Electrification, automation of vehicle control, digitalization and new mobility are the mega-trends in automotive engineering, and they are strongly connected. While many demonstrations for highly automated vehicles have been made worldwide, many challenges remain in bringing automated vehicles to the market for private and commercial use. The main challenges are as follows: reliable machine perception
accepted standards for vehicle-type approval and homologation
verification and validation of the functional safety, especially at SAE level 3+ systems
legal and ethical implications
acceptance of vehicle automation by occupants and society
interaction between automated and human-controlled vehicles in mixed traffic
human-machine interaction and usability
manipulation, misuse and cyber-security
the system costs of hard- and software and development efforts. This Special Issue was prepared in the years 2021 and 2022 and includes 15 papers with original research related to recent advances in the aforementioned challenges. The topics of this Special Issue cover: Machine perception for SAE L3+ driving automation
Trajectory planning and decision-making in complex traffic situations
X-by-Wire system components
Verification and validation of SAE L3+ systems
Misuse, manipulation and cybersecurity
Human-machine interactions, driver monitoring and driver-intention recognition
Road infrastructure measures for the introduction of SAE L3+ systems
Solutions for interactions between human- and machine-controlled vehicles in mixed traffic.