Reading Time: 1 Minute
The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has joined HARMO, a three-year European research project designed to improve road safety by helping automated vehicles better anticipate how people actually drive.
Co-ordinated by ITS Norway, the Horizon Europe initiative addresses a critical challenge for automated mobility: human behaviour is not always predictable. Drivers familiar with a route may rely on habit rather than constant vigilance, creating situations that conventional safety assessments can overlook.
HARMO will develop validated models of human driving behaviour and combine them with artificial intelligence (AI)-based planning. The systems will be evaluated through realistic mixed-traffic simulations and pilot applications in urban logistics and shuttle operations.
IRU will lead work on safety acceptance, regulatory alignment and market uptake, ensuring that professional drivers and road transport operators have a voice in determining what evidence automated vehicles must provide before deployment.
The project will also develop tools to support regulators, operators and manufacturers in assessing automated-driving safety and aligning validation approaches with existing rules.
Why It Matters
Automated vehicles must operate safely alongside human drivers, pedestrians and cyclists—not just perform well in controlled tests. By bringing real driving behaviour and operator requirements into safety validation, HARMO aims to build stronger evidence for responsible deployment across Europe.
