Category News

The committees working to deliver the best possible technical content and visitor experience at the 2027 ITS World Congress in Birmingham have begun their work, beginning to draw up their plans for the prestigious global event.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the Department for Transport, Department of Business and Trade, ITS UK and Visit Britain are collaborating with the organiser, ERTICO – ITS Europe to bring transport technology to life at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC).

The Technical Working Group, chaired by Andy Graham of White Willow Consulting, is looking at showcasing practical, business-as-usual ITS applications that demonstrate real-world benefits, such as carbon reduction and increased mobility.

The group is working on securing a range of demonstrations including examples of interventions and collaborative traffic management between local authorities and national highways, as well as the latest in autonomous vehicles, urban air mobility and accessibility by design.

“We’re looking at demonstrating examples of ITS that will have a lasting impact for all the people who use transport,” Mr Graham explained.  “We are working on running a competition for new ideas to be demonstrated at the World Congress, which gives innovative companies, both established and start-ups, the opportunity to showcase their innovations to a global audience, as well as attracting industries to the event that don’t normally consider ITS.”

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The 6^th German Tunnel Congress organized by ITS Germany e.V. will take place in Düsseldorf May 14^th and 15th, 2025. .

The Tunnel Congress is the leading industry meeting and congress in the field of road tunnels for planners, operators, equipment manufacturers and technicians as well as representatives from science and education.

We are delighted that the Transport Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Oliver Krischer, will speak about North Rhine-Westphalia’s road, bridge and tunnel renovation offensive. 

 Prof Markus Oeser, President of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), will give a presentation on the escape behaviour of tunnel users in the event of fire. 

In addition to these and many other carefully selected presentations, there will again be the opportunity  to find out about new products, services  and applications at the accompanying trade exhibition.

An  excursion to three road tunnels in Düsseldorf and to the Traffic and Tunnel Control Center (VTLZ) is also on the agenda.

The congress language is German.

Get your ticket now!

You can find further information about the congress and program on the event website:  www.tunnelkongress2025.de  . 

We look forward to welcoming you to Düsseldorf. 

The European organisation ERTICO-ITS Europe has released the second edition of the ‘ITS Market Radar Report 2025’, created in cooperation with EY.

It provides an in-depth analysis of advancements in Intelligent Transport Systems and their impact on organisations that are ERTICO Partners in the following three ERTICO sectors: Public Authorities, Research and Users. Exploring trends, challenges, and opportunities, the report highlights how ITS can cultivate sustainable, innovative mobility solutions across Europe. This release is the continuation of the ITS Radar Reports series which ERTICO started last year on its two sectors: Traffic and Transport Industry and Service Providers.

The Radar Report provides an overview of the ITS sector, including its historical context and evolutions. It also describes key trends and innovations that are reshaping transport through a qualitative and quantitative analysis.

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The organisers of the 33^rd ITS World Congress at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre in October 2027 have announced the theme for the event:

Connect Ideas. Transform Transport.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the Department for Transport, Department of Business and Trade, ITS UK and Visit Britain, are collaborating with the organiser, ERTICO – ITS Europe to bring transport technology to life during five days from 25 to 29 October.

“Intelligent Transport has come a long way since the UK last hosted a World Congress, under the banner of ‘Delivering Transport Excellence’,” commented TfWM’s Head of Transport Innovation Chris Lane, who is leading the planning for the host region.  “The Congress will enable experts from around the world to work together to solve global challenges, sharing their experience and details of successful implementations, as well as their cutting-edge innovations.  Therefore, we will connect all the ideas that are making mobility safer, greener and more efficient across the globe – so we can work together to transform transport.”

The host region has brought together suppliers, consultants and government, along with media, business and exhibition professionals to plan the event, both from a technical and user experience perspective.  They are working with ERTICO to deliver the event, which is expected to attract more than 15,000 people to the West Midlands.

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The network of national Intelligent Transport Systems associations has hosted its first annual awards ceremony in the Swiss capital Bern, and honoured ITS veteran Trond Hovland with the title “Network Person of the Year”.

