THE 28TH
ITS WORLD CONGRESS
POST-CONGRESS REPORT

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The 28th ITS World Congress | Post-Congress Report
CONTENTPAGEINTRODUCTION

03

PART 1SUMMARY

04

PART 2

PLENARY SESSIONS

07

PL 1

A Safe Systems approach to advancing equitable mobility

07

PL 2

Transportation decarbonisation, equity, and technology – how ITS
advances a sustainable and socially just future

10

PL 3

A smarter, digital future – how ITS technology serves as the digitalbackbone to delivering opportunity to communities

13

PART 3

PART 4

FORUMS, DISCUSSIONS AND PAPERS SESSIONS BY TOPIC

16

Topic 1

Digital infrastructure

16

Topic 2Equitable and seamless mobility

21

Topic 3

Intelligent, connected and automated transportation

26

Topic 4

Organizing for successful policy & governance, business models,international cooperation

31

Topic 5

Path to Vision Zero

35

Topic 6

Sustainability and resilience

39

Topic 7

Technology from entry to the last mile

44
49

THE HIGH LEVEL POLICY ROUND TABLEITS WORLD CONGRESS

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INTRODUCTION
The Congress’s principal Theme “Transformation through Transportation” was chosen to illustrate the radical role Intelligent Transport
Systems, digitalisation, and cooperative, connected and automated mobility can play in addressing the key technical and social
challenges in the mobility and transport sectors. Deployment of ITS can take us further down the road to a mobility world that isaccessible, equitable, affordable, has zero fatalities, has zero emissions, is resilient when stressed, is seamless across Continents andis sustainable. How to achieve these benefits was presented in policy discussions, technical and research paper sessions, discussion
forums, demonstrations, technical tours and the Congress Exhibition.

The Congress was organised around seven key Topics:

TOPIC

Pages

1

Digital Infrastructure

16

2

Equitable and Seamless Mobility

213Intelligent, connected and automated transportation

26

4

Organizing for successful policy & governance, Business Models, International
cooperation

31

5

Path to Vision Zero35

6

Sustainability & Resiliency

39

7

Technology from entry to the last mile

44

The International Programme Committee, chaired by Laura Chace and Shailen Bhatt, appointed rapporteurs for each topic tasked
with capturing the key messages and outcomes from the Congress, the exhibition and the demonstrations. The headline theme wasaddressed by a wide range of different types of sessions, over 150 in total – Plenary, Special Interest, Technical, Scientific – as well
as specialised Workshops and Forums.
Part 1 of this Report summarises the Congress proceedings. The second part paints a picture of proceedings at the Plenary Sessions.
The third part focuses on the Technical & Scientific papers and the Special Interest Sessions but also covers Workshops and theInternational and Regional Forums. The final part summarises the proceedings at the High Level Policy Round Table.
I give my profound thanks to the marvellous team of rapporteurs who contributed so much to the production of this report:

Topic 1

Nisar Ahmed, Gary Crockford;

Topic 2Carol Schweiger, Ed Mason

Topic 3

Karla Jakeman, Sushma Srinivas, Frances Williamson

Topic 4

Louise Lawrence

Topic 5Ed Mason

Topic 6

Pete Lauer

Topic 7

Pete Costello

My special thanks to Steve Dellenback and colleagues from SWRI who made this report possible; and also to Rachel Rettberg and
Susan Nicoletti from ITS America; my colleagues from ERTICO; and Sharon Kindleysides and Tim Morris from the UK. The Reed
Exhibitions organising team deserve thanks for their quick and cheerful handling of all my enquiries and questions.

PROFESSOR ERIC SAMPSONN Yorkshire UK; November 2022

CHIEF RAPPORTEUR

ITS WORLD CONGRESS

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PART 1 | SUMMARY

Topic 1 was Digital Infrastructure, a key enabling technology
overlapping with the other topics. The prominent themes were:•••using data and digital infrastructure to improve managementof transport systems
advanced wireless standards
and improvements from digital infrastructure for travel
safety, traffic flow and operations.

Many sessions looked at “How to do it” – especially managing
and using data – and cybersecurity considerations. Continuingareas from previous congresses included application of digital
twins and standardisation. New ideas included building cyber
resilience into the digital network, exporting improvementsfrom highway networks to road works zones, interaction ofAutomated Vehicles with level crossings, and safety benefits
for connected vehicles through V2X technology.
An organisational barrier to the more efficient installation anduse of digital infrastructure was regularly identified – a lack of
coordination when planning data sharing and processing as
departments were often not familiar with the data they held andits potential. We did not see much consideration on integratingtransport’s digital infrastructure with that deployed more broadly
in the built environment. Together they support the seamless,informed movement of people and goods and enable holistic“transformation by transportation.”
Topic 2, Equitable and Seamless Mobility, covered four
major areas:••••

integrated mobility and standardisation;
equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion with a focus ongender challenges and gaps;
improving safety and security,
reducing emissions and congestion.

Sessions reported improvements in all areas but there weresome unexpected gaps: this Congress was perhaps the firstsince 2015 where MaaS was not a dominant topic. Electric
mobility was less popular than expected particularly given
media interest. And the impact of ITS on the environment
featured in only two sessions.
In contrast we saw many new ideas:••••

Using artificial intelligence to schedule e-vehicle charging.
Predicting the numbers of empty seats on buses using 5G
real-time payment data
A “super app” supporting modal shift from trips by personalcar to intermodal travel.
A mobility wallet for travellers with credits that could bespent for paying road usage fees or to finance trips withalternative modes. For disadvantaged users, the wallet
could be partially or wholly subsidised.

This and earlier Congresses have had sessions addressing
equity, inclusion, accessibility and diversity in ITS. However
there’s only a limited number of tools to measure these factors
and test whether we are properly addressing them; and they
are not well known.
Topic 3 was Intelligent, connected and automated transportation.
As with earlier Congresses this was the most popular topic
accounting for over 35% of all activities. Three areas featured
prominently: improving safety especially at intersections;development of rural services; and collaborations. On thislast point there were showcases of joint ventures between
countries and regions, and collaborations between sectors suchas industry and government especially in topics such as testing,and deploying Connected Vehicle technology. Collaboration
between Government departments was presented and we also
saw cases of commercial competitors in partnerships especiallyin areas such as V2X communications.
There were some slightly neglected topics: transport accounts
for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA but we hadvery little on how deployment of connected or automatedvehicles might enable reductions. We also had less than inprevious years on regulatory and licensing issues.
By contrast new topics included truck automation where there
had been major advances and more real-world testing. There
were still challenges with regard to incorporating the first/last
mile and yard/terminal movements but collaborations again
seemed plentiful and these problems seemed to be on the way
to resolution. Bus automation also attracted much attention
and was wanted not just by cities but rural areas too.
Post Covid Automation was a new topic not considered a few
years ago but the almost universal drop in public transport use
after Covid had prompted the question – how would this trend
impact automated travel, which was predominantly a shared
travel experience?
Failure is an integral part of innovation, but it’s expensive anddifficult to acknowledge publicly. Nevertheless live vs virtual
testing was a common discussion point. Some studies wereusing live components in real-world situations either on test
tracks or by deploying technology at public intersections.
Others examined the technologies in virtual or constructedsettings. A hot topic for the next Congress might well be how
can we enable more cooperative testing and allow multiple
participants to examine their technologies in environments that
can include interactions between live and virtual components.

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Topic 4 Organizing for policy & governance was an intriguing
mix of exploring new approaches to familiar problems anddevising ways to understand new problems. Many disruptive
technologies had almost become mainstream thereby creating
new challenges for the sector professionals. This emphasised
how all stakeholders needed to understand how technologies
critical to transformation of transportation could be enabled byeffective policy setting at the earliest stages.
A number of sessions illustrated diversity in leadership not
keeping pace with technological developments. In many areas
we had global skills shortages, not least in diversifying andattracting women into ITS. However diversity has a broader
span: age, education, disability, ethnicity. The challenge
was that in many cases these groups were not available toparticipate as they were under-represented in the industry.
Sessions demonstrated fresh thinking in a number of areas.
Papers and sessions reported application of data technologies
particularly the management of congestion through deeper
understanding of queuing and traffic optimisation. There
were new studies on how to derive value from digitalplatforms. Many of the earlier studies focused on the technicalchallenges with very little work on understanding the businessmodels and recognising revenue opportunities for data.
By contrast the delivery of new mobility services appeared
constrained. MaaS technologies were very well establishedbut sessions stressed the need for the broader environment
to be effective. The challenges to overcome were bothcommercial and contractual. Was MaaS still a future-readysolution awaiting a future-ready culture?
Topic 5 The Path to Vision Zero focused on the question:‘How can we work towards eliminating traffic fatalities andsevere injuries, while increasing safe, healthy and equitablemobility?’. Surprisingly it was the Congress’s smallest Topic
with a focus on urban mobility and little consideration ofinter-urban networks. The technical papers presented
addressed essentially the same issue – safe urban mobility ina shared-use, multi-modal environment. The SISs focused on
data: crowd-sourced data, how to leverage and analyse theavailable data or get the right data, access to the data (andtools), and practical applications that allowed for improved
decision-making.
The increased attention on safe urban mobility was perhaps
a result of the rapid increase of active travel options (bicycle
schemes, e-scooters, walking, mobility scooters, e-cargobicycles etc.) This had led to a spike in mixed-use urban roadtraffic collisions which many urban networks were ill-equipped
to handle. This was a significant blocker to achieving Vision
Zero targets. There was no shortage of technologies tosupport Vision Zero – what seemed to be missing in manycases was clear top-down policy leadership.

