Virtual debates, shared screens and exchange through chats and video calls were the main form of communication at the final event of the CoEXist project, which took place on 25-26 March 2020. Initially, the consortium wanted to celebrate the successful finish of the three-year EU-funded project with a final conference in Milton Keynes. Even though COVID-19 pushed the event into the digital world, more than 100 consortium members, stakeholders and policy experts joined the experts presenting the results.
The conference began with detailed presentations of the eight use cases, which assessed various important factors of the influence of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on traffic situations in Stuttgart, Helmond, Gothenburg and Milton Keynes. Other sessions highlighted the cooperation between the EU-funded project and the American Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as well as an introduction of the digital modelling tools, which were used in the micro- and macroscopic traffic flow simulations.
Overall, the members of the consortium drew several conclusions related to the current and future abilities of AVs to enhance traffic flows and foster traffic safety. Even though the use cases varied widely, one commonality was observed. The introduction of low-level AVs hampered the traffic flows in most of the scenarios. Once autonomous vehicles with high levels of automation were introduced, traffic flows were in most of the cases more efficient in comparison to normal cars with human drivers.
In case you would like to learn more about the CoEXist final conference, we kindly invite you to take a closer look at the presentations and results.
Watch the full CoExist Final Conference
CoEXist Final Conference – Presentation of the use cases
CoEXist Final Conference – Part 1: Automation-ready tools and impact assessment findings
CoEXist Final Conference – Part 2: Automation-ready tools and impact assessment findings