The interactIVe project addresses the development and evaluation of next-generation safety systems for Intelligent Vehicles, based on sensor fusion, situation awareness algorithms, and active intervention. Safety technologies have shown outstanding capabilities for supporting the driver in hazardous situations. Despite their effectiveness, currently available systems are typically implemented as independent functions. This results in multiple expensive sensors and unnecessary redundancy, limiting their scope to premium-class vehicles. The interactIVe system architecture is based on the concept that by integrating applications together, vehicle components may be shared among the various safety systems. Considering the proposed system architecture, the focus of the present technical paper is on specifications of the system discrete layers in order to define a unified system able to perform active intervention by taking into account both longitudinal and lateral support and by using generic interfaces applicable to different demonstrator vehicles.