Sustainability and Resiliency, Topic 6, covered 5 main areas:
•
•
•
•
•

Transport operations
Congestion mitigation
Modelling impacts + emissions
Electrification and related technologies
Cybersecurity

Sessions looked at aspects of improving transport efficiency
such as ITS for emissions reductions and decarbonisation;
Safety improvements; and Signal timing for improved
transit performance
However sustainability discussions had little mention ofhydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.
Many panels and papers discussed developments incybersecurity to improve resilience with much sharing of bestpractice. Climate resilience featured prominently:•••

Optimising energy resources to support EV charging
New tools for measuring climate impacts from energy
usage and emissions
Supporting cities towards meeting goals and regulations
for pollutant reduction

There was little discussion of external resources resilience andtheir potential constraints on climate strategies for example
world lithium reserves
Sustainability and resiliency strategies differed across urban,
suburban, and rural settings. For instance, rural areas werelikely to have electrification capacity challenges very different
from those in urban environments.
Topic 7, Bringing goods the last mile, covered a lot ofground with key building blocks of communications, data,
integration, analytics and pilot projects. There had beenmassive investment globally in wireless and wired networks
to improve ITS infrastructure and enable data movement fromthe transport network to the cloud and back to the edge. The
future of ITS is integration of data, and innovative techniques
for sharing, processing, integration and management.
Travellers want solutions that are simple, flexible and giveaccess to a multiple mobility offer. Mobility on Demand andMobility as a Service were familiar; Demand-responsive
transport had the potential to revolutionise public transit,
replacing low-performing routes and providing new services
where none existed previously.
Pilot projects reported work in a number of areas including:••

Software to collect multimodal travel behaviour data
Broadening the scope of multimodal services forunderserved populations to improve access to jobs,
healthcare, education and other needs.

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Freight solutions continued to develop. Long-haul freight
networks were evolving to streamline the movement of goods
and improve efficiency. To combat multiple deliveries on thesame day and to one address but by multiple companies last
mile delivery by modes such as cargo bikes, eScooters ordelivery robots with reduced environmental impact had beentrialled. Emerging topic areas presented included enforcement,
kerbside management, electrification and quantum computing.
Los Angeles 2022 showed ITS was at a good place on theroad to seamless mobility that works for everyone. We
had achieved a lot in the last year but we had not finishedand some difficult problems remained. Almost none were
technology – they were about our behaviour and willingness
to adapt. The technologies were ready to provide mobility
that was
•
•
•
•
•
•

Accessible
Equitable
Affordable
Resilient
Safe
Clean

But hitting two or more of these targets at the same time wasvery hard. If we had the political drive; if we had the societal
acceptance of the price – the social consequences of deciding
to reach key goals quickly – then we would be able to achieve
the key goals of Zero fatalities and Zero emissions.
The barriers weren’t technological. The message to politicians
was that we could deliver Transformation by Transportation
but they needed to transform their thinking as well.
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve
always got”.

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PART 2 | PLENARY SESSIONSPLENARY 1

A SAFE SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ADVANCING EQUITABLE MOBILITY

Moderator

David Kim

WSP, USA

Keynote addressJennifer Homendy

National Transportation Safety Board, USA

Speakers

Nat Beuse

Aurora, USA

Minna Kivimäki

Ministry of Transport & Communications, Finland

Yutaka Kobayashi

National Police Agency, Japan,

Seleta Reynolds

LA Metro, USA

Jennifer Homendy began her keynote address with some stark
statistics – roads were the most dangerous form of transport in
the USA accounting for 95% of all transport deaths. Additionally
the interim 2022 fatality rate on roads was up 10.5% from 2021
which in turn was the highest number since 2005. There
had been a 5% increase in cyclist deaths, a 13% increase inpedestrian deaths, similar increases for motorcycling, and while
walking was the oldest form of transport it was also one of thedeadliest.
She asked what the audience considered a realisticallyachievable “safety” rate target; the answer was around 75%.
She then rephrased the question as “What is the target you
want for your family?” and stressed that the goal for all should
surely be zero fatalities. To achieve this we needed to adopt
a “Safe System” approach which looked at every aspect oftransport from human to machine with emphasis on a humancentric approach.
Three principles underpinned the Safe System method:
acknowledge that humans mdke mistakes that lead to trafficcrashes, but no one should lose their life or be seriously injured
as a result of a crash; that the human body has a limited physicalability to tolerate crash forces; and road safety was a shared
responsibility; and all parts of the system must be strengthened
so that if one part failed, road users were still protected.
Implementing a Safe System approach required collaborative
engagement among a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure
all road users were safe. Our roads had been designed forvehicles not people with a focus on speed and throughput andnot safety.
Ms Homendy explained that while drivers could be encouraged
to do better through punishment and education, speed limits,
infrastructure, vehicle design and regulations were also
important as well as ensuring that first responders had all theright resources to save lives. Ultimately we could not “educate
ourselves out of this”. It was necessary to look more broadly
and embrace technology every step of the way. She stressedthat technology should supplement humans, not supplant them.
It was already clear that technologies such as V2X or collision
warnings could improve safety for vulnerable road users. We
should remember that 2 out of 5 people who died on the roads
were alive when the first responders arrived. ITS could help
by getting responders there faster – and with better post-crash
care.

There was abundant evidence from over 20 years’ experiencethat technologies were readily available that would save lives
and take us along a path to zero fatalities – but they were notbeing deployed by legislators and regulators. What were we
waiting for? We could not get to zero without ITS solutions, it
was not “either/or” but “yes/and”. We needed to implement lifesaving technologies and act outside our comfort zone.
David Kim moderated the panel discussion that followed andendorsed the keynote speaker’s remarks – the USA was an
outlier regarding road safety as the figures were going in thewrong direction. He introduced the panel and asked each togive a short summary of their approach towards zero fatalities
Minna Kivimäki agreed that zero was the only acceptable goal
and applauded the Safe System approach, a holistic approach.
Finland had adopted a similar holistic method for road safety
which looked at all modes of transport. There were 7 aspects
to the strategy:•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Safety concerns all people
Transport skills must be improved
Safety must be based on knowledge and evidence
Attitudes need to be changed
Transport systems must be safe
Tech advances must increase safety
Legislation must increase safety

The important point was taking decisive action. She cited
Lithuania as an example of a European country making
great progress for example the number of road fatalities had
decreased by 17 %. This meant that 2021 fatalities were lessthan half the number a decade back. These good results had
not happened by accident but were the result of a strong pushbehind the scenes.
ITS WORLD CONGRESS

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Nat Beuse argued that regulations were the foundations ofsafety but the safety benefits often happened before theregulations emerged – the technology happens first, themarket adapts, and only then are the regulations are written.
Electronic stability programs, emergency braking, air bags
were all introduced by suppliers well before regulations caught
up. He emphasised that we needed to regulate safely, quickly
and broadly. It was not necessary to wait for perfection. And
regulation processes that had worked in the past were notautomatically the right solution for next year. We should bearin mind that when the roads were safer, the whole transportsystem became safer.

Yutaka Kobayashi presented impressive figures on Japan’s
movement to the lowest road fatality rate since 1948 with
figures dropping from 3848 deaths in 1948 to 2636 in 2021.
There was a series of rolling 5-year programmes to drive
down road accidents generally and fatalities in particular. He
identified some of the methods which had led to this result
including road engineering, revisions and penalties to driving
legislation, vehicle technology such as ADS, use of delivery
robots, enforcement, education and improved emergency carecapabilities. A key factor was a changed social attitude that
supported steps to improve safety.

Seleta Reynolds reflected that we now had a far better
understanding of the complex mix of people behaviour andtraffic behaviour that surrounded accidents and noted thatsafety must be a shared responsibility. It was interesting tolook at the safety culture in a different mode: when recently
an airplane design fault had been identified as an accident
cause the airline had grounded all the models immediately, US
airlines had checked all models within 48 hours and the global
industry had also acted within 48 hours. She highlighted thatairlines didn’t “sell safety” as a feature – but we did so on roadtransport. The airline industry shared all safety-related data but
for ground based transport the data was still in silos. We had
to come together and see road safety as a shared activity andaddress it with a systems approach.
The moderator asked the panellists, “What do we need to do toensure ITS solutions equity, innovation and ITS solutions are alladdressed to improve safety?”. Seleta argued that we needed
to take a safe systems approach as well as a cultural approachand doing both should be a requirement before receiving any
public sector funding. There must be a shared agreement that
purpose-driven innovation was not just about developments
inside the vehicle to save lives but also developments outside
the vehicle to save lives. There must be a base line for ITS andinnovation.”

Nat agreed that we needed to be transparent and clear on
what was the problem we were trying to solve. There were
things we could do with policy and a transparent approach but
to achieve a truly equitable approach all shades of opinion had
to be represented at planning discussions and a consensus
agreement was vital.
The panel were asked to consider what could be done toimprove safety in rural areas where the incidents were very
different to those in cities. Yutaka explained that in Japan, 60%of fatalities were in urban environments and the rate of V2V
accidents was 44% higher in urban areas. There was no single
solution – the way forward was a mix of enforcing speed limits,
redesigning infrastructure for safety, checking vehicle condition
and be seen to be enforcing regulations.

