Without a safety officer on board: research project develops concepts for self-driving cars

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Completion of the SAFESTREAM research project to develop automated driving functions and a “Technical Supervisor” that can intervene remotely: “We have taken a decisive step towards the safe operation of automated vehicles,” says one of the project managers Arwed Schmidt, Managing Director of EasyMile GmbH. The application is considered central to the future of efficient public transportation.

Kelheim, 24.07.25 – Automated vehicles are already in use in Germany, but until now a responsible person has always had to be on board to ensure safety. The SAFESTREAM project has been working towards the goal of completely driverless vehicles, such as buses in public transport, during a three-year research and development phase – and has been able to take important steps towards the safe operation of automated vehicles in public spaces. The background: automated vehicles are a key technology for the future of efficient public transport: they promise more flexibility, lower operating costs and a reliable service – even in rural regions and at off-peak times

Technical supervision intervenes remotely

The SAFESTREAM project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) as part of the “ICT for electromobility” funding program, worked on reliable and legally compliant overall systems – consisting of driverless vehicles and a so-called Technical Supervisor (TS). The TS intervenes remotely via video cameras and control signals when automated vehicles reach their system limits and human decisions are required.

“SAFESTREAM has created central building blocks for scalable and legally compliant technical supervision – a decisive step towards the safe operation of automated vehicles,” says Arwed Schmidt, Managing Director of EasyMile GmbH. “The knowledge gained forms an important basis for future real-world operations,” says Schmidt.

The focus for the project partners EasyMile, the city of Monheim am Rhein, the district of Kelheim, T-Systems, the Technical University of Munich, TÜV Rheinland and P3-Group was to meet the legal requirements for TS and automated driving in accordance with Section 1d of the German Road Traffic Act (StVG) – and to design these in an overall system in such a way that they are suitable for large-scale use of driverless vehicles in public transport.

Road test cancelled, but future pilot projects now possible

The originally planned testing on public roads could not be carried out due to a lack of available vehicles with suitable SAE Level 4 hardware. This is the technical equipment that a vehicle needs for fully automated driving in defined areas of use without driver intervention. However, key findings could be gained in the private test environment, in simulations and in scaled test environments, which will enable the future use of scalable TS solutions in pilot operations and real applications.

Work based on SAFESTREAM should focus on the product maturity of necessary technological components and the further development of market prospects for automated driving in public spaces. In addition to scalable technical supervision to bring automated mobility safely and economically to the area, broad use case categories are necessary for the technology.

The most important results of SAFESTREAM at a glance:

  • Architecture and interface model of scalable TS: The SAFESTREAM consortium specified and implemented in close partnership a prototypical, scalable and modular architecture that fulfils the legal requirements for interactions between vehicles and TS and is geared towards the permanent operation of larger vehicle fleets of different manufacturers and operators.
  • Evaluation concept for approval: As part of SAFESTREAM, test procedures for the automated vehicles and the TS were developed for use within approval procedures.
  • Testing in a controlled environment: The interaction between the vehicle and the technical supervisor was tested in realistic scenarios on cordoned-off test areas in Monheim and Kelheim. A simulator was also used to demonstrate legally compliant interaction between an SAE Level 4 vehicle and the TS in accordance with AFGBV (Autonomous Vehicles Approval and Operation Ordinance) and StVG (Road Traffic Act), and the prototype platform was demonstrated.
  • Operational and economic considerations: The project provides well-founded role definitions including task distribution and proposals for the economic operation (total cost of ownership) of overall Level 4 systems.

Über SAFESTREAM:
Das Forschungsprojekt SAFESTREAM („Entwicklung und Demonstration eines Gesamtsystems zum Betrieb von elektrischen Kraftfahrzeugen mit automatisierter Fahrfunktion in festgelegten Betriebsbereichen ohne Sicherheitsbegleiter​“) wurde im Rahmen des BMWE-Förderprogramms „IKT für Elektromobilität“ gefördert. Project duration: 08.2022 to 07.2025. Further information at: https://safestream.tech

About “ICT for Electromobility“

Modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are key technologies for electromobility. They are now used to control all-important functions in electric vehicles and also form the basis for integrating vehicles into future intelligent energy and transportation systems. The aim of the BMWE technology program “ICT for electromobility” is to promote the development and testing of ICT-based solution concepts and innovative system solutions for electromobility and to intelligently network the various technologies, services and business models.