Safe Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) in the vehicle systems of the coming decade – Societal Readiness Pilot

• Increased understanding of synergies between driver assistance systems and tailored, self-learning HTI strategies to improve road safety

• Avoidance of crashes related to mode confusion during driver assist use and hand-over/take-over phases

• Development of advanced, standardisable assessment tools and methods for improved HTI

• Creation of innovative training methods for new and experienced drivers addressing evolving automation technologies

• Responsiveness to the needs and concerns of diverse social groups, enhancing societal uptake and trust in research and innovation results

Focus on lower automation levels (Level 3 and below) where control transitions between driver and vehicle occur; ensure individually adaptive HTI systems that go beyond average human behaviour; provide seamless, reliable HMI under normal and high cognitive-load or risk conditions; deploy high-accuracy in-cabin monitoring considering all contextual in/out-cabin data; advance multi-modal sensing technologies and robust detection/prediction of driver cognitive status; link interior and exterior sensing capabilities; enhance driver understanding of automation status and limits to avoid mode confusion; investigate impacts on driver training and licensing, including innovative virtual/mixed-reality approaches; define and assess standardised HMI requirements under normal operation and system failure; develop context- and driver-state-aware hand-over/take-over requests minimizing cognitive stress; create strategies to prevent driver disengagement and minimise cognitive load in critical situations; build behavioural models to block distracting activities (e.g. entertainment systems); ensure scalability to varying vehicle sensing sophistication; address use cases for elderly drivers, young/inexperienced drivers, and multi-tasking professional drivers, with a gender dimension; guarantee precision, reliability and transparency to build trust; define multi-modal, multi-sensorial warning and response strategies for critical phases; design HTI systems upgradable in software and hardware with minimal user disruption; leverage cross-fertilisation with other transport modes; follow Societal Readiness pilot instructions with effective SSH integration; ensure coherence and continuity with previous topics (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01-10, DT-ART-03-2019, HORIZON-CL5-2022-D6-01-02, H2020-MG-2018).