Partners

UNIMORE (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) is a leading Italian multidisciplinary university with 13 departments and over 27,000 students. Located in Reggio Emilia, its DISMI (Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering) is a dynamic hub for advanced engineering education and interdisciplinary research. DISMI integrates applied sciences with Management, Mechatronics, and Digital Automation Engineering. With over 20 years of experience coordinating and participating in major European research initiatives, the department excels in transport systems, freight logistics, operations research, and decision-support systems, delivering scalable and market-ready solutions for industry and public authorities.

Role in the project: Coordinator

TUD leads the project's work on understanding who drives, under what conditions, and what they actually need from assisted and automated vehicles, and helps define how SENSEI measures trust, safety and inclusiveness. TUD then leads SENSEI's answer to a problem the industry has largely left unsolved: most drivers never really learn how their automated systems work. TUD designs a new modular driver-training framework and co-develops an Online Training Tutor with AUDI. This digital companion supports drivers in the moment, rather than in a manual they never read. Both are tested with real drivers across the project's demonstration sites, from novices to professionals. Role in the project: TUD leads the assessment of user needs and the development of the Societal Readiness Evaluation Framework. TUD’s expertise in behavioral sciences and training ensures that SENSEI’s driver training models are both inclusive and gender-sensitive, reflecting differences across age, gender, and experience.

UTAC is a leading international provider of testing, validation, certification, and engineering services for the mobility industry. With more than a century of experience, UTAC supports manufacturers and suppliers in developing safer, cleaner, and smarter vehicles. The company operates advanced proving grounds, laboratories, and simulation facilities dedicated to vehicle development and assessment. Its expertise covers connected and automated vehicles, ADAS technologies, cybersecurity, emissions, durability, and regulatory compliance. UTAC provides comprehensive testing solutions throughout the entire vehicle development lifecycle, from concept to market launch. The group manages world-class test tracks and technical centers across Europe and other international locations. By combining real-world testing with digital engineering and simulation, UTAC helps accelerate innovation in future mobility. UTAC works closely with automotive manufacturers, technology companies, and public authorities to shape the next generation of transportation.

Role in the project: UTAC leads key activities in the SENSEI project related to Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) and contributes to the development of future recommendations for automated driving systems. UTAC brings expertise in human factors, driving simulation, and ADAS validation to assess how drivers interact with automation and to support the development of safer, more user-centred mobility solutions.

Vicomtech is an applied research center located in Donostia-San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa, Spain), specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Visual Computing, and Data Analytics. As a technology transfer entity, Vicomtech develops advanced software solutions to address industrial and societal challenges across key sectors, including Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and Smart Mobility. With extensive expertise in computer vision, sensor fusion, autonomous driving stacks, and connectivity (5G/ITS-G5), Vicomtech bridges the gap between scientific research and market-ready technological innovations. The center actively participates in national and European research programs (Horizon Europe), driving safety, sustainability, and human-centric AI developments for future mobility systems.

Role in the project:  Vicomtech leads the Spanish Demonstration Site, overseeing virtual simulator, controlled test track, and real-world rural road testing in Gipuzkoa. Vicomtech develops core software modules for real-time ODD violation detection, 5G-based rural teleoperation triggers, VRU intention prediction, and joint sensor fusion engines. Utilizing its driving simulator (CARLA digital twin) and the CarLOTA L3 experimental vehicle, Vicomtech validates adaptive Driver-Machine Interactions (DMI) and safety features across diverse user groups (novice, elderly, and functionally impaired drivers).

FICOSA is an independent industrial group dedicated to the research, development, production, and commercialization of systems and components for the automotive industry. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, the company employs more than 8,000 professionals across 16 countries and provides solutions to many of the world's major vehicle manufacturers. FICOSA is one of the world's leading suppliers of rear-view mirror systems and develops a broad portfolio of vision and sensing technologies. FICOSA ADAS, the company's dedicated Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit, specializes in camera-based perception solutions, including digital mirror replacement systems, parking and surround-view cameras, and in-cabin driver and occupant monitoring systems.

Role in the project:  FICOSA leads the definition of the project use case scenarios and coordinates the use case on driver support for vulnerable road users. The company develops advanced driver monitoring technologies, and a sensor fusion engine that combines driver state with vulnerable road user detection to identify collision risks in high-risk scenarios. FICOSA provides a sensor-equipped test vehicle and leads the validation of multiple use cases in Spain through both simulation and real-world testing.

EUROGAP is a family-owned business marketing consultancy based in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. For more than 36 years, it has supported companies and public organisations in developing strategies, plans and projects that incorporate market and user perspectives to generate sustainable results. Its activities combine consultancy, research and training in areas such as market intelligence, strategic positioning and business development. EUROGAP also has extensive experience in the social dimension of innovation, using applied sociological research and co-creation processes to understand people’s needs, perceptions and behaviors. Through a multidisciplinary and practical approach, it helps organizations align their strategies and innovations with real market and societal needs.

Role in the project: EUROGAP brings its expertise in the social dimension of innovation, applied sociological research and co-creation to ensure that people remain at the centre of SENSEI’s solutions. It contributes to identifying the needs of diverse driver profiles, recruiting and engaging the Spanish Group of Interest, and organizing participatory workshops. EUROGAP also helps incorporate users’ perspectives into the design and improvement of the solutions, supports users’ continued involvement throughout the project, and contributes to assessing how well the solutions respond to social needs and are accepted by users.

