French association specialising in human factors, driver behaviour, and human-machine interaction for automated and connected transport systems.
HUMANIST is a French association focused on human factors in transport — specifically how drivers and users interact with increasingly automated vehicles and intelligent transport systems. They study driver behaviour, impairment, attention, and human-machine interfaces (HMI) to help design safer, more adaptive transport technologies. Their work bridges behavioural science and transport engineering, contributing expertise on user needs, training requirements, and mobility policy across road, rail, maritime, and drone domains.
Central theme across ADASANDME (adaptive ADAS for impaired drivers), DriveToTheFuture (user behaviour in automated vehicles), and SKILLFUL (future transport professional competences).
ADASANDME specifically targeted drowsiness, inattention, stress, and impairing emotions with tailored HMI solutions — their largest funded project at EUR 150,275.
RESOLUTE addressed resilience management for urban transport environments; MOBILITY4EU developed an action plan for the future of European mobility.
BE OPEN established a European forum and observatory for open science in transport research.
DriveToTheFuture and SKILLFUL both address training needs across road, rail, maritime, and drone operations as automation increases.
HUMANIST's early H2020 work (2015–2018) centred on driver impairment and adaptive ADAS — detecting drowsiness, inattention, and stress to make driving assistance systems responsive to human states. From 2019 onward, the focus broadened significantly toward automation-era challenges: user behaviour in fully automated vehicles, multimodal transport (road, rail, maritime, drones), immersive training, and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). The shift reflects a clear move from "helping impaired drivers" to "preparing all transport users for an automated, connected future."
HUMANIST is moving toward the human side of full vehicle automation and multimodal connected transport — expect them to seek projects on user acceptance, training for autonomous systems, and MaaS behaviour studies.
HUMANIST operates exclusively as a participant or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for a small association contributing specialist knowledge rather than managing large consortia. With 106 unique partners across 24 countries, they are remarkably well-networked for their size, joining large RIA and CSA consortia where they provide human factors expertise. This makes them a reliable, low-risk partner who integrates well into diverse teams without competing for the lead role.
Despite being a small association, HUMANIST has built connections with 106 unique partners across 24 countries — a broad European network concentrated in the transport research community. This reach makes them a useful bridge for consortium builders looking to add human factors expertise with strong cross-border connections.
HUMANIST occupies a niche that few organizations fill: the behavioural and human factors side of transport automation, housed in an agile association rather than a large university lab. Their dual focus on driver psychology (impairment, attention, emotions) and transport system design (HMI, training, MaaS) means they can translate between user research and engineering teams. For consortium builders, they offer specialist human factors knowledge with a proven track record of fitting into large, multi-country projects without coordination overhead.
