Project PHOEBE will seek to build on the strengths of both iRAP’s road safety assessment tools and AIMSUN’s simulation and Artificial Intelligence for future mobility tools to deliver harmonised, integrated and world-leading safety prediction tools that take account of gender, age and ability levels in providing for future mobility.

The Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environment consortium (known as Project PHOEBE) is one of the approved projects for the Horizon 2022 grant funded by the European Union. The 45-month long project, involving 11 sector-leading partners, has kicked off this week and brings together the inter-disciplinary power of traffic simulation, road safety assessment, human behaviour, mode shift and induced demand modelling and new and emerging mobility data into a harmonised, prospective assessment framework for road safety.

The project aims to develop an integrated, dynamic and scalable human-centred predictive safety assessment framework for all road user types in urban areas.

PHOEBE will provide the technical specifications and data optimization flows to policymakers, transport planners and traffic analysts, decisively incorporating road safety as a performance indicator in traffic modelling that links to the UN Global Targets. It will allow foreseeing the risk of introducing new modes of transport, technological and regulatory changes in transport systems in a virtual simulation environment where it is urgent to consider the demands of vulnerable road users.

New modes of transport and shifts in consumer patterns are directly influencing road trauma levels and the subsequent ability of European cities and towns to ensure the EU target for a 50 per cent reduction in serious injuries and fatalities in road crashes by 2030 is met.

Ambitious action is needed to ultimately approach zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050. There is a specific need for new approaches that account for the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of urban traffic environments, and their impact on safety for all types of road users, gender, age and mobility levels.

City administrations and transport system managers will benefit from predictive tools to be developed under Project PHOEBE that allow these changes and their implications for road safety, mobility and transport to be anticipated and planned for, and support the associated policy, regulatory and consumer-focused response. Simple and effective visualisation and socioeconomic modelling will provide the confidence for policy decisions and investment to ensure the United Nations, European Union, national and local road safety, and sustainable transport targets are achieved.

To demonstrate the potential of enhanced virtual modelling, PHOEBE will draw on new sources of data. With the recent advancements in technology and data collection tools, high quality and rapidly collected data sources are increasingly becoming available across urban transport systems.

The consortium brings together a unique and diverse team with the established track record of delivering highly innovative and evidence-based European Commission projects and solutions. By connecting the models and methods of iRAP and Aimsun, and by using the stakeholder networks of POLIS and EuroRAP/EIRA, the technology and big data skills of The Floow, Factual Consulting, and OSeven and the human behaviour, mode shift and policy and socioeconomic analysis skills of the University partners (NTU Athens, TU Delft, TU Munich and UP Valencia), the consortium is confident that PHOEBE will deliver on the expected outcomes and support “safe, seamless, smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable mobility systems for people and goods” and save lives.

The PHOEBE Project is funded by the Horizon Europe under grant agreement No. 101076963. UK participants are supported by UKRI grant numbers 10038897 (iRAP) and 10056912 (The Floow).

The Project PHOEBE kick off meeting was held on 6-7 December in Brussels