The mid-term event for the SALSA (Smart, Adaptive and Learnable Systems for All) project will take place on 12 February 2026 at the Schwabenhalle in Fellbach.

The project is investigating the acceptance of automated and autonomous vehicles in mixed traffic. Important steps are being taken to establish automated and autonomous vehicles in mixed traffic through research in areas such as eHMI, driver state, sleep, adaptation and communication, as well as acceptance and knowledge transfer.

At the mid-term event, the findings from the first half of the project will be presented alongside initial approaches to increasing acceptance in the near future. Participants can look forward to exciting keynotes, in-depth insights into all SALSA topics and an interactive exhibition.

The WIVW will present innovative results on the acceptance of automated vehicles in mixed traffic and address the issue of how sleep during automated driving affects subsequent manual driving. Additionally, results regarding the effectiveness of a practical measure to support the process of awakening will be presented. Furthermore, visitors will be able to experience a training concept developed at the WIVW for educating people about automated driving functions using a demonstrator.

Entry is free of charge. As participation is limited, we recommend registering early via the project website.

SALSA is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

After four and a half years of research, development and collaboration, the final event of the EU-project Hi-Drive on automated driving (AD) took place on 25th November at Autoworld in Brussels. This successful conclusion was celebrated with an interactive exhibition, presented by the partners, showcasing the project's achievements and innovations.

The WIVW was present, demonstrating a simulator-based training for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) developed in Hi-Drive. This was just one of WIVW’s many contributions to Hi-Drive. The WIVW conducted a wide variety of studies on topics related to the acceptance of and mental models for AD functions, car sickness during AD and behavioural adaptations to AD. These studies took the form of online surveys, experimental studies in a simulator, on a test track and on open roads.

WIVW also presented at the annual EUCAR conference alongside the Hi-Drive consortium afterwards. In addition to representatives from the worlds of research and industry, political actors were present as well, leading to fruitful discussions about the future of the European automotive industry and road safety.

We are extremely grateful to have been part of this excellent consortium and to have worked with so many competent partners. Thank you to all the Hi-Drive partners!

What challenges need to be overcome to improve the safety of Powered Two-Wheelers (PTWs) through Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS)?

WIVW contributed to a workshop dedicated to 'Improving Safety for Motorcycles and Vulnerable Road Users through ITS', organised by TNO and motivated by the work of the Connected Motorcycle Consortium (CMC). For this purpose, a group of experts from industry, research institutes, policymakers and universities gathered at the 28th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems in Gold Coast, Australia, to take part in a panel discussion. WIVW also gave a keynote speech entitled “Advancing Rider Safety: The Role of Human Factors Research in the Connected Motorcycle Consortium”.

The EU project Hi-Drive, is coming to an end. Its overarching goal is to make automated driving as robust and user-friendly as possible.

In a series of webinars, the exciting results of the studies conducted will be presented and discussed in subsequent panel rounds, with implications for automated driving being derived.

The WIVW was involved in designing and implementing two of these webinars, and presented studies conducted at the WIVW in the scope of Hi-Drive.

One webinar explored whether the society is ready to embrace automated driving and what it takes to achieve this public acceptance.

The other webinar, which also involved the WIVW, examined the factors that influence comfort during automated driving. Furthermore, the factors that promote the occurrence of motion sickness and their effect on driving performance were investigated.

Given that a new assistance system will not initially function 100% reliably, it is reasonable to assume that it will also issue false warnings. So, how do false positive warnings affect riders' reactions? How do the reliability rates of an assistance system (ARAS) affect reaction times and acceptance of the system?

The Connected Motorcycle Consortium (CMC) has raised these research questions. Therefore, the WIVW designed and conducted a user study on a dynamic motorcycle simulator to obtain empirical evidence. The focus was on the effects of:

• Real false positive (RFP) warnings, when there is no recognisable reason for the triggered warning.

• Unnecessary false positive (UFP) warnings: when the reason for the warning is unclear in the initial situation, but becomes apparent as the scenario evolves.

In addition to these two types of false positive warning, the reliability rate of the safety application was investigated at 60% and 80% ratios. One key finding was that UFPs can be helpful as they contribute to forming a mental model of an assistance system (i.e., identifying situations in which a warning might be expected). RFPs were problematic as riders tend to find explanations for the warnings that bias the mental model and lead them into a false sense of security. The reliability rate did not significantly impact the investigated scenarios.

The results of this study have now been published here.

WIVW would like to thank all contributing members of the CMC working group “Rider Behaviour” BMW Motorrad, Honda Motor Co., Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki, Institut für Zweiradsicherheit (ifz e.V.), CERTH HIT, VUFO, La Trobe University, Queensland Government, Bertrandt, ACEM, TNO.