Autonomous vehicle: completion of the experimental programme “SAM” and launch of first pilot services

The SAM consortium (Sécurité & Acceptabilité de la Mobilité autonome – Security & Acceptability of autonomous Mobility), gathered around the PFA autonomous platform, and selected in 2019 by the government to lead a national experimental programme around the autonomous vehicle, completed four years of work by bringing together, on 28 and 29 November 2023, at the Séquoia tower of La Défense, 200 of the greatest French experts of automated and connected road mobility.

In the presence of Anne-Marie IDRAC, Senior Head of the French National Strategy Development of self-driving vehicles, industrials and academics shared the findings of a programme which, notwithstanding the interruptions linked to the 2020 pandemic, accounts for 2,000 days of experimentation, 135,000 km of travel, offering 40,000 users innovative services at the heart of 13 urban, suburban and rural territories.

The aim of the programme was to establish a common asset that can be used by all stakeholders (industrials, academics and public authorities) in order to develop national references, a state of the art and recommendations for international standards around 5 use cases: passenger cars, valet parking services, public transport, new collective or shared mobility services, and final mile delivery.

Three key contributions were underlined:

• Through the impetus given by the national strategy, the establishment of a “French team for autonomous mobility” removed the barriers between automotive industrials, public transport or service operators, on-board intelligence providers, and infrastructure and land managers.
• Scale-up preparation, through the definition of secure achievable employment areas, needs in terms of infrastructure and connectivity equipment, acceptability factors, user behaviour characteristics inside and outside the vehicle, impacts on the environment and traffic, as well as determining factors of the economic model.
• The contribution to the establishment and implementation of the regulatory framework (French decree n°2021-873 dated 29 June 2021 regarding the circulation of driverless cars, a unique regulatory framework in Europe for the purpose of deployment), by populating security demonstration methods and tools.

Thanks to these decisive contributions, the first pilot services for automated and connected road mobility can be launched:

• Manufacturers,  Renault Groupand Stellantis,  are confirming their commitment to the study and development of automated and connected vehicles dedicated to automated driving and of new shared transport or mobility services, namely with the support of infrastructure managers such as VINCI Autoroutes.
• Automotive suppliers such as Valéohave confirmed their investments in next-generation sensors (such as Lidar), and software, as key elements for automated driving or, like Alstom, the creation of a connected infrastructure system to safely pass traffic lights.
• Players such as Easymileare pursuing their developments to provide highly reliable and safe software solutions dedicated to intelligent mobility and technologies without drivers or such as TwinswHeel in the development of droids as logistical solutions in city centres.
• Public transport operators such as Keolis, RATP, SNCFor Transdev have committed to the development of new automated services on pilot territories.

“With the impetus given by the national Strategy led by Anne-Marie IDRAC, industrials, service or infrastructure operators, and academics have joined in the initiative and, through the consortium developed around the PFA, have constituted a real French team of autonomous mobility.

The assessment on the field over four years of technological promises in comparison to real-time use was an essential and decisive step for the launch of pilot services”, emphasised Luc CHATEL, president of the PFA.

“The experimental programme led by the SAM consortium around the PFA (Plateforme automobile – automotive platform), is an illustration of the approach privileged by the government and on which France can now rely to deploy the first automated and connected road mobility services, for the benefit of users and territories, by making use of the synergies between all players”, underlined Anne-Marie IDRAC.

Through the SAM programme (Sécurité et Acceptabilité de la conduite automatisée et de la Mobilité autonome – Security and Acceptability of autonomous driving and mobility), the PFA federates a consortium of 11 industrials (Alstom, VINCI Autoroutes (réseau Cofiroute), EasyMile, Keolis, groupe RATP, Renault Group, SNCF, Stellantis, Transdev, TwinswHeel, Valeo) and 6 academic partners (Cerema, IFP Energies Nouvelles, Le LAB, ENPC/LVMT, SystemX, VEDECOM).