ITS WORLD CONGRESS

8The moderator switched the panel discussion to zero emission
and automated vehicles. These had the potential to reducegreenhouse gas emissions and improve safety but they
prompted the question whether they encouraged continuityof a personal car culture. There were increasing arguments
for addressing the reliance on owning a vehicle and allocating
increased road space to non-car users such as pedestrians,
cyclists in car free zones? How did the panel see this ? How
could it be done ? Seleta said that when Los Angeles hosted
an annual Cyclovia Open Streets event the air quality received amatching boost in a larger area and there were also reductions
in crime rates. It was far from straightforward to achieve a
one-day event and would be controversial if proposed as apermanent state. The way forward might be a regular OpenStreets event akin to a regular Farmers’ Market to assist atransition . However there were other ITS techniques available
such as congestion pricing which brought benefits for safety;
LA Metro was researching its introduction.
Yutaka explained that remote-control delivery robots andscooters had emerged in Japan as new classes of road user and
the Japanese Government had responded with new rules tosupport road space management. He felt that it would be difficult
in most Japanese cities to have significant car free zones due tolimited physical space so changes would take time. However
there were a number of non-driving initiatives designed to
improve facilities for the active modes and Ministers were keen
to develop “walkable city” projects especially to try to reduce
accidents. Nat commented that policy makers frequently did
not take into consideration the big differences between urban
and rural areas, for example absence of sidewalks which madedifficulties for children cycling to school. One size definitely
did not fit all. This final sentiment was agreed with by Minna
who said that the management of urban space was complex
and was a major driver of the need for holistic and integrated
solutions. The key was being able to offer all classes of travellera choice of attractive solutions.
Finally, David Kim asked the panel if they had a magic wandwhich one tool would they want the Government or Private
sector to deliver today in order to reduce road crashes andfatalities. Seleta opted for congestion pricing, Yutaka voted forhighly automated vehicles to improve the quality of life for older
or/and mobility limited travellers. Nat wanted to see alignmentof all stakeholders behind the development of mobility
strategies; Minna wanted social acceptance that reducing
fatalities is everyone’s responsibility. The moderator closed
the session with the comment that the speakers’ contributions
had very clearly shown the pathway to greater safety: the only
barrier was the social will to take it. He thanked the speakers
for an engaging, realistic and positive discussion on road safety.

ITS WORLD CONGRESS

9PLENARY 2 TRANSPORTATION DECARBONISATION, EQUITY, AND TECHNOLOGY, – HOW ITSADVANCES A SUSTAINABLE AND SOCIALLY JUST FUTURE
Moderator

Shailen Bhatt,

AECOM, USA

Keynote address

Toks Omishakin

California State Transportation Agency; USA

Speakers

Margaret Anderson Kelliher

City of Minneapolis, USA

Everett Lott

Washington D C, USA

Gzim Ocakoglu

European Union delegation to the USA

Sue Wiblin

Transport for NSW, Australia

In his keynote address Toks Omishakin explained how
California was deploying ITS to deliver the Governor’s four toplevel action areas: Safety, Climate, Equity, Economic Prosperity.
The efficiency and safety gains from ITS were well known but
the impacts on climate and equity were perhaps less familiar.
To give perspective he noted that California had 10% of alltransport fatalities in the USA. Fatalities/serious injuries wereat a 16-year high and increasingly the most vulnerable users
were affected. 50% of Greenhouse gas emissions in California
were from transport; the national equivalent was closer to 29%
and internationally it was around 15%. He remarked that thesefigures were often challenged but for those who did not believe
the science they should believe their eyes – floods, severe
temperatures, extreme storms etc. The Equity and Prosperity
targets were closely linked: every person must have an equal
opportunity to succeed regardless of race, gender, economic
status.
The key policies to address all goals were zero fatalities andserious injuries from road accidents by 2050; carbon neutrality
by 2045; institutionalisation of equity; and improving from thecurrent position of the world’s fifth largest economy. Regarding
safety the State Highway Safety Plan majored on adopting asafe system approach; doubling down on solutions that worked;
accelerating the deployment of advanced technology; andensuring that an equitable mechanism was integrated into allpolicy setting.

The primary tool for addressing climate change was zero
emission vehicles (ZEVs) where annual exports from California
were already $5 Bn with a predicted 1.5M sold by 2025. The
target was 100% electrification of passenger and also mediumand heavy-duty vehicles. There were many challenges, notleast developing the charger network, but California wasalready 40% of the ZEV market in America.
ZEVs would be very helpful but were not the sole solution forclimate challenge. It was essential to create a multi-modal
system For example the ports of Long Beach and LA handled
40% of container traffic entering the USA and so the connecting
corridors were heavily loaded. Living in California wasexpensive so about 1.8M people lived in Mexico and commuted
across but sitting at that border meant extensive emissions andsignificant waste of time. Investment in the port cut the waiting
for travellers on both sides of the border and improved goods
movement. Plans were emerging for the deployment of ITS toenable truck priority and generally streamline the operation of
the road.

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A key element of the use of technology to improve equity was
the CAL ITP app for opening up transit. There were over 400
transit systems across California and CalSTA was working
with the Netherlands company Rebel to build a card usable
everywhere across the state. It would include payment, farecapping, automated customer discounts etc. A very different
equity initiative was the opening of the Otay Mesa East port in
2024 where extensive use of ITS would cut the 6-8 hour waitingtime for the Mexico / USA border crossing US to an hour orless with massive consequences for air quality and economic
impacts.
Key economic actions also supported climate goals: over
60 companies in California were trialling highly automatedvehicles on the roads system – in 2021 over 4M miles of testing
was achieved. Of those 60 companies 7 were testing fullyautonomous, passenger-less driver-less vehicles.
Shailen Bhatt as moderator introduced the international panelof speakers and asked for a brief statement about how they
were approaching the integration of technologies with actions
to improve equity and address climate change. Sue Wiblin said
that numerous severe bush fires had raised public support foractions to counter climate change. Electrification was seen
as one key technology but its application was not always
straightforward – for example freight vehicles in Australia had
to travel very long distances so hydrogen was a more probableoption. For passenger travel there was a change of emphasis:strategies were being changed to refer to “place” instead of“community”. More focused on creating places for people.
New South Wales now aimed to create “30 minute cities” and“15 minute neighbourhoods’” to close the gap between workand living and push for more effective uptake in active modes.
Everett Lott had a range of integration problems as the local,
county, and state governments were all wrapped up in one in DC.
A major policy was trying to get people out of single occupancy
vehicles. They had invested in car-free lanes to enable buses totravel freely and efficiently and encourage mode shift to buses,
and were generally persuading individuals to find other ways
to travel for all types of trips (school, shopping, leisure, work,etc). Unlike many US cities there was a lot of infrastructure forbicycles or shared mobility. Capital Bikeshare was a regional
programme so bikes were also usable and available in Maryland
and Virginia regions Safety was improved by over 100 miles ofbike lanes with plans for expansion. These initiatives helped
make transport in the city more pleasant and more efficient.

Margaret Kelliher described the family of plans governing
Minneapolis’s activities which covered transport generally,
climate action, vision zero and a 20-year streets funding planwith a strong equity focus. Integrated planning was essential;
for example there was a light rail service with many bus
lanes crossing it so signal prioritisation was needed. There
was considerable investment in signal processor capacity atintersections to simplify inclusion of new technology or new
products. A key aim was moving buses through the city centre
more efficiently.
The Evie Car Share Scheme was addressing both emissions
reduction and equity improvement. There were 120 shared EVs
so users could be a biker most of the time but have access to a
car when it was needed. There was a high level goal to move
3 out of 5 trips in a single occupancy vehicle to a bus or to an
active mode. A key factor was being able to give people theconfidence to get out of their vehicle and be safe as a cyclist, awalker, or a bus rider. To support this the road space was being
redesigned with protected bike lanes and separate lanes forbus rapid transit.
Gzim Ocakoglu said that most European cities were
geographically different from US ones and multi-modality wasbuilt in historically. The trend today was towards active mobility
which had the obvious benefits but was also a contribution tobuilding resiliency into the network. Resilience was needed tocounter climate change. In Europe 25% of greenhouse gases
were from transport, the highest of all sectors and unlike othersectors transport emissions had continued to increase every
year with the exception of a Covid year. Citizens pushed theEuropean Parliament to do something about this resulting in theEuropean Green Deal. It was a law committing to becoming thefirst carbon-neutral continent by 2050 and a reduction of 55%
by 2030. The drive for decarbonisation through reduction in useof fossil fuels had been reinforced by the war in Ukraine/Russia
which had validated the goal of more use of renewables. It was
not enough to set policies and just hope and wish. Europe had
a number of new regulations including limiting GHG emissions
from vehicles to zero by 2035

