The CAMBER project is proud to celebrate a significant scientific achievement, as one of its research contributions has been recognised with a Best Paper Award at the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) 2026 International Conference, held on 20-24 July in Istanbul, Türkiye.

The award-winning paper, “A Taxonomy of Digital Twin Applications for Road Infrastructure Safety: A Human-Factors Perspective,” was authored by Katia Pagle, Anna Antonakopoulou, and Angelos Amditis from the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS).

Selected from more than 1,100 scientific submissions from around the world, the paper introduces an innovative taxonomy of Digital Twin applications for road infrastructure safety through a human-factors perspective. The research contributes to the advancement of safer, more resilient, and user-centred road infrastructure – an objective that lies at the heart of the CAMBER project.

The award was presented during the AHFE 2026 Opening Session on 21 July 2026, with Katia Pagle accepting the distinction on behalf of ICCS.

Congratulations to the authors and the entire ICCS team on this outstanding achievement!

View the full list of AHFE 2026 Best Paper Awards here.

The CAMBER project has officially launched its stakeholder engagement activities in Trikala, Greece, with the successful organisation of the first of three planned stakeholder workshops for the Trikala Pilot. Held on 13 July 2026, the workshop marked an important milestone in establishing a local Community of Practice and implementing CAMBER’s participatory engagement strategy, bringing together citizens, local stakeholders and project partners to contribute to the development of integrated solutions for road asset and safety management in urban and secondary road networks being developed for Trikala.

The 1st Engaging Workshop was organised by the I-SENSE Group of the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), leader of the Trikala Pilot, in collaboration with e-Trikala. The workshop aimed to connect CAMBER’s innovative solutions and methodologies—including a mobile platform for road safety assessment of cycling infrastructure and bike lanes, digital twin modelling and simulation, and quality indicators —with citizens’ experiences and local knowledge. Through this process, the project seeks to ensure that collected data accurately reflects real conditions in Trikala’s streets and public spaces, while fostering dialogue, encouraging active participation and strengthening the connection between the CAMBER consortium and the local community.

The three stakeholder workshops planned throughout the pilot will provide a structured framework for continuous engagement, allowing local observations, needs and lived experiences to inform the project’s activities and outcomes directly.

The event opened with welcoming remarks by Vasilena Mitsiadi (e-Trikala), who introduced participants to the workshop and emphasised the importance of citizen participation in creating safer and more resilient road infrastructure. This was followed by a presentation from Katia Paglé (ICCS), who introduced the CAMBER project and its vision of integrating road asset management and road safety through innovative technologies and data-driven methodologies. The presentation highlighted how digital twins, safety-integrated maintenance strategies, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), low-cost safety interventions and next-generation data will support more informed decision-making and enhance the management of urban and secondary road networks in Trikala and beyond.

A key highlight of the workshop was its highly participatory format. Under the guidance of Pinelopi Alexiou (ICCS), participants were introduced to quality indicators for assessing public spaces before taking part in an interactive field exercise. Equipped with observation guidelines, they explored the pilot area in two groups on foot (exploratory walk) and by bicycle (exploratory cycling), generating citizen-sourced observations that complement the road safety, mobility and infrastructure analyses conducted for the Trikala Pilot.

Following the field activity, participants returned to the Matsopoulos Mill, where they worked in groups to discuss their observations, identify challenges, and exchange ideas to improve public space safety and mobility conditions. The workshop concluded with short presentations from each group, providing valuable insights that will directly feed into the co-design of solutions within the Trikala Pilot. Closing remarks and an overview of the next steps were delivered by George Vallas (e-Trikala).

The feedback and observations collected during this first workshop will play an important role in validating CAMBER’s innovative approach to integrating road asset and safety management. By combining advanced digital technologies with local knowledge and stakeholder engagement, the project aims to deliver practical, scalable solutions that support safer, better-maintained and more resilient urban and secondary road networks across Europe.

The Spanish pilot has reached another important milestone with the latest progress in the development of its Digital Twin for the Burgos area. Building on the ground-truth data collected during the pilot’s data-capture campaign, partners have recently analysed and processed the information to create a digital representation of the road that will support safer and more efficient road management.

Transforming data into actionable insights

The Digital Twin is being developed to synthesise data from various sources into a single interactive platform, providing a comprehensive overview of the road environment. It has several key objectives: to support data-driven decision-making for traffic management, identify critical road safety hotspots, evaluate specific road conditions, and perform a digitalised information quality assessment while creating a new road inventory.

To achieve these objectives, dedicated components are being developed within the Digital Twin’s web interface, allowing users to visualise and analyse different types of infrastructure data in an intuitive way.

