EU Horizon Europe funds €5 million safe-move project to improve micromobility road safety

The European Union's Horizon Europe programme has awarded €5 million in funding to the SAFE-MOVE project, which aims to improve road safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and micromobility users including e-bike and e-scooter riders. The project is led by Yan Feng, Assistant Professor and Director of the Mobility in eXtended Reality Lab at TU Delft, who coordinates a consortium of 23 partners drawn from nine European countries. The TU Delft team also includes Winnie Daamen, Serge Hoogendoorn, and Marjan Hagenzieker.

Rather than focusing exclusively on crash data, SAFE-MOVE will also examine near-misses, risky and dynamic interactions between road users, and how safe individuals actually feel while travelling. The project addresses both actual and perceived safety, with particular attention given to interactions between road users with differing masses and speeds, such as conventional bicycles, e-bikes, and e-cargo bikes. Feng noted that the increasing presence of high-speed vehicles on cycle paths can cause other road users to feel less safe, and expressed concern that this perception may lead some individuals to choose private cars over active modes of transport.

Because unsafe traffic situations are difficult and hazardous to study directly in real-world conditions, the consortium will employ eXtended Reality (XR) technology in combination with explainable artificial intelligence and data covering traffic, infrastructure, vehicles, and health. This approach will allow researchers to investigate scenarios that would otherwise remain underexplored. Feng described the methodology as human-centred, drawing on expertise spanning behaviour, health, technology, urban planning, engineering, behavioural science, and policy.

The research findings are expected to inform city-level policies and interventions supporting active transport modes. Potential interventions identified include speed limitations in designated areas, adapted road design, and technologies capable of warning road users of emerging conflicts. The most promising interventions will be implemented and tested through pilot projects in Amsterdam, Zurich, Rhodes, and Novi Sad, enabling evaluation across a range of real-world traffic conditions. Results from these pilots will subsequently be used to refine the project's algorithms and predictive models.

Beyond the four pilot cities, SAFE-MOVE intends to develop common methods, indicators, and practical guidance to help European cities consistently assess safety risks and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. The consortium's multidisciplinary composition is intended to support the delivery of standardised, actionable guidance aimed at accelerating the development of safer and more inclusive active and micromobility systems across Europe.