The ITS World Congress is the ultimate occasion to have access to the global ITS community. This prestigious event facilitates knowledge sharing as well as the opportunity to showcase the latest innovations, whilst networking with the world’s leading mobility pioneers. Every feature of the ITS World Congress that includes the Conference, the Exhibition, Demonstrations, Technical Visits are all aimed at attracting experts and visitors committed to pushing the boundaries of modern mobility.
Against all odds, the 2021 World Congress in Hamburg registered a record 15.000 registrations and represented a valuable opportunity for senior Government and High-Level Industry Leaders from countries worldwide to discuss experiences and strategies related to the application of transport technology. Ultimately, it offered the opportunity to review how to best enhance people’s daily lives through seamless, smart and sustainable mobility solutions.
Let’s discover what emerged when ERTICO-featured projects considering the four key focus areas: Connected & Automated Driving (CAD), Urban Mobility, Clean Mobility and Transport & Logistics were presented at the ITS World Congress.
Connected & Automated Driving (CAD)
As one of the main focus areas where ERTICO is active, several CAD projects and platforms at differing levels of maturity were featured at the ITS World Congress. Tapping into ERTICO’s main objectives in the CAD area (1. Foster interoperable, reliable and compliant connectivity for automation; 2. Assess the impact of automated vehicle functions through large-scale pilots; 3. Contribute to the developments of Big Data in transport to serve automation), the projects highlighted represent ERTICO’s long-standing successes:
ADASIS & SENSORIS: Since 2015, the Open Auto Drive Forum (OADF) has continuously moderated a horizontal discussion and harmonization process between standardization organizations in the field of Automated Driving (AD). ADASIS & SENSORIS are members of this network, together with Navigation Data Standard, Traveller Information Services Association (TISA), SIP-Adus and TN-ITS. In particular, at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg were presented recent advancements on HD maps and map updates, downstream map and traffic data, upstream sensor data, in-vehicle data, field trials and the relations between these activities.
CONCORDA: CONCORDA has been conducting tests at sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and Spain, with an aim to improve the interoperability of test sites. In Hamburg, the Project manager Dr. Eusebiu Catana presented the Project as part of a Special Session on Friday 15th “Autonomous Vehicle & Platooning – what next!?”. Presentations of the speakers about lessons learnt & results can be found here.
ICT4CART: The 2021 ITS World Congress hosted the Final Event of the ICT4CART project. During the event, the consortium showcased the results achieved over the last three years, presenting the testing conducted at the four projects demo sites and illustrate how ICT4CART solutions will improve the daily life of EU citizens, while creating new market opportunities for large companies and SMEs. More info on the event and the project’s results can be found here.
TN-ITS GO: For the TN-ITS community, the ITS World Congress week started with the flagship event ‘TN-ITS GOes urban‘, which aimed at highlighting what TN-ITS can do for public authorities – including cities – and its role in the data space, as well as support improvements in city navigation and traffic management. This event was then followed by the Special Interest Session 104 ‘Intelligent Infrastructure & Mobility: automation and road infrastructure categorisation impacting the mobility data space’. Organised by Stephen T’siobel (ERTICO), the sessions brought together TN-ITS representatives, map makers and associations to discuss the road ahead when it comes to mobility data space and automated driving. More info (and recordings!) available here.
5GMETA: Still relevantly in its early phases, the EU-funded 5GMETA project is developing an open platform to leverage car-captured data to stimulate and facilitate innovative products and services. During the congress, Djibrilla Amadou Kountche from the consortium member AKKA presented the 5GMETA approach to monetisation and access in-vehicle data and resources during the Technical Paper Session 25. The project also presented at the ERTICO Stand recapturing the project’s achievements and goals.
5G-MOBIX: The congress schedule of 5G-MOBIX was packed with sessions and workshops. During the Technical Paper Session 4, Tiago Dias from the consortium member A-to-Be presented the cloud-based HD maps in the 5G-MOBIX CBC Trial on the Spanish-Portuguese border. The week continued with the 5G Connecting to Future Mobility Workshop where coupled with presentations on the most fascinating developments in the industry, Elina Aittoniemi from the consortium member VTT described the issues, 5G technologies, use-cases that are being trialed and their impact in 5G-MOBIX, accompanied by a brief overview of the use-cases of the other ICT-18 projects. And finally during SIS 99, Nazli Guney from the consortium member Turkcell and Roman Saakel from consortium member DETECON talked about the 5G-MOBIX trials in Turkey-Greece corridor and 5G Road coverage in the Netherlands and Germany among other things. 5G-MOBIX also presented at the ERTICO stand together with the two other sister projects 5GCARMEN and 5GCroCo.
