Overview
The CyberCars-2 project was driven by the vision that in the near future Cybernetic Transport Systems will be seen on city roads and dedicated road infrastructures. Since Cybernetic Transport Systems are primarily based on driverless vehicles, i.e. CyberCars 2, this project was aimed at developing a set of tools and systems to enable driverless vehicles to perform the necessary driving manoeuvres in a co-operative manner i.e. in cooperation with each other and also in co-operation with vehicles driven by humans.
Hence, the CyberCars-2 project was aimed at designing and developing acCo-operative transport system architecture and demonstrating that Cybercars are capable of achieving performances at least of the same order of magnitude as regular cars while offering reliable transportation and being respectful of the environment.
The CyberCars-2's predecessors, the FP5 project CyberCars and FP5 project CyberMove, dealt with the development and evaluation of the Cybernetic Transport System (CTS) 1. This system comprises of a number of individual driverless vehicles with the capability to travel on existing road infrastructure, without the need for dedicated guide ways. However, prototype vehicles developed in these projects were designed for low-demand road traffic environments and were not requested to communicate nor co-operate with each other. The challenge for the CyberCars-2 project was to empower these vehicles with the ability to co-operate through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication links in order for the CTS to enable higher traffic flows and improved network efficiency.
The CyberCars-2 project was particularly focused on the design, development, prototyping and on-road testing of:
- Co-operative Cybernetic Transport System (CCTS) Architecture capable of accommodating requirements for interoperable CCTS;
- Dual-Mode vehicle;
- Co-operative driving algorithms to enable CyberCars to perform driving manoeuvres in co-operation with each other, the road infrastructure, and dual-mode vehicles;
- A concept of a Co-operative Road Traffic Management & Control (CRTM&C) centre capable of managing and supervising operations of Co-operative Cybernetic Transport Systems;
- Procedures for on-road testing of operational performance of Co-operative Cybernetic Transport Systems.
To successfully achieve the project overall goals, the following WPs were performed:
- WP0: Project Management
- WP1: Co-operative Cybernetic Transport System Architecture
- WP2: Decision & Control Algorithms for Co-operative Driving Manoeuvres
- WP3: Supervisory Co-operative Control, and Co-operative Road Traffic Management
- WP4: On-road Operational Performance testing of Co-operative CTS Vehicles – Proof of Concept
- WP5: Performance Evaluation in Large Scale Systems
- WP6: Development of Dual-Mode Vehicles
- WP7: Exploitation and Dissemination of the Cybercars-2 Technology across Europe and Internationally
Funding
Results
Numerous salient points were achieved by the CyberCars-2 project including:
- the design, development, prototyping and on-road testing of the Co-operative Cybernetic Transport System Communication Architecture;
- the design, development, prototyping and on-road testing of the Co-operative CyberCars’ driving algorithms;
- the design, development, prototyping and on-road testing of Dual-Mode vehicles;
- the design, development, prototyping and on-road testing of solutions for the Co-operative Road Traffic Management and Control Centre (including communication technologies);
- recommendation of procedures for on-road testing of the operational performance of Co-operative Cybernetic Transport Systems; and
- wide dissemination of the developed technology across Europe and internationally.
This project has paved the way for Co-operative Cybernetic Transport Systems to share the future road traffic environment with all traffic participants in order to improve road safety, comfort and driving pleasure, traffic efficiency and fuel economy.
Technical Implications
Indeed, the CyberCars-2 project, being carried as an extension of its predecessor has, through numerous on-road testing and public demonstrations of the developed co-operative technologies, offered proof that a Co-operative Cybernetic Transport System concept is a viable way forward in meeting sustainable mobility.
What can be seen at this stage is not just a great synergy between the co-operative driverless vehicle concept and an advanced driver assistance concept, but also a significant merger.
We therefore propose to the European Commission to call for new research project submissions to enable that merger to happen, to its full scope and with its full intensity.
This may/will lead to deployment of a new concept of urban mobility, enabling driverless and ADAS-equipped-conventional vehicles to co-operate with each other and thus, share road traffic environments.
It is going to be yet another big challenge to society at large, as it is to deal not only with further technology enhancement, but also with a change of our driving habits and culture.
The submissions should be aimed at:
- enhancing reliability and robustness of the currently developed enabling technologies for both conventional and driverless vehicles;
- enhancing reliability and robustness of the currently developed road infrastructure technologies;
- developing solutions to enable efficient and reliable integration of the existing technologies at a single vehicle level, road infrastructure level and the transport system at large;
- developing new technologies towards optimising vehicle performance (both driverless vehicles and ADAS-equipped conventional vehicles) and also operational performance of the entire transport system; and
- preparing the society-at-large to accept and accommodate deployment of a new concept of urban mobility including deployment of the new technology certification procedures as well as a change in the current human mobility behaviour and driving culture.