The 30th Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress is getting underway in Dubai. The Opening Ceremony will feature the emirate’s leader, His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, underscoring the importance of the Congress to Dubai’s vision of becoming a global hub for smart and sustainable mobility.
The organisers ERTICO say his attendance reflects the city’s commitment to leading innovation in transport and infrastructure.
Also speaking is Dr. Michio Kaku, the globally renowned futurist and physicist, who will deliver a keynote address. Dr. Kaku will give insights on the future of intelligent transport systems, pushing the boundaries of how we think about mobility and its integration with advanced technologies.
Other guests include Akio Yamamoto, ITS Asia-Pacific, Brian Cronin, U.S. Department of Transportation, Takeru Ito, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan, Max Lemke, European Commission, Joost Vantomme of ERTICO and Laura Chace, ITS America.
This is Paul Hutton with the latest updates here in Dubai:
Still waiting for the ceremony to begin. Dignitaries currently arriving. People being urged to take their seats.
There is now a hush around the room, we may be starting any second.
It’s starting.
An impressive opening video is shown featuring what happens in Dubai in one second, around the metro, taxis and communications and talking about mobility in the Emirate and what this event means for the world. “Together we design the future driven by ITS”.
Looks like the event is bi-lingual with the opening address in Arabic.
Dr Michio Kaku, the futurist and physicist comes to the stage to introduce the 30th World Congress. He says we are celebrating the future of transport and the future of intelligent systems. He says every time he comes to Dubai he gets energy, vitality and new ideas. An energy that we can “remake the future in our hands”.
“History belongs to those who dare to challenge the unknown, to reach out and grab new technologies” and that “Dubai is at the centre of this revolution.”
He concludes with: “You are part of the future… who hold the destiny of a nation.”
The Head of IoT Unit at the European Commission, Max Lemke is next to speak:
He says that travelling around Dubai since he has arrived show the future of transport.
He says mobility is the backbone of our societies, but is a big polluter. He talks about the European Green Deal and talks about competitiveness in Europe must go hand in hand with decarbonisation, and the EU must confront fundamental truths while decarbonising.
But sustainable mobility can only succeed if it is smart mobility, he says. He says digital technologies help us deliver better mobility. To better consider the interconnection between transport, energy and telecoms, we will help to deliver.
Mobility is producing a lot of data which has potential to support innovation. To help passengers to seemlessly combine transport modes. For planners to better deliver, and he is working on a common European data space. Based on data, he supports trustworthy AI innovations.
Next up, Brian Cronin, from the US Department of Transportation, says in the US they have a crisis of fatalities with 40,000 citizens losing their lives on the roads every year. He says V2X technology is ready to deploy, with the US national V2X deployment plan providing a vision to deploy this at scale. “We are tired of our family members, our friends not making it home, of our people in our workzones not making it home,” he says, and appeals to the hall to “help us deliver this at scale”. It is “needed, timely and urgent” he says.
Now it’s time for ITS Asia Pacific, hearing from Takeru Ito, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan.
His focus is autonomous mobility, where he says the Japanese government will continue to aim to lead this technology. He talks about the formulation of a new digital strategy in May with a software defined vehicle, changing the structure and new integration with autonomous driving technologies. Driverless deployment has begun in Japan. The birthrate is declining and the population is ageing, and so this technology could solve societal challenges, he says.
He adds Japan is beginning a 100km autonomous driving truck corridor for Level 4 autonomy.
We’re now moving onto a panel discussion, “ITS – what was and what can be” with Akio Yamamoto from ITS Asia-Pacific, Joost Vantomme of ERTICO – ITS Europe and Laura Chace of ITS America.
Laura Chace says that in the 29 years since the first World Congress, we have seen a shift in mindset that technology is infrastructure. We don’t define transport as the roads we drive on, the bridges we cross, the data will deliver cleaner air, safer roads and access to mobility. Joost Vantomme talks about AI as the future.
Akio Yamamoto talks about drone-based services.
Joost Vantomme calls Dubai the centre of innovation. What is AI, how does it work? We will see it in demonstrations at the World Congress, and he wants to know more about resilience, and how do you cope with that and where is ITS helping this?
We are now moving onto the ITS Hall of Fame.
EMEA region recipient this year is Jennie Martin, former ITS (UK) Secretary General. See the separate story on Highways News.
US region goes to : former ITS American President Shailen Bhatt.
The Asia-Pacific region goes to: Ninnart Chaithirapinyo from ITS Thailand.
Now a speech from the Chair of hosts ERTICO – ITS Europe, Dr Angelos Amditis. He welcomes us to the event and says it will lead to efficiency, safety, resilience and innovation. He says it marks a landmark occasion as the first ITS World Congress in the Middle East.
He says 24,000 people have registered to attend this congress this week, which he says is probably a record for the 30 World Congresses.
Then we move onto the ribbon cutting, before a rather funky song about the 30 ITS World Congresses, which I’ll try and get hold of and share during the week. They’ve managed to get the straplines of all events into a song. Which would’ve been a challenge. That’s it for now, we’ll join you for news from the press conference later on today and I’ll get on with making a podcast too.
(Picture – Highways News/TTF)
