ERTICO at the 2023 ITS European Congress in Lisbon

ITS: The Game Changer is the rousing theme of the 15^th ITS European Congress in Lisbon. ERTICO’s Projects and Platforms will once again be out in full force at the Congress to present their activities and results related to the innovation and deployment of safer and more efficient and sustainable mobility through ITS. By way of displays at the ERTICO stand (A14 in the exhibition area), special interest sessions (SIS), workshops, training sessions and even a hackathon, ERTICO will look to heighten the impact of various projects and initiatives it is engaged in together with its Partners.

In just under a week, over 2000 attendees are expected to come together at the Congress to exchange ideas, showcase results and solutions, collect feedback from their peers, and create or expand their networks around five main topics: Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility; New Mobility Services; Freight & Logistics; Digitalisation and the Data Value Chain; and Future Traffic Management.

This year, a record number of Projects and Platforms will participate in the Congress, which also feature on the ERTICO roadmaps for four focus areas: Cooperative & Connected Mobility (CCAM), Clean & Eco-Mobility, Transport & Logistics, and Urban Mobility. The Projects include: 5G-META, FAME, GUIDE, IN2CCAM, NAPCORE, PODIUM, SINFONICA, SUNRISE, V4SAFETY, WE-TRANSFORM (CCAM); eBRT2030, eCharge4Drivers, MODALES, NextETRUCK, SOLUTIONSplus (Clean & Eco-Mobility); 5G-LOGINNOV, FENIX, PLOTO, STORM (Transport & Logistics); and  SHOW (Urban Mobility). Platforms which are either led by ERTICO or where ERTICO has a prominent role include: ADASIS, DFRS, EAVP, MaaS Alliance, SENSORIS, TM2.0, TN-ITS. Also present at the Congress will be ERTICO’s cross-sector initiatives such as The ERTICO Academy and ERTICO City Moonshot, as well as the STREnGth_M and PrepDSpace4Mobility projects of which ERTICO is a consortium member.

CCAM AT THE NEXT LEVEL

For some time now, submissions on the topic of CCAM have consistently outnumbered all others at ITS Congresses. Recently, however, there has been a noticeable widening of the focus to go beyond technology development. Discussions on CCAM now prominently include matters of policy but also societal and environmental factors. This emerging trend is illustrated by some of ERTICO’s sessions: SIS 19 User needs for inclusive and equitable deployment of CCAM discusses how CCAM practitioners and stakeholders can best incorporate user needs – which may vary based on gender, age and ability or disability – into CCAM initiatives. SIS 44 Policy dialogue: how can CCAM support achieving EU climate-neutrality by 2050 will explore the potential of CCAM to reduce emissions from road transport by improving the safety and efficiency of the mobility network, while also discussing the policy framework required to maximise these benefits. SIS 11 and SIS 18, entitled Towards realising seamless automated cross-border mobility, make up a two-part session investigating the opportunities to deploy seamless automated mobility within the TEN-T network as envisioned within the CEF2 framework. The technology readiness and new mobility products and applications to expedite seamless cross-border connected and automated mobility will be discussed.

NEW MOBILITY SERVICES WE CAN USE

ITS innovation has delivered, and continues to bring to us, new mobility services. Despite the wide variety of choice, it is not always clear who really benefits from what is on offer. SIS 56 The mobility network: MaaS and Us look into reconciling the interests served by personalised mobility through the Mobility as a Service concept on one hand, and transport systems prioritising the provision of fluid and efficient traffic flows, accessibility to transport and liveable urban and peri-urban spaces on the other hand. SIS 42 Infrastructure, charging, and battery needs for novel electric micromobility shifts the focus to a group that is at times neglected in discussions of electric vehicles. The session will look at some use cases of the various vehicles covered under the term “micromobility”, the diverse groups of users they serve, and the impact that has on charging needs and infrastructure.

MOVING PEOPLE AND GOODS

The topic of Freight and Logistics will have many interesting sessions at the Congress exploring the impact of digitalisation (including eCMR, eFTI, etc.), CCAM, and platooning, to name but a few. Two ERTICO sessions consider some benefits but also some potential obstacles associated with the deployment of ITS in this area:  SIS 10 Future-ready workforce in mobility and transport: challenges and opportunities will discuss the skills and training that will be required by current and future transport professionals and appointed public officials in building smart transport and mobility. The session will highlight capacity building and upskilling as possible strategic goals of organisations where jobs are impacted by the effects of digitalisation, electrification and automation. SIS 33 5G based logistics: business challenges and new opportunities focuses on three Phase 3 5G-PPP projects that are using 5G to create smart solutions in the transport and logistics vertical: 5G-LOGINNOV, which aims to optimise freight operations at ports and logistics hubs; 5G-BLUEPRINT, which aims to design and validate a technical architecture and business and governance models for uninterrupted cross-border teleoperated transport; and VITAL-5G, which aims to enable the testing and validation of network applications in real-life conditions.

DATA: THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT

While there is little doubt that digitalisation and the use of data have been game changers in the development of ITS and Smart Mobility, there are still a number of questions among stakeholders about how to optimise the data value chain. ERTICO sessions at the Lisbon Congress will look at different aspects of this. SIS 13 Safety-Related Traffic Information: How can a mobility data space help road safety? will take on the issue of data sharing, specifically related to data for road safety (DFRS). Stakeholders from the public sector and industry will weigh in on the balance between public and commercial interests when it comes to safety data within the SRTI ecosystem.  SIS 21 Trusted data exchange infrastructure will discuss the role played by Member States along with the involvement of industry (via the NAPCORE project) and data exchange standards (such as DATEX, TN-ITS, ITXPT, etc.) – complemented by efforts at the European level – to enable trusted, authenticated, qualified data exchange between data providers and data users, while guaranteeing data sovereignty and integrity along the entire data chain. SIS 37 Data sharing and mobility data space, challenges and role of standards relates to the preparatory work of the common European mobility data space (EMDS) in identifying needs and requirements of various stakeholder groups. This session focusses on Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) – a requirement for new vehicle models/types since July 2022 (thanks also in part due to work done by the DFRS group) – and considers the stakeholder roles, standards and the whole data value chain required for its success.

THE WAY FORWARD WITH FUTURE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

The full benefits of the innovations in mobility and transport – whether in CCAM, new mobility services, door-to-door transport of goods – can only be reaped if they are supported by efficient and resilient traffic management systems. SIS 47 Deployment, traffic management and stakeholder coopetition discusses the different roles shared by various stakeholders in an interactive traffic management system based on coopetition. The session examines whether such a shared model, with public authorities as the main orchestrators of the system, does in fact best serve the authorities’ priorities as well as the business interests of the traffic industry, in order to make TM2.0 more than a theoretical concept.  SIS 59 ITS to mitigate climate change and reduce pollution: impacts and quick wins will bring together public and private stakeholder associations, along with city and traffic industry representatives to shed light on tangible and measurable performance indicators and results achieved on the transition to greener mobility.

ERTICO and its Partners invite you to engage with us in our specialist sessions and to visit our booth at the exhibition.

The full Programme is available on the ITS European Congress website.

We look forward to seeing you in Lisbon!