Tag ERTICO

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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ERTICO – ITS Europe is launching a new initiative within its Partnership – the “Thought Leadership Journeys” webinar series.

Members and partners of its network, including those from the ITS Nationals Network, are invited to join us the first edition titled “EU Mobility Shift: Navigating the Transition Pathway”.

Scheduled for 29 April 2024 from 12:30-13:30 (CET), this webinar marks a significant stride in fostering collaboration and innovation across the European mobility landscape. Through engaging discussions, esteemed speakers from various sectors will delve into strategies, challenges, and opportunities in navigating the transition pathway within the European mobility sector. 

Kindly register here by 25 April to reserve your spot and actively participate in this transformative dialogue.

Keynote Address:
Lorena Ionita, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), European Commission, will share valuable insights into the collaborative development of the “Transition Pathway” report recently launched by the European Commission.

Speakers:
Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO, will highlight the significance of the EU mobility industrial ecosystem and ERTICO’s role in facilitating dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders.Dr Stefan Dreher, ERTICO Senior I&D Manager, will showcase relevant ERTICO projects and initiatives fostering innovation and competitiveness in the automotive industry.Stefan Deix, Director of EUCAR, the European Council for Automotive R&D, will provide insights into mobility transition pathways from the automotive OEM perspective.

Moderator:
Agne Vaitekenaite, Partnership Development Manager at ERTICO, will facilitate the interactive Q&A session, allowing participants to engage directly with the speakers and delve deeper into the topics discussed.

This webinar presents a unique opportunity for industry leaders, policymakers, and experts to collectively shape the future of mobility in Europe. 

The organisers of next year’s ITS World Congress in Dubai are reminding potential speakers at technical sessions that they only have two more weeks to submit their ideas for consideration.

Director of Communications, Congresses and Events, Lisa Boch-Andersen has written to the industry saying she wants to ensure that your valuable contributions reach us on time. 

You can submit your contribution here before the deadline of 15 December.

To guarantee a seamless submission, would-be participants are encouraged to create a profile here. This preliminary step is described as crucial to ensuring that you are well-equipped to submit your contributions smoothly. 

The event takes place in Dubai from 16-20 September 2024.

(Picture – ERTICO)

Following the newly adopted European Directive on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe, shares his insights on the importance of this legislation and what opportunities it entails for the entire industry. He emphasises ERTICO’s unique thought leadership role and gives examples of some key activities which are in line with the updated Directive. Facilitating the digital transformation of transportation is at the heart of ERTICO and efficiency is a key component which mirrors the updates made from the previous legislation dating to 2010. Joost Vantomme’s final remarks in the interview touch upon the five-year framework and forthcoming publication on implementation central to ERTICO and the wider support to assist the European Commission, the Member States as well as national ITS organisations.

What is the new European framework about?

The Directive aims to promote coordinated deployment of intelligent transport systems across Europe. It provides a framework for developing and implementing technologies to improve the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of transportation systems within the European Union (EU).

On 23 October 2023, the Council of Ministers of the EU adopted the long-awaited revised ITS directive following the agreement of the European Parliament. This process was initiated in 2021 by the European Commission after an extensive consultation period with the public and private actors, including ERTICO-ITS Europe.

The new European legislation should ensure that ITS applications in the field of road transport enable seamless integration with other modes of transport, such as rail or active mobility, thus facilitating a shift to those modes whenever possible, to improve efficiency and accessibility.

Why is this relevant for ERTICO and its Partners?

Innovation and ITS is the DNA of ERTICO. Our public-private European partnership was founded in 1991 at the initiative of 15 industry leaders and the European Commission to fill the gap between research and deployment of transport & mobility services. ‘Connecting the dots’ across eight sectors across the ecosystem is our motto.

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Our friends at the European Intelligent Transport Systems organisation, ERTICO – ITS Europe are recruiting three new members of staff.

They are a Partnership and Governance Officer, Project Support Manager and Project Manager.

The definitions are below:

Partnership and Governance Officer Are you ready to play an important role in helping our membership grow? As a Partnership & Governance Officer, you’ll be the bridge between our partners and governance bodies, ensuring seamless collaboration. Get ready for a diverse role spanning various sectors across the EMEA region. Click here for more details.

Project Support Manager: Join the Innovation & Deployment team and the driving force of our project developments including dissemination, and technical tasks in project management. Under the guidance of our (Senior) Project Managers, you’ll contribute to groundbreaking developments in the field. Click here for more details.

Project Manager (Specialist in ITS): Become a leader of a project team, responsible for all aspects of project management. Contribute to our strategy of bringing intelligence into mobility and the promotion of ITS in Europe and beyond through participation in ERTICO activities and new developments. Click here for more details.

Submit your application to: recruitment@mail.ertico.com

Watch this video to find out more:

(Logo courtesy of ERTICO)

The organisers of the successful ITS European Congress 2023 in Lisbon have posted a highlights video showcasing the buzz around the event.

It features quotes from organisers along with images of the exhibition, sessions and social events.

Watch it here:

(Picture – Highways News)

“It’s nice to have all these companies and institutions showcasing their nice things,” says Joost Vantomme on this week’s Highways Voices podcast, “but what does the user think of that? What does the citizen think of that? There’s a lot of questions on the new technologies. How do they work? What do they promise?”

