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Horizon Europe · European Union

Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities (IA) - Apply AI

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The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 1 award of €15 million, from a total budget of €15 million. Applications close on 16 Feb 2027 (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time). Organisations in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries such as Türkiye can usually take part; the topic conditions control.

Expected outcome

Development and demonstration of AI-enabled electric autonomous mobility services (level 4) in urban traffic, improving safety, sustainability, data sharing and commercial scalability across cities, through a large-scale demonstrator integrating 5 - 7 co-ordinated city pilots in 5 or more Member States or associated countries including at least one cross-border pilot between adjacent cities - to bring near-to-market autonomous driving technologies into real operations:

• Delivery on the Apply AI Strategy flagship action “Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities” by bridging the gap between high technical maturity and sustainable commercial deployment in cities.

• Strengthened competitiveness of European base vehicle manufacturers, AD technology stack providers, mobility service brokers, and mobility service operators through real-world deployment opportunities as addressed by the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA), in particular its working group on Autonomous Driving deployment.

Scope

• Support cities or urban agglomerations (from countries who have signed or plan to sign the “Joint Declaration of Intent concerning the creation of a cross-border testbed for the deployment of autonomous vehicles” or can demonstrate a comparable level of technological, operational and regulatory readiness) partnering with mobility service provider(s) and operator(s), vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, technology providers, R&I entities and public transport operators (as needed and appropriate), to deploy AI-enabled electric autonomous vehicles, with automation capabilities at level 4 (SAE), to enable autonomous driving operations, such as autonomous shuttle services, ride-hailing, car sharing and autonomous point to point navigation. Facilitate the sharing of knowledge, best practices, and recommendations among participating cities, industry, and with wider EU stakeholders.

• With a strong focus of proposals on providing pan-European added value through the exploitation of synergies, co-ordination, supply and demand-side aggregation, standard-setting, and sharing of data, AI models, and experiences across participating cities and industrial actors, it is expected that proposals build as far as possible on on-going actions at European, national, or regional level, and that complementary public funding and industrial investments are sought to support the actual deployment of autonomous vehicles and the roll-out of related mobility services at scale.

Who can apply

Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule). Country restriction: participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway and associated countries.

Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.

Topics

Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, multi agent systems Cyber-physical systems Energy end-use efficiency and energy services Energy systems, smart energy, smart grids, wireless energy transfer Internet of Things Machine learning, statistical data processing and applications using signal processing (e.g. speech, image, video) Monitoring and control systems Networks (communication networks, sensor networks, networks of robots, etc.) Piloting Renewable electricity Systems engineering, sensorics, actorics, automation

Timing

Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-02-16. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).

How to apply

1. Read the full topic on the Funding & Tenders Portal: expected outcome, scope, type of action and the topic conditions, including any country restrictions.
2. Register each participating organisation in the Funding & Tenders Portal to get a PIC.
3. Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries (Horizon Europe standard rule; Türkiye is associated). Confirm in the topic conditions.
4. Prepare Part A (administrative forms and budget, completed in the portal) and Part B (the technical description on the official template for this type of action).
5. Submit in the portal before the cut-off time on the deadline day. Late submissions are not accepted.

From the call text

Who can apply

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Company stage

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Single applicant or consortium

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where applicants must be based

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where to apply

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Read the EU application guide

Where these facts come from

Official sources

Official call page

Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 14 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.

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