Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

PAsCAL logo

EBU is fully involved in PAsCAL, a research project on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) implemented from June 2019 to November 2022. It is co-funded by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union.

Objective

PAsCAL (Enhance driver behaviour and Public Acceptance of Connected and Autonomous vehicLes) aims to address all issues raised by the majority of the general public that hinder the wide market uptake of CAVs. Not only does it focus on the interaction of the “users” in or near CAVs, but it also assesses the impact of connected transport on people’s well-being, quality of life, and equity.

EBU's work

EBU has been collecting blind and partially sighted persons’ needs and expectations regarding CAVs through:

  • a first survey (April-May 2020) involving EBU members in Germany, Italy and the UK, which collected, amongst others, data from 315 blind and partially sighted respondents.
  • a second survey (May to July 2021) involving EBU members in Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Portugal, Switzerland which collected, amongst others, data from 1030 blind and partially sighted respondents.
  • 4 Focus Discussion Groups held in Italy (June and July 2021) and involving 53 blind and partially sighted persons, with the support of the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted – read dedicated article in EBU newsletter.
  • 1 test with 5 visually impaired persons in an autonomous bus in Luxembourg (September 2021), with the support of the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted – read dedicated article in EBU newsletter.
  • EBU also put together a paper entitled “Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Visual Impairment. Opportunities and Challenges”. It focuses on the Design for all principles.

In 2022, EBU is also contributing the visual impairment perspective in the Guide2Autonomy (G2A), a set of 100 recommendations that will allow an improved understanding of CAVs.

Blind and partially sighted participants waiting for their autonomous bus during a test in Luxembourg

Picture: Blind and partially sighted participants waiting for their autonomous bus
during a test in Luxembourg.

Consortium

The members of the consortium are:

  • Universities:
    • Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (Coordinator)
    • University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté (France)
    • University of Mannheim (Germany)
    • Institute for Transport Studies of the University of Leeds (UK)
    • University of Liverpool (UK)
  • Private companies:
    • E Bus Competence Center (Luxembourg)
    • Etelätär Innovation (Spain)
    • Inetum realdolmen (Belgium)
    • LuxMobility (Luxembourg)
    • Red Driving schools (UK)
  • End-user organisations:
    • European Blind Union
    • Automobile Club d’Italia (Italy)

Further information

For more information, please visit the project's website at www.pascal-project.eu or contact Romain FERRETTI, EBU Project Manager, at ebuprojects@euroblind.org.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 815098.

Horizon 2020 programme logo