The Chief Rapporteur for the ITS European Congress has told the event’s closing ceremony in Seville that Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) is a reality now.
Professor Eric Sampson told delegates that CCAM has moved beyond trials to real-world deployments, especially in areas like shuttles and delivery robots. He added that artificial Intelligence plays an increasing role, and the focus has shifted to societal impact and sustainability alongside technical development.
The audience heard that emergent technologies are key to digital mobility transformation, with a strong momentum across Europe to integrate real-time data, analytics, and user-centric platforms. However, he warned there are barriers to progress: “We need an EU data exchange architecture in order to support the public exchange of information,” he said. MaaS [Mobility as a Service] technologies could be deployed within this architecture enabling synergies between them thereby fostering more efficient and effective mobility across Europe. This technological support would also help to embed micromobility in multimodal networks.”
Professor Sampson also said that societal impact and inclusivity are gaining traction, with the sector placing more emphasis on accessible and inclusive mobility solutions, particularly involving people with disabilities and vulnerable groups. Data and seamless user experiences are central to shaping future mobility behaviour.
Among the other topics discussed this week, he said, was how resilient and safe mobility requires smarter data use. Improving resilience involves not just technology but smarter integration of data and AI, he explained. Cycling and its economic, safety, and social impacts were highlighted as needing better Europe-wide data and strategic support.
Finally, Professor Sampson, who has been involved in some way with every World and ITS European Congress since the first World Congress in Paris in 1994, said policy and behaviour change are the main barriers now, not the technology itself.
“Seville 2025 has shown us that European ITS can deliver mobility that is accessible for all, affordable, resilient, has zero fatalities and has zero emissions,” he concluded. “But delivering two or more of these goals at the same time remains hard. Technology is ready but policy making is lagging. If we accepted the price of deciding to reach key goals quickly, then Zero fatalities and Zero emissions are within reach. The barriers are mostly about waiting for the perfect solution or unwillingness to pay more for better or adapt our behaviour. The message to all of us is that we need to change – now.”
As an excellent week in Seville draws to a close, the video in the link below features many statistics about the success of the ITS European Congress 2025 – and see if you can spot Highways News making an appearance in the film.
https://youtu.be/r0gwBPSD8LY
(Picture – Highways News)