ITS WORLD CONGRESS11

On the role of ITS, digitalisation and technology generally
supporting the equity and climate change agendas the European
thinking was the adoption of Smart Mobility as one of theenablers supporting all goals. Smart mobility in Europe meant
putting digital infrastructure in place, and bringing together thedata from cars, public transport, other fields such as urban air
mobility to build a holistic dynamic picture. Within Europe thekey legislation for deployment of ITS (the ITS Directive) was
being revised to become a Cooperative ITS Directive as a key
step towards connected, automated mobility across all modes.
The moderator asked the panel what steps they were taking toencourage people to make more healthful choices. Sue Wiblin
described moves to create more pleasant places for people.
The “30 minute cities” and “15 minute neighbourhoods” policies
encouraged people to work closer to where they live but theyalso lead to a more effective uptake of active modes. This had
developed during Covid and seemed to be sustained so there
had been heavy investment in new cycleways. A key change
was aiming to think about a general improvement to community
mobility rather than improving specific modes.
Everett Lott explained that Washington DC was reinforcing
healthier and more equitable travel by putting in more
infrastructure for protected bike lanes, bus lanes, better
designs of crossings. A key action was making sure thatpeople understood the choices available with a specific targetof additional transit services in under-served areas that weresafe, reliable and affordable.
The moderator asked Margaret Kelliher to develop her earlier
points on a generational challenge. She argued that the key
issue was managing change. People were used to certain waysof doing things and addressing that was probably harder thanthe collision of different generations’ attitudes. A good example
was the redesign of Hennepin Avenue in Minnesota where
many arguments were reconciling all view points regarding
kerb space. Every proposed change had people arguing that
it was not sufficient and others arguing for its abolition. It had
been necessary to stress that the object was the shift of threeout of five SOV trips. That required creating a space for the next
60 years and so compromise was essential to navigate the next
10 years to share the available space. Two key techniques were
funding ambassadors to go to communities to explain; andfunding small scale trials. For example the carshare scheme
allowed people to try it out, have a good experience, thendecide what was best for them.
The moderator asked Gzim Ocakoglu to develop his earlier
remarks about using technology to promote health goals.
He explained that active mobility was central. The European
Commission had a Sustainable Smart Mobility Plan that
addressed GHG emission reduction through smart mobility. The
central element was the urban mobility framework – possibly a
Europe-specific point because of the historic evolution of cities– and this plan had specific actions to continue promoting active
mobility. It was interesting to look back on experiences fromCOVID. Because there was far less traffic some city Mayors had
permitted pop up bike lanes to contribute to mobility during the
pandemic and in some cities they had stayed.

This Covid experience prompted a key question: can we also
address demand? Can we curb mobility? The usual response ifthat we can’t because demand for mobility will continue to grow.
But some cities had introduced restrictions for cars, changing
the usual road lanes to bike lanes or even abandoning lanes.
He noted that Brussels had reduced a lane on a main arterygoing from the suburbs into the main city. This was expected toincrease congestion but it had not. Commuting times were thesame because people adapt. To have real effects on people’s
health it was necessary to bring in new options and alternatives.
It was a simple public health issue – we cannot afford collisions,fatalities.
The moderator commented that the great cities around theworld were the ones reclaiming space for people and creating
a sense of “place”. This usually required a mix of public andprivate sector actions but objectives and financial attitudes
differed. How were panel members addressing this issue ?
Sue Wiblin said that COVID was a good example of lessons
learned when it was possible to do things at a record pace . The
pandemic prompted a shared vision between the commercial
and government sectors to get things done; the NSW Statewas on record saying “we can’t do this on our own”. The
collaborative approach had led to an open data portal which thecorporate sector could use and commercialise it for community
products. In Australia generally there was a realisation thatpublic and private needed to work together.
Everett Lott reported that Washington had its first Public Private
Partnership which had taken about 8 years to get off the ground.
It involved replacement of over 75K street and alley lights with
LEDs giving a capability to control remotely, monitor outages
and respond more quickly. There was a health benefit from
improved lighting in neighbourhoods where people gathered.
Margaret Kelliher said that technology was a natural place forGovernment and private sector to be working together. A key
area for progress was procurement reform to allow quicker
deployment to users
Gzim Ocakoglu said that joint working was the new normal
for the European Commission. It was familiar from research
projects and was being developed for early deployment
phases. The challenge was large scale deployment, especiallyfor road safety, and there was work on a regulatory framework
to support this.
The moderator thanked the Panel for their energetic andstimulating contributions.

ITS WORLD CONGRESS

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		THE DIGITAL BACKBONE TO DELIVERING OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNITIESFireside chatModerator

Shailen Bhatt,

AECOM, USA

Speakers

Tom Demaria

Dell Technologies, USA

Brad Haczynski

Intel Corporation, USA

Moderator

Beth Kigel

HNTB Corporation, USA

Speaker

Tilly Chang

San Francisco County Transportation Authority, USA

Danielle Kochman

San Diego Association of Governments, USA

Young-Jun Moon

Korea Transportation Institute, S Korea

Joost Vantomme

ERTICO-ITS Europe

Laura Chace (ITS America) welcomed everyone and explainedthat the plenary would focus on the digital eco-system of
the future, where data could be used to better serve ourcommunities. It would launch with a panel of representatives
from private companies to discuss this issue informally in a‘fireside chat’.
Sameer Sharma introduced his panel and noted that there
had been a lot of discussion at the conference about digital
twins, system of systems and digital infrastructure etc. The
facts about physical infrastructure were that it was ageing,
and this would impact on the economy and on the progress
on reduction of road deaths. He asked “what does new digital
infrastructure mean?” Brad argued that it was the fusionof physical and digital architectures made possible by thetechnology ‘superpowers’ of ‘Ubiquitous
Computing’; ‘Pervasive Connectivity’; and‘Cloud to Edge infrastructure’. Together
they provided the basis of moving fromsingle use devices requiring physicalmaintenance to software defined devices
that could be reconfigured for different
uses.
Sameer raised the topic of the amountof public investment in transport
infrastructure, using the US, India andEurope as references and invited thepanel’s thoughts. Tom stated that there wasan opportunity for a once in a generation
change to the way we provide transport infrastructure. The
incredibly large number of journeys globally carried out by both
vehicles and walkers every year demonstrated that transport
was much bigger than just infrastructure, it was a critical asset.
Using software defined technologies to improve the efficiencyof that infrastructure by only 1% would be an incredible impact.
He used Air Traffic Control (ATC) as an example of utilising data
to manage mobility citing that, even though aircraft wereincredibly complex and mainly autonomous, if the ATC
was down then planes didn’t fly. Applying this thinking toground transport at scale (Ground Traffic Control) could
provide a mobility platform for the future.deprivation.
Sameer closed the session with a question about how people atthe conference could collaborate with the private sector? Tom
stated that the real innovation in ITS was collaboration; Brad
agreed with this and discussed the work Intel have done increating alliances and learning resources to help ‘matchmaking’.
Parties needed to work together in the fusion of physicaland digital infrastructure as the subject was too big for many
companies to tackle and we needed to make it real for users.
Beth Kigel introduced the panel of speakers for the second

part of the plenary, a discussion on discuss how public/private
collaboration could be leveraged in digital infrastructurefrom a policy point of view. Beth discussed the definitions of‘digitisation’ and ‘digitalisation’, pointing out that both wereabout transferring something into a digital form, but the latter,in ITS, was really about improving operations and adding value.
She asked the panel how we could make the most of thisopportunity?

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Danielle Kochman talked about the importance of achieving
climate goals now, by tackling existing congestion. She
also stressed the importance of achieving equity within theconstraints of the existing infrastructure as enlarging the
network was not feasible. Digital technologies offered theability to operate the existing infrastructure more efficiently inthe near term, whilst paving the way to the future. Tilly Chang
spoke about the importance of infrastructure resilience. In
her view there had been a lot of experimentation focusing on
performance and technology. She mentioned two major issues
that could be helped by digital technology: the need to knowwhat is happening in real time and coping with new sourcesof traffic on the network, referencing the new ‘Treasure Island’community development on the bay bridge in San Francisco.
Young-Jun Moon spoke about the idea of ‘Smart Cities’ where
there was a strong basis in digitalisation of the physical transport
networks to enable movement to a reduction in road deaths(Vision Zero) and roadside emissions (Net Zero) by connecting
users together. Joost Vantomme explained that ERTICO wasan extensive public/private collaboration of over 125 partners
so it had easy access to the collaboration and understandingthat were essential to deliver what users actually wanted. He
argued that data was the glue facilitating collaborative thinking
and delivery and commented on the European Union’s targets
to make transport data more available and interoperable. He
left the question for all – did better data availability need to be
mandatory or voluntary?
Beth then asked the panel whether data governance should bea priority to develop data sharing and collaboration between
the public and private sectors. Joost responded by citing the
EU ITS Directive, which was in the process of being amended
to update the candidates for mandated data sharing (egelectric vehicle charging). The intention was to share this data
through the existing National Access Points (NAPs). Data wasbeing used to create information at a national level and a new
project called NAPCORE was about synchronising NAPs to
ensure that they were interoperable and could share static anddynamic data (safety related traffic information) and real timetraffic information free at the point of use. He also spoke briefly
about another EU initiative called Data for Road Safety where
both public and private sector would share data from multiple
sources to create ‘event’ information.
Tilly spoke about the need for seamless mobility and what data
sharing meant in that context. In her view data was key fordecision makers and in maintaining public trust. Data sharing
requirements should be used as a way of incentivising sharing,
but definitions of terms and standards needed to be created forall of this to work. She also stressed that taking the users with uson the journey was key and that tying innovation to investments
could help speed up progress sin this area. Danielle noted thatdata had always been used for planning, for example traditional
surveys, but these quickly became out of date as things werechanging so quickly. Live real time data would be so much
more useful and had a new value level that was different foreach partner. So data sharing was certainly key here but might
have to be a negotiation between parties.

