Highlights From a Successful 14th ITS European Congress

The International Road Federation was proud to support the 14th European ITS Congress on 30 May – 01 June 2022 organised by ERTICO ITS Europe and Toulouse Métropole. The ITS European Congress offered a platform for thought leaders, developers, entrepreneurs and decision makers from the transport, logistics and IT industries to share ideas and progress smart and sustainable mobility. 

IRF Director General, Susanna Zammataro and IRF Deputy Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz, were pleased to join the transport community in Toulouse, France, to moderate and deliver insightful contributions on infrastructure, data and autonomous mobility. 

IRF Deputy Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz, moderated two sessions on 30 May: “Preparing the Infrastructure for Autonomous Mobility” and “Digital Data and Infrastructure”. The session “Digital Data and Infrastructure” hosted a panel of speakers from Monotoch, ERTICO, Transport & Mobility Leuven and Vicomtech Foundation. They  presented a series of technical papers on next-generation transport solutions. Some of the topics addressed during the session included C-ITS Communication, Road Data Sharing Services, New Mobility Data and 5G Features and Standards for Vehicle Data. 

The second session moderated by Alcaraz was a Special Interest Session under the theme “Preparing the infrastructure for Autonomous Mobility”. The session welcomed speakers from SWARCO, FACTUAL, ZF, ERF, and MAPtm. Its objective was to tackle key aspects of autonomous mobility as a means to respond to new transport demands and to deliver value to society and businesses. Drawing from the experience of the SHOW project – of which IRF is a member of the delivering consortium – a concrete example about the use of autonomous vehicles within the public transport realm was presented during the session. 

“Road infrastructure plays a fundamental role in the quest for reaching highly and fully autonomous mobility solutions, as the new paradigms and ecosystems of mobility require greater collaboration among all the stakeholders involved. We, as IRF, are committed to support this transition by creating and sharing knowledge, by providing access to our network and by advocating for safer, more efficient and sustainable solutions” commented IRF Deputy Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz. 

A session coordinated by Malika Seddi, Secretary General of ASECAP on 1^st June brought also gender and road safety high on the agenda of the congress. Speaking at the session, Susanna Zammataro, IRF Director General, recalled how road safety has always been central in the work of the International Road Federation. She stressed three points in her intervention.

The first one about the potential contribution of the private sector: “There’s a lot that we can learn from private sector since companies put a lot of effort into reducing risks and optimizing performance” she said. The second point was on the key role that infrastructure plays and the need for more targeted investments for new and upgraded infrastructure. In her thrird point, IRF DG recalled the important contribution that data and technology can provide in building the business case for safer roads. “But we also need to use more effectively the resources we already have. There are lots of low-hanging fruits out there, simple things that do not require additional investment” she stressed. Revising design standards so that they can address the needs of all road users is one of them. “For a long time, transport planning and design have paid little attention to gender” she said. Public investments in transport are still today very often made to meet the travel needs of adult men. And the planning is rarely informed by data and evidence on gender-based mobility needs. 

“Research has proved that women have safer and more sustainable mobility habits so preserving these habits by making the right investment choices will be critical to ensure a safer and low-carbon future” she concluded. 

The session also welcomed Jacqueline Erhart, ASFINAG AG, Emanuela Stocchi, AISCAT, Tiffany Vlemmings, NDW, Netherlands and Laura Coconea, SWARCO AG, as speakers.