Almost 30 participants of the CONCORDA project, for which ERTICO – ITS Europe is the Project Manager, met in Athens for two full days in January in order to discuss and agree on how to develop the full roll-out project plan and the evaluation protocol planned to take place at the CONCORDA test sites. A common set of profiles, specifications and deployment configuration that the five CONCORDA test sites will have at their disposal was agreed. It is a common understanding among the CONCORDA participants that some elements, such as the position precision, can differ between test sites unless the same service is supported at the test sites.

Two different technologies will be used (ITS G5/802.11p and LTE2X) in the testing process in CONCORDA and the limitations of operability and interoperability will be taken into account. During the assessment of interoperability, a high-level analysis will be conducted on the possibility to achieve interoperability between the two communication systems that support autonomous driving.

Integration of the performance of LTE-V and C-ITS G5 can help create a hybrid communication system. A consistent and coherent approach is needed for this to happen and this is what CONCORDA will deliver. The close cooperation of the CONCORDA project with EATA ( the European Automotive and Telecom Alliance) will ensure that the industry and road infrastructure actors are aligned and support the planned activities. The cooperation with the C-Roads Platform (based upon the results of the C-Roads Platform) and CEDR (based on its published specifications) will provide the basis for the development of interoperability along three lines: systems, architecture and technologies; service and implementation; and commonly agreed sets of profiles, specifications and standards.

CONCORDA is the first pre-deployment oriented EU funded project (Connecting Europe Facility – CEF) as initiated by EATA ( the European Automotive and Telecom Alliance) that works on assessing the interoperability of the hybrid communication technologies in order to support connected and automated driving and truck platooning use cases.