Young-Jun stated that although in S Korea the government had
invested heavily in ITS on the national roads local governments
had problems doing this. So Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)and Satnav providers were using mobile phones to collect data.
The government approach was to enable the sharing of theirdata and also the MNOs’ data to improve services for the users.
Joost added that access to vehicle data was key – but would
the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) do this and what
about the cyber security issues? In the EU if you held data thatwas needed for the delivery of defined use cases then you
were legally obliged to share it. ‘Ecall’ (an emergency system
in vehicles utilising the cellular network to provide emergency
messages) was an example of this type of safety related traffic
information and real time traffic information free at the point ofuse.
Beth thanked the panel for their views and moved to ask
about public trust. Tilly started by referencing recent incidents
involving Tesla where data was essential for analysis anddiagnostics. It was essential that the public could see thatincidents were being properly investigated and the sharingof data could not be voluntary as real time accountability andtransparency were vital. Danielle added that the experienceof sharing your data was important as it demonstrated theprotection of privacy and security. She suggested that allowing
those sharing data to have a choice to ‘opt in’ to different levelsof data sharing would be valuable. Joost picked up the point
about personal vs non personal data. He pointed out that in
the European Union vehicle data was considered personal data
and therefore the ‘user’ had to grant permission for access tothe data, the power to delete it or ‘port’ it to another platform.
Data must be dealt with in a secure way.
Beth asked how the problems and solutions translated to
freight. How did data benefit the movement of goods fromport to doorstep or kerbside? Danielle responded first andtalked about some of the problems that San Diego had to deal
with including one of the busiest border crossings in the world
where long delays were routine. She suggested that as freighttraffic has more regularity than private vehicles, they make agood use case for new data led interventions. She continued
to say that they were going to trial digital border crossing
techniques to hopefully reduce the current waiting times
dramatically. Tilly then spoke about the importance of kerbside
management, where digital techniques could create the ability
to dynamically assign the kerbside for different purposes andusers (eg autonomous delivery bots). This was expected tobring flexibility and reduce costs as opposed to the current
physical and expensive to change methods.

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Young-Jun talked about actions in South Korea where real time
data was making commercial vehicle operations more efficientutilising the capabilities of modern cellular networks (4G, LTE &5G). Joost finished by talking about ERTICO’s FENIX project
where the EU was seeking to making the logistics chain work
more efficiently by digitising documentation. This could becomplex and varied so creating a common dataset would easethe current issues. Beth finished the session by talking about
the amount of sensors on vehicles, including autonomousvehicles and trucks and wondered if there was data that publicauthorities could share that would help the sectors work
together?

Tilly said that she would have a central knowledge base of all
the pilots and evaluations both nationally and internationally sothat we could learn from each other more effectively.

Beth moved to finish the session by asking each panellist to
give a key point to take away. Danielle made the point thatperception changes after experience, so piloting was important
to enable users to see what it was all about!

Beth thanked the panel and closed the session.

Young-Jun made a strong point not to focus on just vehicles,
but to consider data from all roads users when designing thesystems of the future.
Joost said that digital infrastructure and data represented aparadigm shift in transport and mobility, but it was all driven
by who has the data. We needed to work out how to tackle
inequalities in data ownership.

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PART 3 | FORUMS, DISCUSSIONS AND PAPERS SESSIONS BY TOPIC
TOPIC 1
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

THE OVERALL SITUATIONWHAT WAS POPULAR

There was a fair amount of overlap between this busy topic andthe others, particularly Intelligent, Connected, and AutomatedTransportation and Technology from Entry to the Last Mile.
The topic also had impact and influence on equity and safety
aspects of transportation and mobility. The key themes in thesessions featuring Technical Papers were: the use of data anddigital infrastructure to improve the management of traffic andtransportation, application of advanced wireless standards forconnectivity, and understanding the safety improvements digital
infrastructure can bring for travel. A frequent message was“How to do it,” in the sense of “how to manage so much data
and use it in a beneficial way, bearing in mind traffic operations
and management, and cyber security considerations”.

Digital Infrastructure was seen as mainstream and ‘businessas usual’ so many of the challenges described in sessions andpapers were like those faced by physical ITS infrastructure in thepast. Considerable work was taking place on many aspects ofdigital infrastructure with most happening in silos by companies
involved in smart devices, data and AI, sensor and image
processing, CAVs, and EVs. Smart devices, camera technology,
and communication infrastructure were being used to monitor
traffic, real-time traffic management decision support, andworker and pedestrian safety. There was no shortage of data
being generated, but most of it was not being utilised properly
due to lack of interoperability and data processing and analysis
not based on use cases.

One important subject was the challenge of overcoming
organisational barriers to effective data manipulationand visualisation that often stem from departments being
unfamiliar with the data they have available to them or
not fully understanding the roles and responsibilities thatdifferent systems and departments have. The key message
being “while data may be plentiful, matching an area of needwith the right data resources within an organisation is vital.”

It was argued that despite many siloed advancements indigital infrastructure the industry hasn’t made much progressin affecting travel behaviour – dependency on car-centric
travel has not reduced. With battery technology maturingand EV production growing the focus was shifting towards theavailability and dependability of green electricity. There were
frequent references to the increased need for public/private
partnerships and the ‘opening up’ and exchanging of data.

Some recurring areas from previous congresses included
application of digital twins and standardisation. Surprisingly
perhaps, the physical infrastructure requirements to provide
digital services were not discussed in detail, but the challengeof merging existing operational technology with new digital
infrastructure featured in several sessions, particularly in
relation to cyber security.

From SIS 68: Nexus of Transportation and Technology: Planning for excellence in the digital world to enhance physical transportation

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USE OF ITS DATA FOR SOCIAL IMPACT:The Plenary 3 discussions addressed using transport datain wider decision making including social policy, health andeconomic opportunities. Physical network data can be digitised
to make it available and adjusting the requirements for sharing
could be used as a way of incentivising sharing. This real time
data has a new and different value for each partner, making data
trading and arbitration key. Standards, communities of interest
and managing the complexities of working together can enable
the fusion of physical and digital infrastructure, moving existing
ITS operational technology from single purpose devices tomulti-purpose devices.
DATA BASED TRAFFIC DETECTION AND OPTIMISATION:Long established ITS challenges were addressed, with novel
approaches to accurate traffic detection and flow optimisation,and discussion of how Smart City and V2X technologies
could help improve predictive models for better optimised
real-time coordination. The use of predictive modelling toprovide greater resilience, by mitigating against failure of traffic
detection sensors, was explored. It was noted that distributed
fibre-optic sensing systems had shown tremendous potential
as a cost-effective technique for wide-area traffic observation,with applications such as congestion monitoring and travel-time
calculation.
Advanced communications featured strongly with a focus
on how adoption of advanced ITS digital infrastructure wasdependent on efficient communications networks and wirelesstechnologies, such as microwave and LTE/5G, which reduce
costs whilst providing similar performance parameters to
fixed infrastructure. Papers also highlighted how approaches
to active traffic management were changing in a connectedworld, and how traffic managers should look to exploit existing
infrastructure, such as fibre networks for communications, toprovide cost-effective ITS services and monitoring applications.

APPLICATIONS IN RELATION TO CONNECTED VEHICLES:
There was much discussion on the issues around data generated
by connected vehicles such as accessibility, ownership, value,and privacy as well as methods for using data generated by CVs
to deliver for the public good. Related to this, IoT sensors could
be used to provide operational redundancy for connectedvehicles, by providing information on safety facilities andinfrastructure when on- or in-vehicle sensors fail.
Another timely debate was on real-time communicationand decision-making between unconnected, connected,
and autonomous vehicles, and how this would be a criticalprerequisite for the next generation of road safety and accident
prevention technologies. Papers suggested intelligent edge
computing services, with the capability to cater to varying
deployment scenarios and conditions, would be critical toservice the rapidly evolving smart city and transport sector.
A number of sessions looked into Smart Corridors with
examples from the FHWA’s CARMA programme; a case study
from Melbourne, Australia; a project from Europe on smart
management of road traffic following large scale catastrophes
or emergencies (wide-spread fires, toxic clouds, large-areaflooding, severe weather etc); and another European session
on knowledge transfer from corridor pilots. A session on digital
infrastructure for roadway transportation explored models
to evolve and sustain the information and communication
technologies that create, transmit, and manage data about
the roadway environment to enable vehicle automation andelectrification.

On the theme of safety there was a presentation on the benefitsof deploying IoT sensors on highway barricades for moreaccurate roadworks information. CCTV along with detection
technology was being used successfully on a Tokyo expressway
to detect pedestrians, bicycles, and motorbikes travelling in thewrong direction and alerting them through roadside speakers.

