The overall aim of STAPLE is to provide a comprehensive review of technological and non-technological aspects of the most relevantconnected and automated test sitesand test beds across Europe and beyond, in order to understand the impact of these sites on the NRAs’ core business and functions. The project will provide road administrations with the necessary know-how on connected and automated driving test sites, with the aim of supporting their core activities, such as road safety, traffic efficiency, customer service, maintenance and construction. The project builds on previous work by CEDR and other national and European organizations, as well as on the consortium’s expertise from a number of relevant research initiatives.

This deliverable presents the approach taken in STAPLE for identifying a wide range of connected and automated driving test sites and test beds across Europe and beyond, as well as a detailed Catalogue of 37test sites/beds. While data on 39 test sites and beds were collected, two sites offered only confidential information and their data is not available in this version of this deliverable. In addition, the initial pre-selection and assessment of sites/beds for further investigation is also described.

The initial review encompassed a wide variety of sites/beds, in terms of location, size, years of operation, experience and other factors. The consortium looked at already existing sites with years of experience aswell as new and developing ones. The focus was on test sites and test beds for passenger cars, freight transport operations and shared mobility services. The search yielded over 70 test sites and test beds in 20 countries inside and outside Europe, including the USA, China, Australia and South Korea.

Based on the consortium expertise and as well as input and feedback from the PEB,a detailed data collection procedure was undertaken for obtaining information on each site, such as location, size, automated use cases tested, type of environment, physical and digital infrastructure support, connectivity employed and other factors. This resulted in a Catalogue of 37 test sites and test beds that can be used as a point of reference going forward but can also be used as a standalone output of STAPLE.

Lastly, an first assessment and pre-selection of the test sites/beds was performed, to evaluate their feasibility for further investigation in the next activities of the project. The qualitative assessment took into account criteria such as location, availability of data, longevity of the site/bed, purpose, confidentiality. The pre-selection yielded the following test sites/beds (in no particular order):

1. Alp.Lab–Austrian Light Vehicle Proving Region for Automated Driving, Austria
2. Testregion DigiTrans, Austria
3. TFN –Testbed Lower Saxony, Germany
4. A2-M2 Connected Corridor, UK
5. Testbed Midlands Future Mobility, UK
6. Colas IPV –Testbed Colas Impact Protection Vehicle, UK
7. Horiba –MIRATIC-IT, UK
8. AstaZeroAB, Sweden
9. AURORA–E8 Aurora, the Arctic Intelligent Transport Test Ecosystem, Finland
10. BOREALIS–Test Ecosystem for cross-border testing with Finland, Norway
11. ZalaZONEAutomotive Proving Ground, Hungary
12. TRANSPOLIS, France

The next steps of the project include the final selection of test sites to be taken into the next work package for further investigations, the identification of key performance areas for NRAs’ core business and further data collection procedures on selected test sites/beds. As stakeholder involvement is paramount to the success of the project, two stakeholder workshops will be held in March and April 2019, where first project results will be presented to national road authorities and other relevant stakeholders.