Exploring the road through the Digital Twin

One of the first features currently under development is the Road Characterisation section. This interactive component will enable users to explore the information collected, including georeferenced point clouds, extracted road markings, traffic signs, vegetation, and other road inventory data.

By providing a detailed digital representation of the road environment, the platform will support infrastructure assessment, improve information quality, and help road authorities better understand road conditions and prioritise safety interventions.

As development progresses, the Spanish pilot will continue demonstrating how Digital Twins can help transform road data into practical tools for safer, smarter and more resilient secondary road networks across Europe.

CAMBER has officially taken over the leadership of the EU Road Safety Cluster, marking a new chapter in the collaboration between European research and innovation projects working towards safer, smarter and more sustainable mobility.

After joining the Cluster in December 2025, CAMBER has played an active role in fostering knowledge exchange and promoting data-driven approaches to road safety. As of July 2026, the project is coordinating the Cluster’s activities, building on the work previously led by POLIS and the PHOEBE project, reinforcing cooperation across the European road safety research community.

A collaborative platform for road safety innovation

The EU Road Safety Cluster brings together 12 EU-funded projects addressing key challenges in road safety, cooperative, connected and automated mobility, vulnerable road user protection, and digital infrastructure management. By encouraging collaboration between complementary initiatives, the Cluster helps maximise the impact of European research, accelerate knowledge transfer and support the uptake of innovative solutions by policymakers, road authorities and industry.

As Cluster lead, CAMBER will facilitate collaboration between member projects, coordinate joint communication and dissemination activities, and support the development of shared initiatives that advance road safety research and innovation across Europe.

Moreover, it will help strengthen the collective voice of European road safety research, promoting closer alignment between innovation, policy and implementation. By fostering collaboration across complementary projects, the Cluster aims to ensure that research outcomes effectively support the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 and contribute to achieving the long-term Vision Zero ambition.

Driving collaboration through shared knowledge

One of the first major achievements of the Cluster this year was the publication of the joint white paper “Advancing Road Safety Through Data: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Insights from EU Road Safety Projects” released in February 2026.

CAMBER contributed to the publication by sharing its expertise in secondary road safety, integrated safety and maintenance management, new-generation data sources and Digital Twin technologies, demonstrating how these innovations can support road authorities in making smarter, more proactive infrastructure decisions.

The CAMBER project has reached another important milestone in the Cascais pilot with the successful completion of a dedicated traffic counting campaign aimed at strengthening the project’s data-driven approach to road safety and infrastructure management.

Conducted in May 2026 across selected road sections in the municipality of Cascais, the campaign focused on measuring traffic volumes and vehicle speeds using static automatic counters. Data was collected during both daytime observation periods and continuous 24-hour monitoring, providing a comprehensive picture of traffic patterns under different operating conditions.

The collected data will play a key role in supporting the calibration and validation of crowdsourced vehicle-sensing datasets, helping to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information used within the project. It will also contribute to the estimation of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) values, an important indicator for several CAMBER pilot demonstrations and safety assessments.

By combining traditional traffic monitoring techniques with innovative data sources, the Cascais pilot is helping to build a more robust understanding of how roads are used and where safety improvements can have the greatest impact.

This latest campaign builds on earlier pilot activities, including the installation of Mobileye devices on four hydrogen-powered buses operated by Cascais Próxima. Together, these complementary data collection efforts are creating a rich evidence base that will support the development of innovative safety assessment methods, with particular attention to vulnerable road users.

The traffic measurements are currently being processed and validated to ensure consistency and suitability for further analysis. Once integrated with other data sources collected in the pilot, the results will contribute to the development of CAMBER’s data-driven tools for safer and more efficient road management.

As activities continue across the Portuguese pilot, CAMBER remains committed to demonstrating how innovative technologies and high-quality data can support safer, smarter and more sustainable road infrastructure across Europe.

This spring, CAMBER strengthened its presence within the European transport and mobility community by participating in two major international events: the 17th ITS European Congress 2026 in Istanbul and the Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2026 in Budapest. Both events provided valuable opportunities to showcase CAMBER’s work on safer urban and secondary roads, exchange knowledge with fellow initiatives, and engage with experts working at the forefront of intelligent transport systems and road safety innovation.

CAMBER at ITS EU Congress 2026

Held in Istanbul from 27 to 29 April, the 17th ITS European Congress brought together mobility stakeholders from across Europe and beyond to discuss the latest developments in “integrated, safe and seamless mobility”.

Throughout the event, CAMBER was represented at the ERTICO booth, where visitors had the opportunity to learn more about the project’s objectives, pilot activities and data-driven approach to improving safety and maintenance on secondary roads.

CAMBER also took part in Special Interest Session 60: “Data-driven road intelligence: Redefining safety and asset management in urban and rural networks”, co-organised together with sister projects EvoRoads and iDriving.

