From 16 to 22 September, the European Union (EU) celebrates European Mobility Week to emphasise the need for a new urban mobility model. “Better connections” is this year’s theme, fostering increased awareness and collaboration to achieve sustainable mobility across cities. Achieving better connections is at the very heart of what ERTICO does. ERTICO’s motto ‘Connecting the Dots’ underpins the European Mobility Week’s mission to encourage participating towns and cities to foster synergies between people and places by raising awareness about sustainable mobility and promoting behavioural change in favour of active, clean mobility solutions.
“ERTICO enables all sectors to connect across silos and stand united in the mobility landscape. Through the ERTICO Partnership and various activities, we collaborate effectively on new projects with the support of the European Commission,” says Joost Vantomme, ERTICO CEO.
Through its thought leadership, ERTICO supports the interests of public and private stakeholders across and beyond Europe by sharing knowledge and bridging the gaps between them. While holding a unique position within this realm, ERTICO aims to ‘Connects the Dots’ by gathering different actors from all sectors to create safer, smarter and cleaner mobility services and networks for all. This occurs across all ERTICO’s activities, including the ITS Congresses. Discover more about the next ITS European Congress hosted in Lisbon, from 20 – 22 May 2023.
The people-oriented approach and commitment to enhancing citizens’ mobility and quality of life are deeply rooted in ERTICO’s vision to establish collaborations with key actors and cities worldwide since they re-format the urban landscapes through the commitment to smarter mobility solutions and services. The ERTICO City Moonshot initiative builds on this approach to understanding cities’ constraints and challenges as the first step to seeking effective solutions. Through this initiative, ERTICO fosters a more profound understanding of the issues and challenges by interviewing city representatives worldwide. The resulting report provides detailed information about the main lines to address. 23 of the 32 European Countries participating in the European Mobility Week to promote sustainable and safer mobility alternatives are part of the City Moonshot knowledge environment.
Deploying innovation is central to ERTICO’s work to make mobility smarter, safer and cleaner, working with the Partnership across four focus areas: Connected, Cooperative & Automated Mobility (CCAM), Urban Mobility, Clean & Eco-Mobility, and Transport & Logistics. Each focus area is equally important for the entire ecosystem, and two of them are directly linked to the mission of European Mobility Week: Clean and Eco-Mobility, and Urban Mobility.
Clean and Eco-Mobility: Reducing the Environmental Impact
Last year, one of the major transport objectives of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow demonstrated that the transition to zero-emission road transport technology had reached a tipping point. This step-change towards mass-market clean mobility will focus on electric vehicles, necessary infrastructures, and the greater multimodality and shared mobility ecosystem. This was seen as a significant contribution to the European Green Deal. ERTICO works towards these goals by deploying ITS solutions, which can help reduce the carbon footprint and emissions by helping transport users and providers make smarter decisions. Innovative technologies, connectivity and automation, can drive the decarbonisation of transport, improve the use of cleaner technologies for better air quality and tackle congestion.
ERTICO actively works with and supports its Partners to develop greener services and products and assess the impact on the environment to facilitate the effective deployment of these solutions. ERTICO works on developing electro-mobility and associated services such as interoperable electric vehicle charging. The co-funded project, eCharge4Drivers, is one example of this, working towards facilitating users to charge an electric vehicle in urban areas and interurban corridors by focusing on their needs and concerns. The project demonstrates unique and convenient charging options in 10 demonstration sites in Europe, giving specific attention to the interoperability of systems and solutions developed.
Another important contributing project in this field is the MODALES project which aims to reduce air pollution by encouraging citizens to adopt low-emission driving behaviour and proper vehicle maintenance choice. Through an awareness campaign providing simple and practical driving tips to lower emissions, MODALES involves citizens in helping improve air quality in urban areas.
Going beyond Europe, the SOLUTIONSplus project brings different stakeholders together, including cities, industry, and research, to implementing organisations and finance partners to establish a global platform for sharing, public and commercial e-mobility solutions and promote low-carbon urban mobility. SOLUTIONSplus also works with start-ups and SMEs worldwide to co-develop e-mobility solutions that will lower emissions in urban areas.
During the European Mobility Week, SOLUTIONSPlus will be present to showcase some of the most recent results and achievements. John Paddington, Manager in the Innovation & Deployment department at ERTICO, says, “I am looking forward to attending the Urban Mobility Days to find out the latest about moving goods and people sustainably. I look forward to catching up with ERTICO partners and making new contacts, particularly at the SOLUTIONSplus stand”.
Urban Mobility: Delivering Seamless Mobility for All
In cities and urban areas, vehicle technologies, traffic and transport systems, and internet applications are coming together in a fast-growing ecosystem of new ‘connected mobility’ services for travellers and transport users. Future transport policies, including sustainable and smart mobility principles, will link more directly to urban and rural demographic changes. Even though people have been at the very centre of European Mobility Week for more than 20 years, a more inclusive and holistic decision-making process holds the potential to support the people’s voice.
A key priority for ERTICO’s focus in the Urban Mobility area is to support the widespread deployment of a new generation of cooperative, connected and personalised mobility services. One of ERTICO’s flagship initiatives in this area is the co-funded SHOW project. With 70 partners, it advances sustainable and automated urban mobility across Europe. Several demo sites under deployment, an educational approach and citizen engagement make SHOW Europe’s most significant and holistic real-life CCAV urban demonstration. Understanding people’s concerns and requirements ensure that the project’s outcome meets their needs. SHOW’s pre-acceptance survey allows everyone to share their thoughts on automated mobility. In parallel to the European Mobility Week, SHOW will launch another demo in Brno during the Urban Mobility Days. Automated Demand-Responsive Transport (DTR) and a robot taxi service will boost the city’s public transport, increasing connectivity. These autonomous vehicles have been tested over the last months and will be open to the public on 20 September.