Urban Mobility
A key priority for ERTICO in Urban Mobility is to support the widespread deployment of a new generation of cooperative, connected and personalised mobility services. ERTICO’s goal for 2030 is to achieve full integration of all these mobility solutions. As showcased during the different sessions and activities held at the 2021 ITS World Congress, our top-notch projects and platforms are crucial to developing the mobility of the future. 
SHOW: Strong with its consortium that counts about 70 partners, the SHOW project had a busy week at the ITS World Congress! SHOW truly reached out to the world by engaging with key stakeholders, sharing knowledge and insights on the project, and presenting the project’s goals, real-life demonstrations and results in several special interest sessions, workshops and technical paper sessions. Last but not least, the unique CCAM-oriented SHOW pre-hackathon workshop took place on Tuesday 12 October. Discover more here!
TISA: TISA and members NNG, GEWI, TomTom, BBK, WDR, and BMT presented the partnership and the latest updates at the Special Interest Session 28 organised by Stéphanie Chaufton, TISA Coordinator at ERTICO. TISA members also talked about the latest updates especially on TPEG-EAW protocol and the results of early trials on other Special Interest Sessions TISA was invited to. TISA and members had a stand where two demonstrations were made: Interactions of Automated vehicles with approaching emergency vehicles as well as the effectiveness of the TPEG-EAW protocol: official emergency alerts and warnings to travellers.
Clean Mobility
Transport currently accounts for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and making mobility more sustainable is a key policy objective of governments, EU and international organisations. As part of our efforts to improve air quality and reduce emissions, ERTICO has some projects focused on developing smart mobility innovations and solutions that can make a major contribution towards decarbonisation. Below are some insights from the Congress:
ADASIS & SENSORIS: Following the latest internal release of ADASIS v3.2 in September 2021, the ADASIS platform was also introduced in the Special Interest Session 93 ‘Impact of CCAM and digital infrastructure standards on air quality targets’. When discussing the adoption of innovation platforms, such as ADAS-Horizon and SENSORIS specifications, the environmental factor is taken into account. As described by ERTICO Senior Manager, Jean-Charles Pandazis, the implementation of ADAS Map enables predictive gear shifting to optimise energy use and supports strategic driving choices which help in selecting safe speed and fuel-efficient movements. In parallel, the development of an extended sensor network would allow to production of dynamic information about road traffic management. In this perspective, SENSORIS’ data gathered from the vehicle sensors will enable accurate planning of speed profile, optimisation of powertrain control and route planning.
SOLUTIONSplus: After almost two years of work on e-mobility solutions, the SOLUTIONSplus project came to the ITS World Congress to discuss the link between e-mobility and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), bringing on the table real-life experiences from the cities of Hamburg (Germany) and Nanjing (China), as well as prospective implementations in the city of Quito (Ecuador) in the Special Interest Session 95 ‘e-Mobility as a Service’. Chaired by Andrew Winder (ERTICO), the session explored the relationship between e-mobility in the current pursuit to decarbonise transport systems and establish a link with ITS solutions that can help in achieving this goal. Click here to read more!
MODALES: In the special interest session during the Congress, MODALES teamed up with sister EU-funded projects uCARe and CARES, as well as the company HERE. The session, moderated by Jean-Charles Pandazis (ERTICO), focused on complementary approaches showing how ITS can be used in a practical way to influence drivers and assist authorities in order to improve air quality. MODALES was presented firstly by its coordinator Andrew Winder (ERTICO) explained the project background, the low-emission driving app, online training and the trials of the app and training in city-regions across Europe and in China. Haibo Chen (University of Leeds), then described the MODALES approach to the monitoring and modelling of emissions from the powertrain (exhaust emissions), brakes and tyres, as well as driving behaviour factors and MODALES’ work on retrofits for NOx reduction from diesel engines. MODALES had also a light-box at the ERTICO Stand where more detailed information on the project along with the latest project video was shown to visitors. Please visit MODALES website to get a more detailed overview of the MODALES session at the Congress and to access the presentations.
eCharge4Drivers: eCharge4Drivers, a project devoted to offering charging solutions for electric mobility was presented by Maria Pia Fanti from consortium member Polytechnic University of Bari during her speech on Smart charging solutions for electric mobility in Technical Paper Session 5. On Thursday, during a Special Interest Session devoted to user-friendly, sustainable charging technologies and services organised by consortium member ICCS, eCharge4Drivers and other EU funded projects offering smart charging solutions were discussed. eCharge4Drivers also had a light box at the ERTICO Stand along with a leaflet/postcard offering more information on the project. Visit the website to find out more.