The session explored how emerging technologies such as V2X connectivity, AI-based analytics and Digital Twins are transforming road infrastructure management and supporting safer, more proactive mobility systems. Discussions focused on how these solutions can improve ADAS performance, enable predictive maintenance workflows, support low-cost safety interventions and strengthen risk prevention – particularly on secondary and rural roads, where fatality rates remain disproportionately high.

CAMBER at TRA 2026 and iRAP Innovation Workshop

A few weeks later, CAMBER participated in TRA 2026, Europe’s leading transport research conference, which gathered more than 3,000 participants and 100 exhibitors around the theme “ReGeneration in Transport”.

As part of the event, CAMBER was featured at the iRAP Innovation Workshop on 20 May, alongside projects including PHOEBE, ELABORATOR and IVORY. The workshop focused on advancing “Future-Ready Roads for Safe, Sustainable Mobility” and brought together global leaders, researchers and practitioners to discuss innovative approaches to road safety and sustainable transport.

The programme explored topics such as:

• AI-powered and data-driven road safety tools
• Integrated analytics and predictive modelling
• Policy and financing frameworks for safer mobility
• Real-world living labs and next-generation mobility solutions

CAMBER’s participation highlighted the project’s contribution to safer and more resilient road infrastructure through Digital Twins, integrated safety and maintenance approaches, and innovative data collection methods. Several CAMBER partners, including representatives from ICCS, ERTICO and Agilysis, also contributed to the workshop discussions.

Visitors also had the opportunity to engage directly with the project team during the dedicated Meet the Researchers session and at the iRAP booth, where CAMBER showcased its ongoing work across pilot sites in Europe.

Participation in both ITS European Congress and TRA 2026 reinforced CAMBER’s commitment to collaboration, knowledge exchange and innovation within the European road safety ecosystem. The events offered valuable opportunities to connect with policymakers, researchers, industry representatives and fellow EU-funded projects working towards safer, smarter and more sustainable mobility systems.

As CAMBER continues to advance its pilot activities and technical developments, these exchanges play a key role in ensuring that the project’s solutions remain practical, scalable and aligned with Europe’s evolving mobility challenges.

The Croatian pilot is making strong progress as the data-collection campaign continues across the selected test locations. The activities focus on gathering detailed information on road conditions and driver behaviour both before and after the implementation of planned measures, enabling a reliable comparison of their impact.

Baseline data collection at the first pilot location has now been successfully completed, while activities at the second location are currently ongoing. These efforts represent an important step toward understanding the current state of road infrastructure and driver interactions with the road environment.

Assessing road infrastructure and traffic conditions

During the pilot activities, the project team collected a range of data describing the existing road conditions. This included assessments of traffic sign and road marking quality, pavement roughness, and traffic flow speeds. Such measurements provide essential input for the project’s analysis and will later support the evaluation of the effectiveness of the implemented safety measures.

Analysing driver perception with eye-tracking technology

A significant part of the data collection involved the use of eye-tracking glasses, which allow researchers to analyse how drivers visually perceive and interact with the road environment while driving. In total, 30 drivers completed the test route using the eye-tracking equipment, providing valuable information on where drivers focus their attention and how they detect road signs, markings, and other elements of the traffic environment under current conditions.

Supporting the evaluation of future safety measures

The data collected during this phase will serve as a baseline dataset for the Croatian pilot. Once the planned measures are implemented, the same routes will be analysed again in order to compare driver behaviour, perception, and road conditions before and after the interventions.

These activities contribute to CAMBER’s overall objective of supporting data-driven road safety improvements and more efficient maintenance of secondary roads across Europe.

CAMBER was proudly represented at this year’s RTR Conference in Brussels, a flagship event bringing together leading European research and innovation initiatives in transport and mobility.

Olivera Rozi, CAMBER project coordinator, presented the project during Session 7: Better Infrastructure Safety on Urban and Rural Roads, sharing the stage with sister projects EvoRoads and iDriving. The session contributed to a broader discussion on how infrastructure, data and innovation can be integrated to improve road safety across Europe.

Presenting CAMBER’s Vision and Progress

The session provided an opportunity to present CAMBER’s overall objectives, current progress across work packages, and next steps as the project moves into its implementation phase. The presentation highlighted CAMBER’s integrated approach to improving safety on urban and secondary roads through:

• New-generation data sources
• Digital Twin development
• Integrated safety and maintenance systems
• Low-cost, evidence-based safety interventions

Particular emphasis was placed on how CAMBER supports proactive, data-driven decision-making for road authorities, helping shift road safety management from reactive crash analysis to predictive risk prevention.

During the Q&A session, discussions focused on practical measures that make roads safer and on how the data collected within CAMBER will continue to generate value beyond the project’s lifetime. These exchanges underscored the importance of ensuring long-term usability, scalability and policy relevance of project results.