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Enhancing Mobility and Safety through Digital Infrastructure and Analytics Ecosystem at a Port Authority. (Jennifer Bates in TS12: Digital
Infrastructure’s Impact on Transportation)

The use of data analytics and visualisation to improve mobility
and safety for metropolitan areas, using a data hub ecosystem,
was presented as an approach to creating unified digital data
infrastructure to help streamline data management and buildingof digital assets from siloed data repositories. Also related tovisualisation techniques was the application of VR simulation
to safely validate spatial movements in pedestrian-related
scenarios.
STANDARDISATION – TREATING DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
IN THE SAME WAY AS PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:
Transport Authorities had a rich history of experience anddesign standards for roadway construction and operations(physical) and must embed the same level of lifecycle
management and planning (cybersecurity, communications,
technology operations) in their digital assets as they haveplaced on their physical assets. There was a base level of cybersecurity ‘insurance’ that was required, but there was a lack ofknowledge in agencies that impacted on their ability to get thecorrect help. Within the industry there was often the illusionthat ‘we are secure’, this invariably was not true. There needed
to be a change in mindset; there was no ‘silver bullet’ or ‘final
solution’ just a need to keep working on security and to address
the key question, who owns risk?

Integration between digitally equipped and traditional vehicles
was not covered in this Topic. Another area slightly lacking
in attention was the development of business and use cases
to demonstrate the value of V2X and other digital, connected
infrastructure technologies for efficient public highway
transport – buses and trams for example – but also applicationfor environments such as airports, train stations and ports.
Although the industry itself was awash with AI solutions only
one session covered it explicitly; the area was also missing intechnical papers. It was surprising not to see more research
into the implementation and application of digital infrastructure
to drive forward decarbonisation and sustainability in thetransport sector.
Though the digital infrastructure deployment continued tomove forward not much attention was being paid to equity
and safety aspects. Would transportation be efficient andaffordable for communities of concern? Would the infrastructure
be safe and secure? Would new technologies make a dent in
traffic congestion without making it economically burdensome
for the people with less affordability? These questions need tobe addressed in the digital infrastructure of the future.

WHAT WAS LESS POPULAR
The physical aspects of digital infrastructure such as sensors
and 5G were not prominent; perhaps because this was now
considered to be the state of the art. Similarly there was little
consideration of the benefits of integrating transport oriented
digital infrastructure with that deployed more broadly withinpublic spaces and the built environment, to facilitate theseamless, informed movement of people and goods and enableholistic “transformation by transportation.”

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OLD VS. NEW
OLD
Recurring themes from previous congresses included digital
twins where a session explored applications for them where
the use cases were already well know such as active transportmanagement, transport planning simulation and modelling as
they were already used by a variety of cities and authorities.
There was an interesting exploration of established concepts ina review of the crucial role of data in the design of a congestion
prediction speed control algorithm system, and the data
dashboards developed for system monitoring and evaluation
in a pilot by Virginia Department of Transportation. Also on
familiar ground was an examination of the robustness of Origin
Destination data derived from floating vehicle data. Similarly,
the use of smartcard data to establish journey patterns wasanother topic that has appeared in many previous congresses.

NEW:
The need to properly build cyber resilience into the digital
network was repeatedly stressed. A lively workshop assessed
the steps that needed to be in place to prepare, prevent andquickly restore operations after a cyber attack against critical ITS
transportation assets and systems. It was not always recognisedthat as we automate and adapt to a world of sensors, big data,
improved. connectivity, digital cities, connected vehicles, andgreater mobility, there is a much increased risk from those whowish to play havoc with or totally disrupt our transportation
systems.

Extending the use of data into neighbouring applications suchas work zones by linking them to connected vehicles, digital
infrastructure and data sharing was a timely reminder thataround 750 people died in work zone crashes on America’s
roads each year. Work Zones remained the most dangerous
places on the traffic network prompting the questions why was
their digitisation falling behind the rest of the infrastructure, andwhat could be done to reverse that trend?
Novel approaches to improving ITS operations were presented
such as an Ethereum-based Blockchain platform for transport
in a Taiwan Rural ITS Project, which demonstrated applying
secure ledger technology to integrate data for provision of asecure rural car sharing service.
There was a report of an investigation of global relevance: how
might automated vehicles interact with level crossings? The
presentation focused on how smart level crossings could offer
safety benefits for connected vehicles through the deploymentof V2X technology.

Preparing level crossings for the arrival of automated vehicles (Virginie Taillandier et al in TS8: Traffic Management Safety)

Use of micromobility data to inform and monitor regulatory
frameworks, for the safely managed operation of e-scooters,
demonstrated how the Mobility Data Specification can be used
to share data effectively between cities and private mobility
providers.

A novel presentation on the use of bus open data in the UK
explained how to make passenger information easy to access,ready to use and of high quality, thereby reducing the friction fordata consumers to support MaaS and encourage modal shift.
The platform was also being leveraged to digitally transform theindustry and encourage positive development.

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FORWARD VS. CONSTRAINEDFORWARD:The SIS sessions within this topic concentrated very much on
how to incorporate digital ITS into business as usual and totreat it in the same way as traditional and physical ITS assets.
Including the best way to use, manage and standardise data andways to extend the benefits into new areas such as roadwork
safety.

•From the papers presented the forward-looking themes mainly
focused on development of advanced communications toenable connected transport services and applications. Equally,
the value Digital Infrastructure could have for improvement ofunderstanding and improving traffic flow and operations stoodout, and it was pleasing to see consideration of the impact Digital
Infrastructure could have for the improvement of transport andmobility, through both on-street deployment and through its use
in the optimisation of advanced simulation techniques.

•

CONSTRAINED:
Whilst not strictly a constraint it was essential to remember theneed to standardise approaches and procedures to ensure thatworking in a digital world was managed as safely as working
in the physical world and in particular, that cyber security andresilience were always kept at the forefront of developments.

•

Concern about the quantity of data was no longer an issue.
Every vehicle and mobility device, every roadway safety
device, every roadside infrastructure element is connected
and can collect and disseminate data. Plenty of data wasbeing generated but we were not yet able to put them togood use. There was an urgent need to identify practicaluse cases and develop relevant tools to analyse data tohelp with those use cases.
USDOT’s work zone data exchange (WZDx) specification
had gained significant momentum.
Government
agencies had started producing data feeds and major
data consumers in navigation and CAV companies were
investing in consuming WZDx data. Significant growth in
WZDx adoption was expected soon.
While digital infrastructure development and deployment
in transportation industry were moving forward andmoving quickly the industry was likely to need to pay more
attention to the safety and equity aspects of technology
deployments. For example a need for more policy level
conversation was identified to provide clear definitions andto help understand the equity and safety impacts as well as
potentials of digital infrastructure in order to provide safeand equitable mobility for all.

One of the barriers to more efficient installation and use ofdigital infrastructure, evident from the papers, was the common
theme of a lack of coordination when planning for effective
data sharing and processing whether it be due to technical,
financial, or organisational factors,. Hopefully this theme would
be less visible at future congresses as recommendations fromthe research on show started to be implemented more widely
across the transport ecosystem.

WHERE MIGHT WE BE HEADING
No one can be certain about where we are heading, but the work
presented at LA 2022 painted an interesting picture on several
digital infrastructure fronts that have significant potential.
••

AI based decision support systems in transport would
continue to emerge. In this arena private sector companies
with advanced big data technologies would play a key rolein supporting large scale government decision-making.
On the other hand, local government agencies would
continue to experiment and innovate with pilot advanced
digital infrastructure deployments for collecting andanalysing data for efficient mobility management. This
trend would likely continue for a long while before a truly
connected digital infrastructure would be ready.

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TOPIC 2EQUITABLE AND SEAMLESS MOBILITY
THE OVERALL SITUATIONThe Equitable and Seamless Mobility topic at the Congressrecognised that everyone should have affordable, safe andequal access to transport. It included discussions about
innovations that expand equitable mobility and overcome
existing challenges, with a particular focus on accessible andbarrier-free mobility, mobility trends, and emerging technologies
supporting transportation access. There were 14 Special Interest
Sessions, one Strategic Technology Session, four technicalpaper sessions, two International Forums, three workshops,
two Regional Forums and two Plenaries. There was frequent
overlap between this topic and others. The most prominent
sub-topic was equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion withemphasis on gender challenges and gaps. Other sub-topics
included improving travellers’ experiences, enhancing existing
mobility tools with new technology, the need for and power ofopen data sharing and exchange, and the use of ITS to create“greener” mobility.
WHAT WAS POPULAR
Several Congress sessions addressed the question “is mobility afundamental human right?” (general conclusion: “Yes”). Mobility
was defined as the ability for a person to move or be moved
freely, and so was at the centre of all life activities: healthcare,
employment, education, housing, local/regional government
services and entertainment. Furthermore, a person’s ability
to move must be without barriers to, for example, accessing
transport as this can increase the need for healthcare services.
Equality and equity were not synonymous – equality wasgiving the same mobility to everyone and equity
was providing different mobility options depending
on a travellers’ needs. Two sessions specificallyaddressed using automation to enhance mobility
and equity with the comment “If the technology canaddress the needs of people with limited mobility, it
can address everyone’s needs”.