At the institute’s sites in Dresden and Ingolstadt, researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI are developing technologies and concepts for mobility, energy, as well as safety and security – from forward-looking preliminary research to practical applications in everyday use. The institute collaborates closely with the universities TU Dresden, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg and Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. Its transport-related research work ranges from the field of vehicle and propulsion systems to intelligent transport systems, and it also covers the areas of disposition, logistics and digital business processes.

Role in the project: Fraunhofer IVI leads the validation of SENSEI’s solutions and training framework within simulated and real-world settings. Fraunhofer IVI, thereby, brings in their expertise in vehicle and road safety within the technological development of solutions and the psychological background for HTI design. In addition, Fraunhofer IVI’s crash scenario database (TASC) accelerates the creation of virtual environments and test scenarios for testing SENSEI’s solutions in use case trial simulations.

GOTECH is a development partner for automotive manufacturers and suppliers – from initial concept to series production launch. Our highly specialized team transforms ideas into viable concepts, providing support in design, functionality, and production-ready product development. Using state-of-the-art software and hardware, we analyze and optimize product developments, bring them to life in our prototype manufacturing, and test them in our driving simulation environment.

Role in the project: In SENSEI, GOTECH brings in its automotive engineering expertise along with its mixed reality know-how and strives to develop an HMI emulator to integrate HMI-concepts into driving simulation solutions at early development stages. Furthermore, GOTECH will develop a mixed reality framework for efficient use case testing in real test-track environments and bring in their existing driving simulator for the simulation of SENSEI’s use cases.

TOFAŞ Türk Otomobil Fabrikası A.Ş., established in 1968, is one of Türkiye's leading automotive manufacturers and R&D organizations. Jointly owned by Koç Holding and Stellantis, the company combines large-scale vehicle manufacturing with advanced research and innovation activities. Its integrated production and R&D facilities are located in Bursa, while its headquarters are in Istanbul.

The Bursa facility covers nearly one million square meters and has an annual production capacity of approximately 450,000 vehicles. TOFAŞ manufactures passenger and light commercial vehicles for domestic and international markets and has extensive experience in Horizon Europe, Eureka, and national R&D projects.

Role in the project: TOFAŞ brings its extensive automotive manufacturing and engineering expertise to SENSEI, ensuring that the project's innovations are scalable, future-proof, and market-ready. As a key technical partner, TOFAŞ focuses on developing and integrating adaptive Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) and alerting systems tailored for diverse driver profiles, with a special emphasis on inclusive solutions for hearing-impaired and special user groups. Additionally, TOFAŞ hosts the Turkish demonstration site, utilizing its advanced driving simulator to rigorously test and validate these solutions with real users. Beyond technical development, TOFAŞ leads the project's efforts in defining upgradeability and lifecycle guidelines, effectively bridging the gap between innovative research and practical, large-scale deployment in the automotive industry.

PNO INNOVATION, established in 1984, is a European group, made up of a pool of more than 500 professionals across 10 Member States. Every year, PNO supports more than 3.000 clients in their R&D processes, realizing original data-driven and expert-driven analysis and creating over 300 cutting-edge R&D projects – changing the world for the better. PNO INNOVATION has drafted and successfully executed dissemination and exploitation plans of a great number of European projects in various sectors. In this project, PNO INNOVATION is represented by the Italian branch, specialized in R&D Advisory, Innovation Management and funding procurement, providing consultancy services to private and public organizations.

Role in the project: leading Work Package 5, PNO Innovation Italia is responsible for maximizing the visibility, impact and long-term uptake of SENSEI's results through strategic communication, dissemination, clustering and exploitation activities.

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) is the oldest university in Greece, established in 1837. Within SENSEI, NKUA participates through the research team of the Department of Physics, which has long-term experience in the field of physics and technology of microwave systems and sources, as well as in code development in several areas of electrical engineering. Over the last decade, members of the research team have been involved in several European projects related to telecommunications systems and applications, autonomous vehicle technologies, and related fields.

Role in the project: NKUA plays a central role in SENSEI, combining technical innovation leadership with responsibility not only for the demonstrations but also for ethics and data management. NKUA is the technical driving force behind two of the project's core HTI solutions namely, the Adaptation Logic Module (adapting HTI to real-time driver state and context) and the Visual Display of System Confidence (communicating system reliability to build driver trust), both validated in simulation and real-world environments in Greece. In WP2 (which is led by NKUA), NKUA leads the co-design of HTI features and training models (T2.1) and the adaptation and integration of these innovations into simulators and demonstration vehicles (T2.2). It also leads Use Case 2 and anchors the Greek demonstration site, coordinating the local Group of Interest of young drivers and vulnerable road users. Beyond this, NKUA coordinates and monitors all demonstration activities across sites (T3.1 in WP3), supported by its in-house driving simulation laboratory and an instrumented, automation-capable vehicle. As the project's Data and Ethics Coordinator, it also leads Ethics and Data Management (T6.4), ensuring all project data is handled in a FAIR- and GDPR-compliant way in line with Horizon Europe's requirements.