Contributing to the EU Road Safety Cluster White Paper

CAMBER was also featured in the newly launched joint white paper by the EU Road Safety Cluster, titled “Advancing Road Safety Through Data: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Insights from EU Road Safety Projects.” Coordinated by the PHOEBE project, the publication brings together insights from 11 EU-funded initiatives and highlights the critical role of high-quality, interoperable data in strengthening road safety policy and practice across Europe.

CAMBER’s contribution reflects its commitment to advancing Digital Twin frameworks, innovative data integration and practical solutions tailored to secondary roads.

Sharing Knowledge and Strengthening Collaboration

Beyond the formal presentations, RTR offered a valuable platform to exchange experiences, connect with peer projects and strengthen collaboration within the European road safety community. The event reinforced the shared ambition of contributing to Vision Zero through coordinated research, innovation and policy engagement. CAMBER remains committed to delivering practical, scalable and data-driven solutions that support safer and more resilient road infrastructure across Europe.

The EU Road Safety Cluster has published a new white paper titled “Advancing Road Safety Through Data: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Insights from EU Road Safety Projects”, bringing together insights from multiple EU-funded research and innovation initiatives working to improve road safety and automated mobility across Europe.

CAMBER is proud to be among the contributing projects, together with its sister projects EvoRoads and iDriving. As a Horizon Europe initiative focused on safer urban and secondary roads, CAMBER brings specific expertise in integrating safety and maintenance systems, leveraging new-generation data sources, and developing digital twin frameworks tailored to secondary road environments. Through its pilots across Europe, CAMBER demonstrates how high-quality, interoperable and well-governed data can enable proactive and evidence-based decision-making aligned with the EU’s Vision Zero objectives.

The white paper examines persistent challenges in road safety data, including fragmentation, under-reporting, inconsistent definitions, limited coverage of vulnerable road users, and constraints related to data governance and privacy. Drawing on experiences from Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ projects, it highlights innovative solutions such as AI-based analytics, digital twin models and federated data spaces, areas where CAMBER actively contributes through its real-world testing and validation activities.

By consolidating lessons learned across projects, the white paper provides clear policy recommendations to strengthen data governance, improve interoperability, address under-reporting through data linkage, and accelerate the deployment of digital infrastructures that support safer, smarter, and more resilient mobility systems.

For CAMBER, participation in this joint publication reinforces the project’s commitment to ensuring that its research results contribute not only to pilot demonstrations, but also to broader European policy discussions and long-term road safety improvements.

On 27–28 January 2026, CAMBER partners came together in Madrid for two days of focused discussions, alignment and collaboration as the project moves further into its 2nd year. Beyond the technical agenda, the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to reconnect in person, exchange ideas and strengthen cooperation across the consortium.

Hosted by the Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible, the General Assembly marked an important milestone: Work Package 2 (Methodological and Technical Approach) has officially concluded, establishing the theoretical foundations, evaluation framework and technical specifications that guide the project.

With the groundwork complete, CAMBER is now fully transitioning into technical development, Digital Twin creation and pilot deployment.

Digital Twins and safety solutions move forward

Partners advanced discussions on:

• Testing and validating shortlisted low-cost safety interventions

• Assessing ADAS performance on secondary roads

• Developing Digital Twins in all pilots

• Integrating new-generation data sources into safety and asset management systems

Close coordination between the Work Packages of data collection, technical development and pilot testing is ensuring that evaluation methods and performance indicators remain harmonised across all pilot sites.

Advancing implementation at pilot level

Across the five pilot sites, activities are progressing steadily as CAMBER moves further into implementation. In Cascais, preparations continue for the deployment of safety measures, alongside data collection activities. In Trikala, development of the pavement intelligence platform is advancing, supported by the integration of the iRAP framework for safety assessment. The North Holland pilot is progressing with risk-based road segmentation and the use of ROMO data to strengthen monitoring and evaluation processes. In Croatia, digital twin-related data collection is ongoing in parallel with preparations for planned safety interventions. Meanwhile, in Spain, the ground-truth campaign along the N-120 has been successfully completed, with post-processing and analysis now underway.

Focusing on impact: Key Exploitable Results workshop

A dedicated workshop was also held on Key Exploitable Results (KERs), helping partners define how CAMBER’s outputs will translate into real-world impact. Through interactive group work, the consortium identified exploitation routes, stakeholder targets and long-term replication pathways to ensure that project results remain sustainable and scalable beyond the project’s lifetime.

As CAMBER progresses into its 2nd year, the Madrid meeting reaffirmed the consortium’s shared commitment to delivering practical, scalable and data-driven solutions for safer and smarter urban and secondary roads across Europe.