Our Approach

Scope There are four backbone elements that constitute the concept of AUGMENTED CCAM, all of them interrelating and feeding each other in an iterative manner and in all possible combinations to lead to the improved, novel and viable CCAM-ready PDI. The first element is the harmonised and extended PDI classification & support scheme & requirements. This leads to the second element, which is the prioritised PDI adaptations and novel PDI support solutions across different CCAM use cases. The third element correlates to the Open Sharing Service Operational Framework and multi-cooperation models that enable the sense-plan-act approach, involving all CCAM actors. The fourth element is the augmented and iterative evaluation framework that, through the deployment of physical and virtual test beds and supporting simulation activities, will evaluate the applicability, viability of the proposed PDI support solutions and will assess their impacts.

Methodology

The AUGMENTED CCAM approach consists of the following building blocks:

• The new PDI Classification & Support Scheme for CCAM

The project starts its work with the creation of a new classification and support scheme – building and complementing the existing schemes - that integrates the PDI and relates it to driving manoeuvres (sense – plan – act). It will be addressed via a new and definitive 3D interactive matrix for PDI classification. This classification will be useful for manufacturers, road operators and policy makers. It will face practical issues like road maintenance or the investment plans considering the CCAM penetration rates. This classification will provide information to users and vehicles on their degree of PDI adaptation to automated and/or connected driving. The integral and multidimensional road classification system would also allow an efficient planning of public investments on physical infrastructure, by enhancing operativity of driving automation, and on digital infrastructure, by increasing the benefits of connectivity between road infrastructure and their users (V2X). Vehicles will be informed about the level of automation they can enable through each road segment. To this end, AUGMENTED CCAM will utilise all PDI elements, which will be modelled, correlated and classified in a dynamic and replicable manner. It will be open to new services and components, while its adaptation and parameterisation to new conditions/ users/ services could be performed in a semi-automatic manner (manual modelling and automatic classification). Consequently, a safer, more sustainable and comfortable road network is expected. Consequently, a safer, more sustainable and comfortable road network is expected.

• The technology-agnostic “We Share What we See” Service Operational Framework and Architecture

Moving towards a Single European Transport Area requires an open operational framework interlinking all of the PDI elements, legacy C-ITS and novel CCAM services that can cater for all road users including the AVs, connected vehicles, VRUs and other. Building up this framework involves using open and common standards and interfaces and an efficient, resilient and secure data ecosystem. AUGMENTED CCAM will provide a consolidated framework that allows developing CCAM services of Day 2/3, while facilitating the operation and interaction of the current Day 1/1,5 services through providing unified interfaces and technology agnostic C-ITS standard messaging framework. The interfaces and the messaging framework are essential elements to utilize the available PDI elements for the purpose of developing novel CCAM services and allowing for future extensions. This framework encompasses 7 main components, which are namely: (1) the PDI (2) the messaging framework, that provides consistent, consolidated, secure and resilient messaging standards and techniques and will be used to unify the messages exchanged between the PDI elements, Road Users (RUs) and CCAM services, and will avoid misinterpretation, data loss, and data breach. (3) the Data Management mechanisms, dealing with data governance and logging, abstraction, integration and security which are very essential when dealing with decentralized, open and dynamic environment that are built upon IoT, WoT and edge devices, (4) the service management component, comprised by CCAM services running both on cloud and on edge (Edge AI), also equipped with advanced mechanisms for service discovery (new services in PDI) and FogFlow mechanisms, that is responsible for service monitoring and reflect the change in the environment, objectives and priorities through monitoring processes and orchestration (within a network), providing the Federated Learning (FL) framework for distributed AI within PDI nodes. The service management component is resilient and can dynamically adapt to changes in the environment. When a change in the environment is identified, for example regulation change, this will be reflected in the ontological structure of the service platform and the service discovery component can operate as normal.

AUGMENTED CCAM Conceptual Service Framework (provisional)

• The new/optimised PDI support solutions for CCAM services

Those solutions include adaptations on existing PDI as well as new PDI elements and architectures, refeeding and validating finally the proposed harmonized classification and support scheme. They all aim to enhance the CCAM operation on varying levels. Given the connectivity and cooperativeness of all CCAM users they assume, they are essentially positioned in Day 3+ services according to the Car2Car use case roadmap (https://www.car-2- car.org/fileadmin/downloads/PDFs/roadmap/Roadmap_2020_figure.pdf) even if some of them originate from typical Day 1 and 1,5 services. Apart from the apparent goal of enhancing the AVs ODD and, finally, operation, and taking benefit of this, the new/optimized PDI support solutions will aim to enhance the whole network operation assuming mixed fleets penetration and to leverage the safety and cooperativeness of all CCAM users by sharing intentions of each other making them context-aware at any time given.

•  The augmented (in physical and virtual world) iterative implementation and test plan to feed impact assessment

AUGMENTED CCAM plans to involve from the set-up phase to the final validation and scaling phase of results, a series of test beds, varying from physical ones to their digital twins and several other supporting simulator activities, each of which will address specific evaluation objectives. Each virtual operation and validation layer will complement and (re-) feed each other and in a continuous bilateral relation to the physical field trials so that at the end all project KPIs will be addressed. The key evaluation objectives of the project and their mapping to the virtual and/or physical validation activities are listed below, although further interrelations may emerge during the project work.