WHAT WAS NOT POPULAR
Given the frequent delays in supply chains being experienced
in the wake of COVID-19 it was surprising that the applicationof technology to resolving logistics issues was only mentioned
in one session. Electric mobility was not as popular as
expected given the amount of press it attracts in the industry.
Kerb management was rarely covered.
Enhancing andexpanding the ITS workforce and the impact of ITS on theenvironment were only mentioned in two sessions. Ways toenhance rural mobility using technology were not covered
as widely as in past World Congresses; and cybersecurity
had limited coverage in this topic but featured elsewhere.
This Congress was perhaps the first since 2015 where MaaS
was not a dominant topic. In the MOD/MaaS Global Forumitems familiar from past World Congresses were discussed:
•

•

•
•

MaaS was being integrated more into businesses (egprovision of mobility options rather than giving a companycar) and into rural areas (where there were fewer mobility
options).
The industry needed to deliver an integrated mobility
network in an equitable way. If the MOD/MaaS solution did
not provide access to mobility for all travellers, then it was
not a valid solution.
Open data continued to be a barrier with many sectors
worldwide not sharing mobility data.
We STILL did not know what constituted a successful
business model for MaaS !

Other popular subjects were:
•

•
•
•
•
•
•

Strategies and best practices to overcome
barriers to advance gender equity and equality,and empower more women and girls to choose aprofession in mobility; andMeasuring equity using impact assessments andequity frameworks
Real-time traffic monitoring and management
systems
Technology to perform multimodal optimisation of traffic
flow along corridors
The role of open platforms in delivering seamless mobility;
Automated feeder transport to facilitate integrated mobility
servicesA “super app,” to support the shift of trips by personalcar to intermodal travel involving the integration of public
transport with micromobility;

MaaS Customer View (Roelof Hellemans in SIS 30)

However in a few sessions MaaS visions were revisited. The
MaaS Alliance saws an open system consisting not only of
public authorities interacting with mobility service providers,
but also containing the appropriate policies and regulations togovern access to all types of assets (owned or shared, public
or private) and to share data among mobility providers using
standards, data models and programming interfaces. This
reimagined landscape took the travellers and various businessmodels into account as shown above:

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OLD VS NEW
OLD:
Several ITS technologies covered in earlier World Congresses
seemed not to have moved on very far. Mobility network
management had been discussed in the past but we heard
about an approach by AustriaTech called Service 1st. thatchanged the overall focus:
•
•
•
•
•

From HOV Lanes and ramp metering To Service 1st Lanes
From managing capacity To guaranteed slots for usergroupsFrom reducing accidents and incidents To reducing
environmental burden
From managing road infrastructure To efficient energy
provision
From informing via different channels To setting fleet
requirements

Other subjects covered in prior ITS World Congresses and also
LA were:••••The potential for MOD and MaaS to reduce private car use.
Optimal rebalancing of micromobility devices (ege-scooters)
The opportunities and challenges associated with
automated vehicles in rural areas.
Simulating the use of automated vehicles to provide
improved mobility.

NEW:
A new type of automated shuttle was introduced at thisCongress with the term “robotransit”. It was designed to
improve access and mobility; provide equitable transit; reduce
congestion and emissions; reduce demand on infrastructure;and create jobs. A robotransit demonstration started at the endof September 2022 –the first ever accessibility-focused, rural,
self-driving pilot.
By leveraging technology and behaviour analysis, theintegration of Management and Operations (TSMO) and Active
Demand Management (ADM) with multi-modal demand/mobility
management was expected to influence commuter behaviour
towards more sustainable mobility options while optimisingavailable capacity and achieving operational objectives. A
three-year deployment program in Houston was demonstrating
this integration via a new mobile application.
“Universal Basic Mobility (UBM),” was discussed in a several
Congress sessions and is being used throughout the world. It
was the idea that all citizens should have a decent range ofaffordable transport options, regardless of their socioeconomic
status or disabilities. UBM pilot projects were demonstrating
how innovation and technology can fill gaps to reachmarginalised communities, and the ways in which equity andtransport intersect. These pilots were just the beginning inthinking about technology-enabled mobility as a fundamental
human right. A new and innovative design for UBM was shown[below].

Partnership for Universal Basic Mobility (Bruce Newbold in SIS 1)

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Other new technologies and systems discussed in theCongress included:
•

•

•
•

An Intelligent Charge Planner that used artificial intelligenceto plan and schedule e-vehicle charging which addressed
the pain points of all relevant stakeholders – charging point
operators, eMobility Service Providers, energy suppliersand cities.
Predicting the numbers of empty seats on buses and otheroperational analyses using 5G real-time payment data andcellular-based vehicle probe data
Utilising multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to rank various
pedestrian/cyclist detection technologies
Using an agent system together with a data space toenable a “super app” that supported modal shift fromtrips by personal car to intermodal travel using an open,transparent and secure digital ecosystem, where data andservices could be made available, collated and shared in
an environment of trust.

A new technology deployed at two sites in Japan was presented– the use of directional speakers at the side of a highway ramp
to provide driver assistance information. In one site no traffic
accidents had occurred in a year since the voice alert system
was in operation and the average velocity of the vehicles during
not congested traffic had reduced by 4%.
A project in Georgia had developed a mobile application
for pre-trip and in-trip planning, including technologies likeconnected vehicles.

Safe Trips in a Connected Transport Network (Maria Roell in SIS 92)

FORWARD VS CONSTRAINEDFORWARD
Although 5G already existed the ITS applications were still
evolving. In a workshop devoted to 5G it was clear that itdelivered a capable solution to a variety of issues including
Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM), could be used now
and would evolve further. 5G facilitated seamless cross-bordermobility, provided significantly better performance than 4G andshowed room for growth. However, collaboration with mobile
network operators was key for further evolution. There wereideas for universal support that should be implemented in
the future, only co-creation of mobile network operators andservice providers would unlock the full potential of 5G.

Taiwan was using 5G to support a smart payment platform forbuses as well as big data analytics applications. Applications
included bus empty seat prediction and multi-payment ticket
data analysis, which included operational status of the transit
system, origin-destination demand and distribution, information
on travellers, waiting times, seat utilisation and transfer
hot spots.

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Phase 1 of ERTICO’s City Moonshot program collected
and analysed data collected in 150 interviews regarding
the needs, challenges and solutions of cities worldwide,
for the mutual benefit of all cities as well as other actors in
the transport and mobility sector, such as industry, service
providers and researchers. In LA Phase 2 was announced
and a workshop discussed the new topics to be covered– Sustainability, MaaS, Electromobility and Urban Air
Mobility. A wide range of discussion conclusions included:
•

•

•

•
•
•

Further investment in public transport was the best option
for addressing climate change, but a combination ofseveral actions would be most effective. Other actions
could include reallocating road space in a city, land use
planning and designing smart cities from the start to keepcars outside as much as possible. A potential action often
overlooked and missing was kerb management.
A good climate plan could end up being a bad fit withequity and accessibility. The transport sector has to learn
how to work with other sectors like the housing sector toaddress climate change.
There was no meaningful business case yet for UAM incities primarily because of the infrastructure requirements.
However, there were some use cases for goods movement.
Safety was uncertain with UAM. We did not know theorigins and destinations of UAMs.
Air space was nationally regulated, which could create aproblem
There was no one size fits all – cities had very different
characteristics.

Transport for New South Wales was moving from an asset
management to a customer-focused vision. This included making
30-minute cities and 15-minute neighbourhoods, targeting zero
emissions buses by 2040, development of micro networks(which would involve working with mobility service providers andconnecting their services to the public transport system), using
drone and satellite technology to learn how to build resilience,and using quantum computing to optimise the transport
network. Data was their biggest challenge in this approach.
Other forward-looking technologies and ideas presented
included:

•

•

•

•

CONSTRAINEDOne aspect of equity not discussed in prior World Congresses
was the topic about achieving environmental justice throughinnovative freight logistics and decarbonisation. The key
equity-related issues were:
•

•
•

•

•

Several systems across the world were piloting new
mobility on demand services to fill public transport gaps
leading to more agile and flexible networks that better
serve travellers while also improving cost-effectivenessand quality of service.
The linking of two innovations mentioned earlier, an agent
system together with a data space, could eventually
improve modal shift from personal car trips to intermodal
travel through incorporating standard components, suchas connectors, a broker, and identity management in a
mobile app, together with specific data usage policies andenforcement.

The European Commission’s European Mobility Data Space
was a first step to map and identify gaps and overlaps
between existing standards and mobility service initiatives.
The goal was to facilitate access, pooling, and sharing of
data, thereby ensuring that more data became available
for use in the economy and society, while providing better
control to companies and individuals who generated thedata.
Applications and the expected future impact of quantum
technology on transport efficiency, safety and theenvironment were described.
Integrating quantum
technology with transport solutions may have the potential
to improve mobility, although much more exploration isneeded.
Technology for freight logistics had the potential not
only to reduce greenhouse gases but also to improvethe efficiency of shipping. Many logistics hubs had
been located in disadvantaged areas so improving theenvironment in these locations would begin to address theyears of negative impacts as a result of logistics traffic.
Technology could help with environmental justice byreducing the need for trucks to queue at weigh stations
and could direct them to parking to reduce trucks driving
around looking. While a truck was travelling at highway
speeds, data could be transmitted about the truck and what
it was carrying so it did not have to stop for any reason.