Transport & Logistics
ERTICO’s aim in Transport & Logistics is to increase interoperability, connectivity in the optimisation of cargo flows, and to facilitate supply chain management, whilst making better use of existing resources. By 2030, ERTICO’s goal is to achieve seamless logistics and freight transport and nearer to 2025, achieve full digitalisation and automation of freight and logistics operations. Our platforms and activities showcased their latest results during the ITS World Congress:
TM 2.0: Starting with an early-bird General Assembly on Tuesday 12 and closing with a three-sessions workshop fully dedicated to traffic management, data exchange and micromobility opportunities. TM 2.0 platform reflects the intentions of the automotive industry and ERTICO partners in shaping smart mobility solutions for the private and public transport sector. Speakers underlined the importance of cooperation and alignment among stakeholders describing them as key factors to successfully achieve common targets. As recalled during the Academy session, real-time predictive traffic management can influence the behaviour of road users facilitating communications across the entire value chain. Traffic information, traffic estimation, traffic prediction, decision support and strategy distributions were highlighted as essential tools in traffic management. Exploring real-life examples such as the Socrates 2.0 CEF project run by the Dutch Ministry, the potentiality of the integration of TM 2.0 and MaaS and the rapid diffusion of micromobility solutions in the traffic network allowed participants to understand the win-win possibilities for all stakeholders involved.
ENSEMBLE: After the successful public demonstration in the Barcelona region at the end of September, the ENSEMBLE project was also among the flagship projects at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg. In particular, the Project Coordinator of ENSEMBLE Dr. Marika Hoedemaeker took part to SIS 38. This session was focused on the analysis of results of collaboration activities between Europe and Japan and related to safety assurance and field operational tests for CAD. Moreover, she also joined TP13, TP19 and TP26. These discussions had strong importance in demonstrating the impact and joint lessons from ENSEMBLE Project and how multi-brand truck platooning is becoming a reality in Europe. Last but not least, on Friday 15 October, Dehlia Willemsen, Programme manager at TNO discussed the ENSEMBLE approach. Functionality emerged as the key factor to improve truck platooning techniques and to further alignment strategies also implementing a continuous feedback system. Aiming at putting what was learnt into normal driving, the latest findings and impact assessments will be presented in Antwerp in March 2022.
5G-LOGINNOV: 5G-LOGINNOV Project had its dedicated booth at ERTICO stand and its Project Manager Dr. Eusebiu Catana moderated and joined several of the Special Interest Sessions (SIS). SIS 91 and SIS 96 were crucial events to discuss about 5G implementation technologies via several real-life demonstrations. Check them out, together with the speaker lists visiting 5G-LOGINNOV webpage. Moreover, at the ITS Future Champion Contest (see picture) Dr. Catana announced the winners of the Open Call for the selection of five innovative start-ups and SMEs aiming to develop 5G-based solutions in the framework of activities carried out at the three Living Labs of the project Athens (Greece), Hamburg (Germany) and Luka Koper (Slovenia). Read the names on the article by clicking here.
FENIX: FENIX had a busy schedule at the Congress with an entire SIS session dedicated to it, a presentation on the Technical Paper session, and the General Assembly. During SIS 91, consortium members NeoGLS, ETP-Alice, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, P&G Belgium, PTV Group and a representative from DG MOVE of European Commission talked about the importance of the connectivity and unity FENIX Network offers and demonstrated the use cases on trial sites. Dr. Eusebiu Catana, Senior Manager at ERTICO presented the FENIX Network and its goals and achievements so far during the Technical Paper Session 19. On Wednesday morning, FENIX General Assembly took off with participants attending both in-person and online. Trial plans have been consolidated and decisions to move forwards have been taken. Please visit this link to get a more detailed overview of the FENIX activities and to access the presentations of all the speakers from the sessions.
This year’s ITS Summit offered insightful perspectives on five prevalent challenges that include modal shift, public acceptance, avoiding regional stand-alone solutions, market dynamics and regulations, and coping with increasing city logistics. In Hamburg, the main aim was to turn many theoretical ideas into practical policy and, in relation to this objective delegates underlined their willingness to continue working together to address city mobility challenges by deploying efficient and sustainable ITS solutions. Let’s continue the journey towards innovation and keep working together to propose newer smart solutions at the Los Angeles ITS World Congress 2022.
ERTICO delivers innovation through its projects to help the path towards a smarter and more sustainable world in the mobility sector. Learn more at ertico.com
