The CCAM Association organised dedicated events last week on the Work Programme 2023 Calls and the next CCAM SRIA drafting process. Dr Johanna Tzanidaki, ERTICO Chief Innovation Officer and Dr Stephane Dreher, I&D Senior Manager CCAM at ERTICO, participated in the meetings.

Invited by the CCAM Association, Maria Cristina Galassi from the European Commission, DG GROW presented on 17 January an update on CCAM-related EU Regulations, highlighting the progressive regulatory approach adopted by the Commission for driving automation. The presentation gave a glimpse into how the new Vehicle General Safety Regulation EU 2019/2144, adopted in July 2022, will be progressively introduced between July 2024 and July 2029. Read more about the presentation here.

On the same day, Dr Tzanidaki, co-leading the 4th Cluster on Integrating vehicles in the transport system, and Dr Dreher, leading the 7th Cluster on CCAM Partnership, attended the networking event together with the other CCAM members to build synergies and answer questions on the CCAM Calls of the Horizon Europe Work Programme for 2023.

The topic stemming from the cooperation of the CCAM Association, the 2ZERO and the Cities Missions platforms, ‘Co-designed smart systems and services for user-centred shared zero-emission mobility of people and freight in urban areas (HORIZON-MISS-2023-CIT-01-01) is currently open for project submission until 27 April. The other five CCAM-related calls (to be found for now in the Horizon Europe Work Programme for Climate, Energy and Mobility) will be open for submission from 4 May until 5 September.

On 18 January, the CCAM Partnership kicked off its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) review and update process with its first meeting for the SRIA of 2025. The objective of the review and update of the SRIA is to develop a strategic framework for the next phase of the Horizon European research programme and to take into account all the developments that took place from the time of the Partnership’s launch in 2021. A total of six horizontal topics were identified to be in need of updates, in addition to all the 7 CCAM Clusters-related content:

  • Regulatory actions
  • Recent events and policy context
  • Implementation phases for CCAM
  • Alignment, Exchanges, and Joint Actions with other Horizon Europe Partnerships and EU Programmes
  • Member States Representatives Group
  • International cooperation

It was not an easy task, but the core group, in which ERTICO –ITS Europe plays an important role in representing the ITS community, took up the challenge in the brown paper workshop and in the 7 CCAM Clusters’ group work. The extensive brainstorming results will constitute a firm basis for the drafting team.

Both Dr Tzanidaki and Dr Dreher participated in the workshop and contributed to the planning of the drafting of the next SRIA (2025). ERTICO is one of the few organisations with such a strategic involvement in defining the R&I direction and priorities to be funded by the European Commission.

“Our role in the CCAM Association is to ensure that the next SRIA for 2025 and the R&I Calls that stem from it continue to support the development and uptake of CCAM while making sure that the benefits of cooperation and connectivity in transport automation are taken into account in parity with the social, environmental and efficiency targets that the ERTICO Partnership has set for its work. ERTICO –ITS Europe is one of the founding organisations of the CCAM Association and fully committed to supporting the EC, the Member States and the CCAM stakeholders in the development and deployment of CCAM in Europe”, said Dr Tzanidaki.