Assuring Trustworthy, Safe and Sustainable Transport for All

Zero-emission and autonomous ferries can solve both transport and environmental needs for cities and local communities, and open new areas for sustainable infrastructure and housing development without the huge economic and ecological costs of building roads and bridges. These autonomous vehicles can connect people to services while enabling more sustainable living and increased well-being. But the entire business model of these vehicles is hinged upon the ability to build the necessary trust in and societal acceptance of autonomous transport systems. Regulations and certification processes need to be adapted in sync with technology development and readiness. This means that independent third-party actors must be able to provide assurance through digital means, and to assure assets with integrated digital technologies. Delivery of assurance also requires innovation as the assets will be changing throughout their life-cycle and require continuous assurance. Assurance must also serve to provide trust to society, attend ethical dilemmas and engage with citizens. The primary objective of TRUSST is to innovate an integrated assurance framework. The first version of such a framework has been developed and used in the project. This has led to a deeper understanding of what trust entails and what activities are necessary to capture sufficient knowledge and understanding of the use and function of technical solutions. We have now a much better understanding on how the goals around safety and efficiency can be reached. An important part of developing the solution, exploring its use and demonstrating safety and efficiency, is the use of simulations. A digital twin and a test system is being matured for these purpose. Lastly, Citizen Engagement activities have been arranged to better understand the needs and concerns of future passengers and citizens of a city where autonomous transport is offered as part of the transport system. These activities have provided valuable insights for innovating assurance and for the Zeabuz concept. The work has produced a unique data set that will be explored and used in the forthcoming years.

Zero-emission and autonomous ferries can solve both transport and environmental needs for cities and local communities, and open new areas for sustainable infrastructure and sustainable housing development without the huge economic and ecological costs of building roads and bridges. These autonomous vehicles can connect people to services while enabling more sustainable living and increased well-being. But the entire business model of these vehicles is hinged upon the ability to build the necessary trust in autonomous transport systems. Regulations, certification processes and societal acceptance need to be adapted in sync with technology development and readiness. At the same time, it is urgent to transform the role of independent third-party actors as to be able to provide assurance through digital means, and to assure assets with integrated digital technologies. Current assurance methods and tools are ill equipped to build trust in assets that no longer are merely physical but rely on novel digital technologies for their functioning. Delivery of assurance also requires innovation as the assets will be changing throughout their life-cycle and require continuous assurance. Assurance must also serve to provide trust to society, attend ethical dilemmas and engage with citizens. The primary objective of TRUSST is to innovate an integrated assurance framework that transforms a complex and interdependent system of people, technology, organisations and the natural environmental into a trust ecosystem. This unlocks the potential for testing, deploying and scaling up autonomous passenger vehicles. Using the case of the Zeabuz transport concept and the pilot ferry Milliampere 2 owned by NTNU, this project innovates digital assurance concepts that integrate methods, tools, simulation-based testing, use of digital twins and citizen engagement methodologies to transparently provide trustworthiness to all stakeholders and unlock autonomous and sustainable transport.