Title: Federated cybeR-physical infrastructure for ODD cOntinuity
Call: HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-03
EU nr: 101147819
Period: 36 months - 1/6/2024-31/5/2027
Budget : Total : €5,994,087.50; VUB : €248,437.50
Contact: Prof. Vagelis Papakonstantinou
Research Group website: LSTS Landing Page | LSTS (vub.be)
AT VUB Tech Transfer ERIS we got a chance to talk to Vagelis and ask him 2 questions:
What is FRODDO about?
Vagelis: “To answer the question of how safe a CCAM service is, one should not only address the ODD used for shaping the functional boundaries of CCAM (top-down), but also the infrastructure, system-related, safe and secure communications related and conditions (traffic, weather, hazards) related aspects of the road environment these systems will operate (bottom-up). Future ODDs should be designed with many redundancies (fail-safe design) to allow for increased tolerance to the vehicle- and context-specific capabilities and human errors and cooperate with physical and digital road infrastructure to boost proactive safety. To fully exploit the CCAM potential, more complex traffic situations must be tackled addressing mixed traffic situations with enlarged ODDs. This will require innovations in vehicle technologies e.g., increased perception and control, as well as augmented infrastructure with cyber-secure connectivity. The grand challenge is that ODD (operational design domain) goes hand in hand with PDI (physical and digital infrastructure). To achieve the above, existing multiple ODDs will need to adapt to the conditions of each road.”
Why is FRODDO important for VUB?
Vagelis: “FRODDO adopts a design thinking methodology aiming to guarantee the involvement of all stakeholders including end-users, technology providers, as well as the legal, ethical, and social experts. The FRODDO consortium in terms of its ethical and legal expertise will be represented by VUB. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSHs) will play a key role on the governance side for FRODDO, since we envision a future of robust, safe, secure and seamless connectivity and automation that can adapt to social challenges as well as support user-centric mobility and development.”
What will be the role of the citizens?
Via efficient cooperation, FRODDO will significantly facilitate improved emergency response and autonomous vehicle deployments, further enhancing the efforts towards more efficient services to citizens. Hereto, FRODDO will involve humans in terms of engaging them for training sessions and workshops and validation purposes in the piloting activities. As such, FRODDO will ensure that humans related to the proposed technological offerings and services (e.g., the citizens / general public, as well as policymakers) become familiar with the technologies and digital tools that will be deployed, as well as the overall levels of awareness in the EU ecosystem -as well as in the CCAM environments- is increased, via personalized, tailor-made intuitive visualizations. FRODDO will also put special attention to any rising ethical issues throughout the project, especially since one of the main targets of the project is to ensure proper integration of innovative technologies with humans and transportation systems. The project will deploy an Ethics Protocol and ensure developments 'ethical-by-design'. This initiative will lead to the recognition of key ethical and legal issues and the development of a relevant project policy towards resolving these issues.
Furthermore, it will specify which data are essential for the project and which should be excluded from retention. Data protection in the ethics manual contains the procedures for data collection, storage, protection, retention, transfer, destruction, or re-use; details on data safety procedures; and confirmation that informed consent has been obtained. The FRODDO consortium will establish an internal ‘Ethics and Legal Helpdesk’ to oversee and manage project-related ethical and legal matters. It will adhere to EU regulations, Horizon Europe guidelines, and global ethical standards. Additionally, actions will be integrated to connect FRODDO with Society. The VUB will lead these activities and provide the guidelines for the consortium, other partners will monitor and support the identification of ethical implications of the FRODDO developments ensuring full inclusivity.
Finally, a ‘CCAM advanced cooperation pathway’ will set the basis for a new era of the CCAM and ODDs ecosystems, ensuring that all societal challenges (e.g., inclusivity, bias-free solutions) are met.”
Aim (What)
The operational context is the cornerstone to ensure performance and safety of CCAM (cooperative connected and automated mobility). The ODD (operational design domain), by design, defines the operating environment for which a system is designed. On the other hand, Authorities and Road Operators are responsible for operating the PDI (physical and digital infrastructure) with a variety of vehicles and systems with limited knowledge of the diverse ODD specifications. To answer the question of how safe is a CCAM service, one should not only address the ODD used for shaping the functional boundaries of CCAM (top-down), but also the infrastructure, system related, safe and secure communications related and conditions (traffic, weather, hazards) related aspects of the road environment these systems will operate (bottom-up).
Methodology (How)
The grand challenge is to design broader ODDs that allow for cooperation with the PDI in a safe system design framework; the industry cannot unilaterally develop and operate sustainable and robust ODDs without the feedback from Authorities and Operators. Future ODDs should be designed with many redundancies (fail-safe design) to allow for increased tolerance to vehicle- and context-specific capabilities and human errors and cooperate with physical and digital road infrastructure to boost proactive safety. Seamless, safe and secure physical and digital environments must coexist and collaborate to allow for the appropriate levels of data, information and decisions flow. FRODDO’s will develop and test a complete suite of methods and tools based on the principles of safe systems design in a federated DT environment leveraging advanced sensing, ML, hybrid AI and simulation to account for increasing adaptability and sustainability of ODDs to complex and dynamically changing road contexts and allow for improved management of CCAM-enabled PDI.
Impact (Why)
FRODDO’s vision is a future of robust, safe, secure and seamless connectivity and automation that can adapt to physical, technological and social challenges and support user centric mobility and development