The five winners were:

• National Policy Champion Award (sponsored by The Traffic Group) – ITS Austria
• Membership Champion Award (sponsored by Ohmio) – Connekt, ITS Netherlands
• Next Generation Champion Award (sponsored by IDASO) – Intelligent Transport Systems UK
• Excellence in Transportation Award (sponsored by Neology) – ITS Türkiye
• Network Person of the Year Award (sponsored by SWARCO) – Trond Hovland, ITS Norway

Mr Hovland won the award, sponsored by SWARCO, in honour not only of his work in the last year, but for a career championing transport technology.  He has been Managing Director of ITS Norway since 2009 and before that worked for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for almost 18 years, holding several management positions and heading up large ICT procurement projects in the road and traffic data sector.

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The esteemed ITS professional Jennie Martin MBE is leading the judging panel for the inaugural ITS Nationals Awards taking place next month in Switzerland, sponsored by  The Traffic Group, Ohmio, IDASO, Neology and SWARCO.

The awards are designed to showcase how national Intelligent Transport Systems associations across Europe are supporting their fee-paying members in their countries and beyond.

They are being held in the Swiss capital Bern on 13 November ahead of the ITS Nationals Plenary meeting the next day, and recognise associations who have supported national policy, membership, the next generation and excellence in transport.

Mrs Martin (pictured), who was inducted into the ITS Hall of Fame at the ITS World Congress in Dubai last month, leads the judging panel.   “Having been involved in setting up the ITS Nationals 20 years ago, I am honoured to be asked to judge excellence across the Network this year,” Mrs Martin said.  “The ITS Nationals Network complements the work of ERTICO to share best practice among individual nations’ ITS associations.  The Network helps support their members, and by recognising those who do the best job these awards will, I’m sure, raise the bar across the continent.”

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The 30 members of the Network of National Intelligent Transport Systems Associations are preparing their entries for one of five new awards celebrating the best of the ITS Nationals Network with the deadline for entries being Wednesday 23 October 2024.

The new ITS Nationals Awards will be celebrated as part of the 20^th Anniversary of ITS Nationals, ahead of the Plenary Meeting taking place in the Swiss capital, Bern, next month.

The Awards are being made possible thanks to the support of five leading companies delivering cutting edge ITS solutions – The Traffic Group, Ohmio, IDASO, Neology and SWARCO.

“We want to get national associations thinking about what they do really well, so we can all use best practice as an opportunity to learn, and the ITS Nationals Awards are a way to make that happen” commented network Chair Dónal Hodgins.  “All national ITS associations are committed to supporting the organisations delivering transport technology and these awards will help us do celebrate these achievements, so I look forward to receiving entries from across the network.”

The ITS Nationals network complements the work of ERTICO, which set it up 20 years ago, to share best practice among individual nations’ ITS associations, and helps them support their members.

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The network of national Intelligent Transport Systems associations is looking to add to its knowledge sharing network by inviting country associations beyond Europe to join.

The comment was made at a breakfast event hosted on the UK Pavilion at the ITS World Congress in Dubai where the work of the 25-year old network was celebrated.

Nationals chair Donal Hodgins discussed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ITS Ireland and ITS Australia and looked to bring the Australians, ITS Canada and other interested parties into the network.

“Our network complements the excellent work of ERTICO, who set us up a quarter of a century ago, as we share best practice among individual nations’ ITS societies,” Mr Hodgins explained. “We are here to make sure all of these associations support their members as best as possible, and so the more members we have, the more we can copy our best bits and help each other solve their challenges.”

The breakfast event, hosted by ITS UK was joined by the Chair of ERTICO Dr Angelos Amditis and its CEO Joost Vantomme and attended by more than a dozen of the Network’s 30 members who are at the World Congress this week.

(Picture shows ITS UK Chief Executive Max Sugarman, ITS Australia President Silje Troseth and ITS Nationals Chair Donal Hodgins)

The network for national ITS Associations, which is made up of 30 Intelligent Transport Systems organisations from across Europe, is launching a series of awards to recognise excellence in supporting transport technology businesses.

