WienZWA (the future will be automated) is setting up a comprehensive, open, European test laboratory for automated driving in Vienna and surrounding areas

"WienZWA – the future will be automated" was selected by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) to set up a comprehensive, open, European test laboratory for automated driving in Vienna and surrounding areas. The motto: "Safety for all people in traffic". The aim of WienZWA is to rapidly learn how to dynamically adjust to the interactions between pedestrians, cyclists and (semi-) autonomous vehicles. This means that the integration and anticipation of behaviour in real traffic (pedestrians, cyclists, city/country, motorway/urban traffic, public transport (ÖPNV), mixed traffic, interaction of all people in traffic) is new every day. Every day we learn new things – and every day we get better at it.

Events are prepared independent of manufacturers as part of the Austrian EU Council Presidency 2018 and the Transport Research Arena TRA at Messe Wien (16 - 19 April 2018) that includes state-of-the-art R&D for automated driving. Trade visitors perform use cases between Schwechat Airport and the trade fair centre. Partially automated (e-)driving for carpooling, ad-hoc platooning in cases of high traffic densities including optional prioritising of cyclists and pedestrians, including with regard to traffic safety. This is more than just announcement strategy. Proven Austrian strengths are efficiently utilised and developed further. The test environment "WienZWA – the future will be automated" covers all three prioritised use cases from the automated driving action plan (see: www.bmvit.gv.at/service/publikationen/innovation/mobilitaet/automatisiert.html)

WienZWA integrates automated driving on various types of roads (motorway, lower-level road network) in urban and rural areas, in different traffic situations and topologies and with various weather and environmental influences. This combination is an international flagship project. An open-innovation method will be developed that shows how test drives can be scientifically documented and reproducible.

As part of the European C-ITS corridor project Rotterdam – Frankfurt/M. – Vienna, the Living Lab in the framework of ECo-AT has demonstrated how successful an open and manufacturer-independent test laboratory can be. Already today, car manufacturers regularly come to Vienna for the ECo-AT tests in order to carry out tests on this specific route, because the test infrastructure is exemplary in international comparison. Australia (Brisbane) and Hungary have issued their call for infrastructure tender on the basis of the ECo-AT specifications. Within the European C-Roads project, AustriaTech and ASFINAG manage essential parts of the Europe-wide harmonised second expansion stage (http://c-its-korridor.de/). Austria's role as a pioneer of European C-ITS and sustainability initiatives is consistently developed further through the exploratory project "WienZWA – the future will be automated".

The integration of the European initiatives is made possible through the active exchange with the Directorate General Mobility and Transport (DG Move) of the European Commission. A project advisory council, consisting of the board of directors of ASFINAG Maut Services GmbH Bernd Datler, the head of MA 23 economic affairs, labour, statistics and innovation of the city of Vienna Klemens Himpele, Gino Franco (Director Innovation Swarco), Klaus Rosino (GF KfV Service GmbH) and Andreas Demmer (Austrian association of forwarding agents), ensures the project's alignment. This gives Austrian stakeholders a chance to learn about opportunities early, to develop strengths in a European context and at the same time utilise the image effects of useful traffic innovations for the (R&D) location Austrian