Driver assistance systems and automated driving functions have great potential to improve road safety. Already today, a large number of systems are available in modern motor vehicles that support drivers in driving continuously or in emergency situations. However, there are currently no harmonised European-wide regulations for assessing the safety of highly and fully automated driving functions in the type test, in the regular general inspection and during vehicle operation. On the basis of such an assessment, a kind of seal of quality could be awarded that would significantly increase the confidence of users in modern technology.

A first step towards a catalogue of generally valid investigation and evaluation criteria for driver assistance systems and automated driving functions is the joint project "SivaS – Safety of Networked and Automated Road Traffic", which started on 1 April 2023 and is led by TU Dresden.

"In order to develop these necessary criteria, which are demanded by stakeholders in politics, industry and society, comprehensive knowledge of today's road traffic is necessary with regard to driving behaviour, interactions between road users and the occurrence of critical traffic situations," says Prof. Günther Prokop, Head of the Chair of Automobile Engineering at TU Dresden. On this basis, the project aims to create technical and methodological foundations for the safe operation of automated and connected vehicles and to develop methods for evaluating and validating the quality of the driving function during operation with regard to road safety and environmental compatibility.

mFUND project with a total volume of 1.8 million euros and with four partners

His chair as well as the Chair of Integrated Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering headed by Prof. Regine Gerike represent the TU Dresden in the project. Other partners are FSD Fahrzeugsystemdaten GmbH, Dresden/Radeberg and the City of Hoyerswerda (Lusatia). The SivaS project has a total volume of 1.8 million euros. It is 80 percent funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport as part of the mFUND innovation initiative.

For the subsequent catalogue of criteria, road traffic data is needed from which measures can be derived. This data must first be collected. "In the SivaS project, we want to work out and test which collection and also simulation methods, including the necessary equipment and infrastructure, are best suited today and for future road traffic use in terms of economic efficiency and practicability," says Prof. Regine Gerike. "This includes methods of stationary traffic observation such as permanently installed camera systems or drone recordings, mobile traffic observation from vehicles and also simulations of selected traffic situations in a driving simulator." In order to transfer all data sources into a central database, a uniform data structure and processing chain will be created within the project. "We also want to involve the citizens of Hoyerswerda in the project through various formats," she says.

For the city of Hoyerswerda, the project offers a unique opportunity to obtain improved data for current and future urban traffic planning through the planned, open traffic recording system. Mayor Torsten Ruban-Zeh says: "Research and science create essential prerequisites for quality of life and prosperity in Hoyerswerda. Research projects such as SivaS provide important impulses for local structures and make a sustainable contribution to a successful change in Hoyerswerda and the Lusatia region. With its supra-regional appeal, SivaS also pays off for all other activities in the city and is therefore an asset for us in many ways".

City Co-Creation Lab in Hoyerswerda as a contact point for citizens

The new "City Co-Creation Lab" in D.-Bonhoeffer-Street –  a joint contact office of the City of Hoyerswerda and the TU Dresden – is a contact point for citizens who want to find out more about the SivaS project and the Smart Mobility Lab being planned by the TU Dresden near Hoyerswerda and get involved in formats. The official handover of the keys took place on 21 April in the presence of all project partners and Steffen Markgraf, Managing Director of Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH Hoyerswerda (see press release from 21 April 2023).

Handover of keys on 21 April 2023 at a historic site in Hoyerswerda for the rooms of the future City Co-Creation Lab in the SivaS project. Present were (from left): Dr. Jürgen Bönninger (Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board at FSD Fahrzeugsystemdaten GmbH), Prof. Regine Gerike and Prof. Günther Prokop (both from Transport and Traffic Sciences at TU Dresden), Steffen Markgraf (Managing Director of Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH Hoyerswerda) and Mayor Torsten Ruban-Zeh

© Robert Böhme/ Stadt Hoyerswerda

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For the project partner FSD Fahrzeugsystemdaten GmbH, SivaS is part of the federal government's plans to increase the use of automated vehicles in road traffic. "In addition to the main inspection to ensure the safe condition of the vehicle over its entire service life, it will make sense in the future to supplement this with a continuous inspection of individual automated and connected driving functions," says Managing Director Dr. Philipp Schuricht. Dr.-Ing. e. h. Jürgen Bönninger, Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board at FSD, looks ahead to future legislation: "The project results will provide a basis for the evaluation of the Autonomous Driving Act and the Ordinance on the Approval and Operation of Motor Vehicles with Autonomous Driving Functions in the Specified Operating Range (AFGBV), as well as for the revision of the Framework Regulation 2018/858/EU for the approval of automated vehicles in large-scale production."

On the research side, the SivaS project contributes to the emerging field of "Automated and Connected Driving" at TU Dresden. It focuses on the design of efficient, safe and intelligent traffic systems. Prof. Günther Prokop comments: "In addition to state-of-the-art research infrastructure at TU Dresden such as the planned Smart Mobility Lab in Hoyerswerda, the Highly Immersive Driving Simulator currently under construction and the Vehicle Testing Centre in Dresden, which was inaugurated in January, it is research projects such as SivaS that form the foundations for the global automated, connected, safe and efficient mobility of the future. Important impulses for this will come from Eastern Saxony."