure side - in critical situations due to their training, virtual testing and validation in scenarios generated by GenAI, complementing existing scenario databases for the testing and validation of CCAM systems;
- Enhanced understanding of the relevance and limitations of using GenAI for CCAM;
- Tools and harmonised approaches for the use of GenAI in mobility technology development, training and validation, as well as for systemic applications such as traffic management and remote control, integrating them into existing approaches.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Morocco (المغرب), Norway (Norge), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- countries associated to Horizon Europe; Albania, Arab Republic of Egypt, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom;
- the following low- and middle-income countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- 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.
As affiliated entities do not sign the grant agreement, they do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for consortium composition (if any).
other eligibility criteria
Specific cases
Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions.
Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
International organisations — International European research organisations are 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 or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’) — Where provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC, but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities (otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).
EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.). In the case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.
Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.
Applications must include a plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities, unless provided otherwise in the specific call/topic conditions. The plan is not required for applications at the first stage of two-stage procedures. If the expected exploitation of the results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan must include a strategy for such exploitation. If the plan provides for exploitation of the results primarily in non-associated third countries, the applicants must explain how that exploitation is to be considered in the EU’s interest.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project.
The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, set out in the specific provision of Annex 5.
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
Call documents
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and MobilityHorizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027 Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility(2457kB)
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