NEWS - 2025/01/28

Inclusive Mobility Through Innovation and Collaboration

CulturalRoad is an innovative project that enhances Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) through participatory planning by implementing culturally and geographically sensitive deployment strategies. It introduces a Five Star Rating System to measure safety, inclusivity, network efficiency, user acceptance, and psychological factors. Innovative tools predict future scenarios and effectively evaluate integrating CCAM services based on current user needs.

Driven by sustainability goals, the European Commission recognizes CCAM as crucial for crafting user-centric mobility systems that address international barriers. To improve user acceptance, it is essential to move away from the traditional top-down planning approach and actively involve local communities in defining CCAM standards. This ensures cities fully capitalize on CCAM opportunities.

In this context, this past January has marked a significant milestone for the CulturalRoad project as partners got together in Barcelona, Spain, to reflect on the project’s progress and strategize for the future. The meeting brought together all project partners to advance the sustainable mobility solutions being developed as part of the project. The two-day consortium meeting fostered collaboration, strengthen relationships, and ultimately enhanced the project’s outcomes.

The first day of activities took place at Ficosa, where project partners had the opportunity to explore the latest advancements in sensors and car cameras. The highlight was their cutting-edge technology designed to help cars detect pedestrians with diverse characteristics and respond accordingly to ensure safety in various scenarios.

To achieve the marked goals, Ficosa presented a predictive model powered by deep learning to enhance pedestrian detection and interaction. This innovative system uses a car-mounted camera to capture images frame by frame, predicting pedestrian movement up to two seconds in advance by analyzing their joint positions. The model can handle complex scenarios, such as when a pedestrian or part of their body is temporarily obscured by another object or person, ensuring accurate detection.

The system not only predicts a pedestrian’s next movement—such as whether they are about to cross the street—but also evaluates their level of attention by analyzing the direction of their head. This enables the system to anticipate their likely actions with greater precision. Additionally, the technology distinguishes between different types of pedestrians, including individuals using crutches, those who are blind, or those in wheelchairs. By identifying these various users, the system creates specific behavioral patterns for each group, allowing the vehicle to adapt its response effectively to a wide range of situations. These innovations represent a significant step forward in enhancing safety and efficiency in automated transport systems.

On Thursday, the activities took place in CARNET’s headquarters. On this day, representatives from Bax Innovation, who manage Cultural Road’s sister project, Diversify-CCAM, attended the meeting to explore synergies and potential future collaborations aimed at replicating and scaling the impact of both initiatives. Diversify-CCAM addresses the challenge of declining societal demand for CCAM solutions, caused by difficulties in showcasing their benefits within current mobility systems and adapting to the diverse environments where people live and work.

After the first General Assembly of the CulturalRoad project, among the next steps, is the Multi-Stakeholder Launch Workshop scheduled for late March 2025, as one of the key milestones of the project. The workshop aims to introduce the project to a diverse audience of stakeholders, providing an overview of its objectives, methodologies, and expected outcomes. It will allow the consortium to gather feedback, foster collaboration, and begin building a network of engaged stakeholders. Discussions will focus on the role of cultural and geographical diversity in the deployment of CCAM services, highlighting the project’s innovative Five-Pointed Star Rating System and participatory methodologies.

The CulturalRoad project is advancing its Two-Step Co-creation Framework demonstration, with key tasks currently focused on updating the CCAM deployment roadmap and refining survey questions. The first step involves workshops with stakeholders, scheduled for September 2025, to gather insights and align objectives. The second step consists of focus groups with target groups, including low-income individuals, people with disabilities, urban residents, and rural populations, planned for March 2026. Each demonstration site will organize one workshop and one focus group, ensuring inclusive participation and collaboration are achieved as a result.

The Cultural Road consortium meeting in Barcelona highlighted the vital role of collaboration, innovation, and a unified vision in shaping a sustainable future for urban mobility. Not only for the participating project partners, but collaboration is also key when involving the various stakeholders of this project, as its ultimate goal is to develop CCAM deployment strategies that are inclusive for all, a target only achieved through cooperation and coming together as one. The consortium remains steadfast in its mission to achieve its goals, with innovative solutions that are essential in advancing European cities toward inclusive and sustainable mobility systems for all.

For more information about the project and to register to the project’s newsletter, visit this website: https://www.culturalroad.eu/