The ERTICO – ITS Europe CEO is looking ahead to this year’s ITS European Congress in Lisbon which runs from 22-24 May, and explains how new technology in transport will be put into the context of improving mobility with real-world examples.

Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!

His colleague Lisa Boch-Andersen, who is Director of Communications, Congress and Events at ERTICO adds that Lisbon is a living example of transport technology, “It really is one of the major economic centres with a very busy transport network,” she explains. “It has a lot of different mobility initiatives. It has major container ports, big bridges, and they just informed that there would be no major traffic in the centre of Lisbon.”

You’ll hear all about the different themes of the congress and also from LCRIG Director Kerry Winstanley about the UK Pavilion and how a range of British SMEs are exhibiting at the European Congress thanks to support from the Department Business and Trade, the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG. These are; Zenzic, Navtech Radar, Clearview Intelligence, Nicander, Now Wireless, Angoka, Ito World, Arup, Neology, Grid Smarter Cities, See.Sense and VESOS. Members of the Department for Transport, Innovate UK and Intelligent Transport Systems UK will also be participating on the stand and there will be a visit to it from British Ambassador to Portugal, Chris Sainty.

The ITS World Congress 2024 will be held in Dubai – the first time the European leg of the three-year cycle takes place outside of continental Europe itself.

To promote the event, the organisers ERTICO – ITS Europe has announced a webinar to take place on Monday 27 March from 9.45am CET.

Dubai Roads and Transport Authority and ERTICO will explain about the partnership and exhibition opportunities at the Congress, which will be held in Dubai from 16-20 September, 2024.

The webinar will feature background presentations, details of the host venue, an open discussion from high level organisations aiming at sponsorship and exhibition plus Q and A.

The Congress is billed as the chance to highlight Dubai’s latest accomplishments in the field of Intelligent Mobility Services, alongside those of the rest of the world. It is also a great opportunity to network with key mobility stakeholders and learn about the different ways of proactively engaging in the Congress.

To sign up, click here before Friday 24 March.

The Network of National ITS Associations (ITS Nationals) is strengthening its ties with ERTICO-ITS Europe, as the two organisations continue to work together to make their partnership stronger.

ITS Nationals, which has an objective to ensure that ITS knowledge and information is transmitted to all its members across the region, has accepted an invitation from ERTICO’s CEO, Joost Vantomme, to join the ERTICO Strategy Committee as a permanent member.  Vice Chair, Dónal Hodgins will attend quarterly meetings of the Committee, which provides an advisory role to the Supervisory Board of ERTICO.  His presence, representing the 28 national ITS organisations will support closer cooperation between the two entities and improve cohesiveness between European ITS stakeholders.

Mr Vantomme has also invited ITS Nationals Chair, Günther Weber, to represent the organisation for a dedicated agenda slot at the ERTICO Supervisory Board Meetings at regular intervals as this will reinforce common goals and cement relationships further.

Furthermore, Mr Vantomme suggest the ITS Nationals to become an official member of the Board of Directors for the ITS World Congresses and Martin Russ, Managing Director of ITS Austria, will be the ITS National’s representation. Mr Russ has a long experience and history in organising and promoting large events for the ITS community, including the ITS World Congress in Vienna in 2012.

“The work delivered by ERTICO-ITS Europe and the ITS Nationals Network across Europe complement each other very well,” explained Günther Weber. “While ERTICO-ITS Europe liaises with the European institutions and wider international governance bodies and delivers high-level thought leadership and stakeholder engagement, the Network delivers expertise at a local level among innovators in almost every country on the European continent. By collaborating and sharing our expertise innovation and ideas, ITS Nationals benefits the entire ITS industry and helps to advance digitalisation and servicesto deliver safer, greener and more cost effective transportation compared totraditionalsolutions.”

“Since my first day as CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe in January 2022, I wanted to foster a close dialogue and connect the dots with the ITS associations at national level. Pleased to see this come true. Both of us complement each other and voice the value of smart and sustainable mobility with concrete deliverables for citizens and business”, comments Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO.“We are one ITS family with each of us having our own action radius. 1+1=3 in this elevated partnership. More to come on our cooperation!”

ITS Nationals is supporting and will be represented at the ITS European Congress in Lisbon from 22 – 24 May.

(Picture shows members of the ITS Nationals team including Chair Günther Weber, third from right with Joost Vantomme, second from right, courtesy of ITS Nationals/ERTICO)

With two weeks to go until the first ITS European Congress in three years, the organisers ERTICO have issued an online preview document, and are planning a further Congress-related webinar.

The three-day event in the French city of Toulouse starts in two weeks’ time (Monday 30 May). It comprises plenary sessions, papers, special interest papers, an exhibition, demonstrations, technical visits and networking.

Read the full preview here.

The fifth and final webinar on the Congress topic ‘From Largescale Trials to Deployment’ takes place on Thursday 19 May, from 1.00-2.15pm UK time. Sign up here.

The ITS Nationals Network will be meeting in Toulouse at a special session on Tuesday 31 May.

(Picture – ERTICO)