Five awards will be given out on 13 November during a dinner ahead of the Network’s plenary meeting in the Swiss capital of Bern (pictured).

“The awards are designed to get national associations thinking about what they do really well, so we can all use best practice as an opportunity to learn,” commented Network Chair Dónal Hodgins.  “All national associations are committed to supporting the organisations delivering transport technology  and these awards will help us do that even better.”

There are five awards:

1. National Policy Champion Award

The association most successful at influencing ITS Policy on a national level during the past year

2. Membership Champion Award

The association with the best testimonials from Members of how they have helped them from the last twelve months

3. Next Generation Champion Award

The association evidencing the most effective activities to support early careers professionals during the past year

4. Excellence in Transportation Award

The association which stands out as being the most active and effective during the past year

5. Network Person of the Year Award

The individual most valued by the Network for their contribution.

To enter one of the first four awards, associations should submit a short statement outlining why they wish to be considered for any of the awards, including evidence from members or relevant stakeholders, such as Ministries. An independent panel will judge the submissions and arrive at a decision.  That panel will also choose the winner of the person of the year.

The individual awards may be sponsored by any member company or public body.  Prices are from just €950 and, as well as continent-wide publicity across ITS National Member organisations, sponsors will get an invitation to the dinner, their name associated with the prize in all publicity, get to offer a few words about the winner and brand themselves as sponsors of the ITS National Network Awards 2024.  More details are available from ITS Nationals Honorary Communications Lead, Paul Hutton.

(Picture – Yay Images)

Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) encompasses a range of technologies that connect and automate transportation systems, promising to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability in urban and rural environments.  But, as the latest ERTICO World Congress webinar explained, to deliver it, there are remaining challenges around technological integration, infrastructure modernisation, legal frameworks, cybersecurity and public trust.

The webinar hosted by ERTICO on 27 June was the final one in a series of three focusing on the main themes of the 30^th ITS World Congress in Dubai this September. In this webinar, “CCAM – more than the sum of its parts”, experts from Belgium, the UAE, United Kingdom, USA and Japan delved into some of the intricacies of Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility, and the journey from innovation to real-world deployment.

Stephane Dreher, Lead of CCAM at ERTICO-ITS Europe lead the debate, setting the scene by explaining that as well as being in the spotlight in Dubai, CCAM is one of the main areas that ERTICO is working on.  The vision is that, by 2025, there are operational CCAM services integrated in the current transport system that are, he said, “accepted, inclusive and supported by infrastructure in order to achieve the policy goals of the European Commission in terms of decarbonisation and safety.”

Picking up on the European strategy, Max Lemke, Head of the IoT unit at the European Commission’s DG CONNECT directorate, explained that the vehicle of the future will be electric, connected, autonomous – or at least featuring a degree of automation – and it will be shared, which means a big disruption for the industry.  He warned that this comes with technological challenges, explaining: “We see the lines of software code increasing, I would say exponentially, and that means productivity in software engineering is a key issue.  There’s a lack of talent, lack of resources and low productivity because we have to customise everything.”  He talked about different ways components are supplied and used, how value chains are changing and how vehicles become “smartphones on wheels” and must be affordable, before detailing how Europe is delivering its innovation strategy, and how the European culture is delivering with safety.

CCAM vehicles now have around a hundred million lines of code, and may need a billion lines by 2030.  “It’s staggering,” commented Dr Steve Dellenback, Vice President R&D at the Southwest Research Institute asking, “Does that code work, how do you test it? How do you make sure it works in all different scenarios?”  He warned about the management of expectations from the public around operational performance and safety adding: “If we’re truly going to be getting to 500 million or a billion lines of code, we are kidding ourselves if we think that these vehicles are going to be perfect. And so part of the discussion we need to be having moving forward is at what cost are we willing to deploy this technology, we can’t sell it as simply being crashless, that’s not going to be true to our travelling public.”

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