European Research Project’s Contributions to a Safer Automated Road Traffic

Automated driving is poised to become a pivotal technology in the future automotive transportation. However, it is evident that the implementation of automated driving presents significant technical challenges. To accelerate the development and deployment of automated driving the European Commission initiated the research project L3Pilot in 2017. With a budget of 65 million Euros and the involvement of 13 car manufacturers, L3Pilot stands as the largest European project on automated driving (AD). This paper serves as a comprehensive account of BMW’s main activities in the L3Pilot project that ended in 2021. The research questions addressed in this project are related to the following topics: what are the guidelines for the development of AD? How do potential customers interact with AD? And what is the safety impact assessment of AD? The paper presents the findings related to all three research questions to contribute to the further development of automated driving. For this purpose together with other partners the Code of Practice of AD was defined as a guideline for the development of future AD systems. Related to the second question, BMW conducted tests with AD systems on motorways and in parking scenarios, with over 100 test subjects experiencing AD. The studies provide input and considerations for future AD systems. Finally, in the safety impact assessment, BMW investigated with other project partners the potential safety benefits of AD through simulation. The results show a potential to improve road safety. In conclusion, the exploration of all three research questions has led to a deeper understanding of SAE Level 3 AD.