The major challenge the European automotive industry is currently faced with is the 2020 CO2 fleet emission target of 95g/km and the envisaged further reduction of the CO2 emission limits in the European Union for the period after 2025. The European OEMs are also challenged by meeting Euro 6 tail pipe emission standards while already developing powertrains that need to fulfil future Euro 7 emission limits. In addition, the change of the emission test drive cycle from NEDC to WLTP and the implementation of real-driving emissions (RDE) imposes additional challenges onto the European car industry. The effort to meet the future fleet CO2 emission limits has been leading to the need for introduction of a broad range of electrified vehicle configurations into the portfolio of the European OEMs. Besides the increased development effort related to the electrified powertrain system itself, electrification also results in more derivatives from the standard platforms and vehicle models, which further increases the development effort and costs. An electrified powertrain is a highly complex mechatronic system, and meeting all functional and performance requirements efficiently demands a highly integrated development approach. Micro- and mild-hybrid architectures add moderate complexity to the conventional powertrain, however, the further step towards heavy electrification, aimed at a largely improved overall energy efficiency and unconditional emission legislation compliance under RDE conditions, requires advanced design and optimization methods and tools to master the related development challenges. This is exactly where the VISION-xEV project aims at providing its scientific and technical contribution: to develop and demonstrate a generic virtual component and system integration framework for the efficient development of all kinds of future electrified powertrain systems.

The main goal of the ENSEMBLE project is to pave the way for the adoption of multi-brand truck platooning in Europe to improve fuel economy, traffic safety and throughput. This will be demonstrated by driving six differently branded trucks in one (or more) platoon(s) under real world traffic conditions across national borders. Following objectives are defined: -Achieve safe platooning for trucks of different brands. Relevant authorities will be approached to jointly define road approval requirements including V2I communication. -Work towards the standardization of different aspects of platooning: manoeuvres for forming and dissolving of platoons, operational conditions, communication protocols, message sets, and safety mechanisms. Platooning Levels will be defined to guide the design of different platooning functionalities and strategies, reflecting the full diversity of trucks with platooning functionality. Stakeholder groups will be set up to ensure that the pre-standards are taken up by the respective organisations and working groups to form the actual standards. If necessary a multi-brand platooning working group will be initiated. -Real-life platooning: The intended practical tests on test tracks and in real life serve a three-fold purpose: 1) “learning by doing” testing across a C-ITS corridor in Europe, 2) assess the impact on traffic, infrastructure and logistics, while gathering relevant data of critical scenarios and 3) promote multi-brand platooning through a final event. ENSEMBLE brings the key actors for deployment together: six major truck OEMs will form the core of the project consortium, supported by CLEPA that will act as an umbrella organisation to involve all relevant suppliers. In addition, a limited number of expert organizations will be involved to cover specific topics such as safety assessment, traffic impact, and platoon control system design.

The aim of this project is to develop a recycling supply chain for rare earth magnets in the EU and to demonstrate these new materials on a pilot scale within a range of application sectors. Rare earth magnets based upon neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB, also containing dysprosium) are used in a wide range of products, including for example clean energy technologies (wind turbines and electric vehicles) and high tech sectors such as electronics. However in recent years the supply of these materials has come under considerable pressure and neodymium and dysprosium are now deemed to be of greatest supply risk for all elements. The EU imports far more NdFeB magnets than it manufactures (>1,000 tonnes manufactured per annum). It has been estimated that ~ 2,000-3,000 tonnes/annum of NdFeB will be available by 2020 for recycling, which presents a significant opportunity. The aim of this project is to identify, separate, recycle and demonstrate recycled magnets at a pilot scale with a multidisciplinary team located across the EU. The project will target three of the main application sectors including automotive, electronics and wind turbines. The project will develop new sensing and robotic sorting lines for the identified EoL products, building upon technologies developed in the FP7 project Remanence. New hydrogen based technologies will be demonstrated at scale for separating and purifying NdFeB powders from the robotically sorted parts and this technology will be duplicated at another partner in the project. The separated powders will be re-manufactured into sintered magnets, injection moulded magnets, metal injection moulded magnets and cast alloys, at 4 different companies across 3 countries, building upon work in the Repromag Horizon 2020 project. A techno economic assessment will be performed for each potential recycling route alongside a life cycle assessment to assess the environmental benefits over primary production.

The HAL4SDV proposal aligns with the EU Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2022 on Electronic Components and Systems. It aims to pioneer methods, technologies, and processes for series vehicle development beyond 2030, driven by anticipated advancements in microelectronics, communication technology, software engineering, and AI. HAL4SDV envisions a future where vehicles are fully integrated into smart cities, intelligent highways, and cyberspace, blurring the lines between inside and outside the vehicle. Assumptions include data-centricity, code portability, efficient data fusion, unlimited scalability, real-time capabilities, and robust cybersecurity. The objectives encompass unifying software interfaces, creating a hardware abstraction framework, enabling Over-The-Air (OTA) updates, designing platform architectures, ensuring hardware abstraction and virtualization, offering hardware support, automating integration, supporting safety features, harnessing edge computing, implementing security measures, and providing essential development tools. By focusing on these objectives, HAL4SDV aims to establish a unified ecosystem for software-defined vehicles, positioning Europe's automotive industry for continued leadership post-2030 while leveraging existing results and technologies to accelerate progress.