A comprehensive overview of the complexity of integrating automated vehicles into mixed traffic environments has been carried out. It highlights the dual potential of AVs to mitigate accidents caused by human error and the challenges posed by the co-existence of different types of vehicles (D1.1). FLEXCRASH defined and validated the most commons traffic scenarios developing a Flexcrash platform that generates and simulates interactive driving
scenarios. It enables live interaction and possibly leads to identifying critical mixed-traffic scenarios. The Flexcrash platform follows established design patterns typical of Web applications to achieve scalability, interoperability, and ease of use (1.2). During the first RP the project also defined the initial boundary conditions to develop the design concept of the front end addressed by the project to respond to the future crash scenario
calculated by simulation in the project. The conceptual design will couple novel concepts to manufacture the metal constituting components - integrating additive manufacturing with conventional technologies, namely extrusion and high-pressure die casting (HPDC) - intended to trade off enhanced passive crash performance and light-weighting and actuators to move in due time the front end according to a predicted crash event (D1.3). The limitation and boundaries of these technologies are reported in D1.5 . The manufacturing strategy needs to be flexible from a product design point of view,
opening new possibilities with complex geometries that might not be feasible using conventional technologies. It also needs to be environmentally sustainable, allowing the use of recycled materials. Finally, the process needs to be scalable to industrial production, as well as flexible and interoperable, in order to reuse assets and to be competitive in the market. Finally, the technical challenges of developing lightweight vehicles that must comply with safety regulations are reported in D1.6. It discusses various factors that influence the need for lightweight designs, the role of safety regulations, the complexity of safety systems, the demand for fuel efficiency, and advances in production technologies and material development.The project aims to integrate sustainable materials (e.g. recycled aluminum) into vehicle structures, develop or improve new manufacturing processes and use virtual development tools for crash-tolerant vehicle structures. Finally, the need for new test requirements and configurations based on the Gemate G3 GLAB demonstrator vehicle covering different crash scenarios is highlighted and the materials commonly used for crash structures such as steel, aluminum and composites are compared. The importance of recycled aluminum is highlighted due to its environmental and cost benefits. The initial risk management plan, data management plan, PEDR and standardization framework analysis have been performed.
