The EU funded HEADSTART project, after three years of great achievements, concluded its research work. During its lifetime, HEADSTART, brought together the consortium with European and national CCAM (Connected Cooperative Automated Mobility) stakeholders to cluster the already existing initiatives, develop methodologies and tools and drive in a harmonized European solution for testing and validation of automated road vehicles.
For this, the HEADSTART partners collected and analysed common databases of relevant national and international projects. This process led to the establishment of a common and harmonized approach for the validation and verification of automated driving functions and the development of specific testing scenarios which were executed and evaluated at all available testing platforms and demonstrated in various linked projects. In order all users to be able to use their own testing environment but with a common validation methodology, four main iterative test methods were selected:
- Virtual testing;
- XiL testing;
- Proving ground testing and
- Field testing.
All data collected from the four testing methodologies were extracted and stored for further study and evaluation. Since safety is very critical for the future of automated vehicles, HEADSTART worked towards the transition of automated driving in higher levels. Concluding, HEADSTART project defined and unified methodologies and procedures on an international level in order to provide a safety assurance framework in which to accommodate all different national initiatives and thus set the basis for the creation of a harmonized European solution for testing automated vehicles. For more information about the projects, watch the HEADSTART videos here.