•

Trucks which transported freight over short distances fromports emitted more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than ships.
Half of this type of operator in California had four trucks orless making this an equity issue if they were forced to buy
a more expensive truck such as an electric truck. So how
might government help small operators make the transition
to cleaner trucks?
All types of freight trucks often travelled through lowincome neighbourhoods.
The subjective nature of freight enforcement before
technology caused inequities – trucks with operators ofcolour were being stopped more than other people. Now
that enforcement could be done with technology it became
a much more equitable process.
Lower-income neighbourhoods tended to be nearindustrial areas because they could afford the housing inthese areas. People with money did not want to live nearindustrial areas. But in some cases the industrial areas
were built in existing low-income neighbourhoods because
there had been no way to stop their being located there.

ITS WORLD CONGRESS24

A number of constraints to seamless mobility were identified:•••

Data needed to be open and shared, and accessible toapplication programming interfaces . Monopolies still
existed which did not level the playing field among private
sector providers in technology-enabled mobility solutions
such as MaaS.
Some technology was not well understood by the local
authorities, and there was financial and societal pressure
for change including reallocating road space. However
the political environment was not keeping up and policy
makers often did not know how the data worked.
In the UK’s Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy nine
principles were identified as facilitating innovation in urban
mobility for freight, passengers and services including“the marketplace for mobility must be open to stimulateinnovation and give the best deal to consumers”.

Quantum computing showed the potential to improve a varietyof transport services including the integration of first-mile/
last-mile mobility solutions, crew timetabling and dynamic
train/bus scheduling. However, while quantum computing
solutions already existed in transport and logistics the size ofdevices limited the range of problems that could be tackled
and they were exceptionally unstable and error-prone. There
were five critical needs to make QC useful to the ITS industry:(1) an empowered customer and user base; (2) user-focused
applications; (3) optimised algorithmic modules; (4) larger
hardware systems; and (5) augmented hardware performance.
Other constraints in ITS discussed in this Congress included
the following:••

While this and the prior World Congresses had numerous
sessions addressing equity, inclusion, accessibility anddiversity in ITS, there were a limited number of tools tomeasure these factors and whether or not we are truly
addressing them in the ITS industry. Several frameworks
were beginning to be used to measure if and how equity
was being addressed, but they are not well known.
User acceptance was missing from several automatedvehicle concepts, such as the demonstration and simulation
study that modelled an management system that allocatedautomated vehicles to operational states: eg a vehicle
operating from a waiting place for non-revenue vehicles;
and delivering mobility on demand trips and then returning
to the base.

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TOPIC 3
INTELLIGENT, CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED TRANSPORTATIONTHE OVERALL SITUATION
As with earlier Congresses this was the most popular topic
accounting for over 35% of all activities and covering a very
wide area. There were some strong common themes emerging
across the multiple presentations and also a sense of coalition
between these themes. They focused on four important areas:••••

SafetyCollaboration
Rural
Lessons Learned

There was agreement that Regulation and Technology
had critical roles to play to deliver the safety benefits; key
considerations were:•••
There were also some sub themes running through the sessions
which gave an additional breadth and depth to the discussions.
This demonstrated that there were some real-life examples of
the technology being deployed and some tangible benefits
being realised. However it also highlighted that there werestill significant challenges to be overcome to deliver intelligent,connected and automated transportation systems. These subthemes looked specifically at:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Net Zero ‘Vision Zero’
Health, society and equity
Legalities of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)Sensor technology in AVs
Data
Sustainability
Digital infrastructure

By contrast new topics included truck automation where there
had been major advances recently with more real-world testing.
There were still challenges with regard to incorporating the first/
last mile and yard/terminal movements but collaborations again
seemed plentiful and problems seemed to be on the way toresolution. Bus automation also attracted much attention withdemand not just from cities but rural areas too.

••

The cloud would play a huge part in safety and ensuring it
was fit for purpose and cyber resilient was critical.
It was unclear what new regulations were needed tosupport safety and Vision Zero. The key success factors
were innovation and safety, flexibility to test and evolve,
and trying not to be too restrictive with policy.
How would technologies such as AI, map data streaming
and sensor-fusion be used to meet these regulations?
Machine learning and standardisation would help butwith different providers finding different solutions anddeveloping different technologies to improve mapping theway forward was unclear. If maps were not updated in realtime, and if there were still limitations such as missing data,
variations between countries, weather variations, special
zones such as schools, hospitals, and legislations progress
would be limited.
The democratisation of safety was seen to be a fundamental
requirement – for example V2X had the potential to prevent
over multiple school zone injuries and fatalities annually –but what if people could not afford or were not willing to
pay for the additional safety features?
Technology was not expected to be a barrier as the markets
and suppliers would find the right solutions. However,a consensus on the most appropriate technologicalapproach may be a barrier. Traditionally there had
been global agreements on transport technologies andapproaches through standards and technology evolution,
however this was changing and different approaches werebeing adopted.

WHAT WAS POPULARSAFETYITS was founded on safety; and safety was the primary
motivation for AVs – to maximise the impact of the technology
so that safety was improved across the transport sector withzero incidents being the only goal. Low Speed Autonomous
Driving was expected to resolve several problems such as
reducing accidents and wrong way driving and supporting theincreasing number of older drivers. AVs need to be connectedto the infrastructure to get road condition information andtraffic information to enable safer roads and there was strong
agreement that all sectors needed to work together – from
OEMs to solution providers to regulatory authorities – to deliveron the safety priority. Without collaboration, no one would win.

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COLLABORATION
Collaboration was seen as critical and was cited in many sessions
as well as the sessions dedicated to the topic. There was clear
agreement that safety must be both a shared responsibility
and a collaborative effort. There must be collaboration increating policies, but to do that, a better understanding of thetechnology was needed, particularly in the case of autonomousvehicle policy. In order to advance, we needed collaboration at
local, state, national, and international levels, as well as acrossthe various sectors.
The UK was recognised as an area where there was a real
sense of collaboration between industry, government, andacademia; with all the UK organisations seen as “buying in” tothe connected and automated mobility agenda. This included
a shared focus on safety, putting people first, giving people
mobility, growing the economy etc. In comparison the focus in
the US had been to ‘let the technology evolve’, but national andlocal governments needed to convene and lead with a concise
focus of what they are trying to do, and then let the private
sector respond. A sense of urgency was needed to reduce theloss of life in the US.
Japan was also considered to be joined up regarding the policy
development and deployment of Connected and AutomatedMobility with a top-level integrated, cross-government
collaborative approach, incorporating over six departments andMinistries. CAM was seen as a potential societal benefit whichmust bring tangible benefits to the population as well as gains
and because of this approach there was high acceptance andsatisfaction levels within communities.
Japan was taking a strong international engagement
approach to ensure that it was a leader in the developmentof standards and innovation. Regulations were reviewed andupdated regularly and deployment projects were aimed at
specific challenges with the use of simulation to create safe
technologies. The issues that they aimed to resolve included
business models (cross sector), interoperability and scalability,
infrastructure, safety and social acceptance and the regulatory
framework. There was a need for ‘collective intelligence’ tosolve these issues, and CAM was seen as an enabler to solve
social issues such as shortage of labour, increases in marginal
costs, traffic accidents, support ageing population who could nolonger drive, climate change and well-being.

Japan’s vision of mobility and society for 2022 comprised 5
main areas:
•
•
•

•
•

Service design from the citizens’ perspective
Community and trust – Mobility was seen as a basis for
additional services such as a childcare sharing application
Communication and decision making with people, by data
– by examining the driving routes of autonomous buses,
big data from mobile phones can be used to identify
human flow
Architecture
Regulatory reform – Provision of a technology map torefresh all regulations, and consideration of systemarchitecture to establish new regulations. By using digitaltechnology regulation becomes more effective and morebusiness friendly and brings about more innovation.

It was generally agreed that the role of government wouldchange as we moved towards autonomy. Government wascurrently the interpreter between transport, industry providers
and people, but in the future it would become the governorsof the infrastructure to ensure safety etc which meant closer
relationships would be needed between government andindustry. Collaboration between competitors was also required,especially in V2X, as well as collaboration regarding theongoing spectrum frequency debate, specifically in the US but
in other countries too.
Key challenges from a number of speakers highlighted theimportance of establishing a joined up government approach:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Test and learn
Vehicle agnostic collaborations
V2X Technology concerns
Security and safety features
OEM feedback
Remote command and control capability
L3 Launch then elevate to L4
Importance of community education and acceptance
Dedicated routes and features
Workforce development
EV infrastructure

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AIR MOBILITY
Whilst most discussions addressed mobility on land there was asession on air mobility where the main points were:•••Collaboration was needed between governing agencies;
main stakeholders in the ecosystem could not continue tooperate in silos if we were to deploy these technologies.
Traffic management at ground level needed to be joined to
air traffic management.
In the USA working groups and advisory committees wereneeded to address future UAM policy, planning and vision.
Engagement with the community/public was critical.
Communities needed to be a part of the process so thatorganisations could understand potential concerns andprepare solutions.

RURAL
Creating connected and automated transport services for rural
environments posed significantly different challenges to thoseof urban environments which were arguably easier to replicate
from one urban environment to another. Rural deployments
were likely to have stronger and more impactful societal benefits
but urban systems and had potentially stronger business cases.
In the sessions the societal opportunities and challenges thatrural communities would be tackling in the coming years werehighlighted, with the introduction of new mobility technology(specifically with micro-transit and autonomous vehicle
solutions) as potential solutions. A publicly shareable databaseaccessible to all was key along with the use of edge computing
to support the use of digital twins. There was no ‘one size
fits all’ with regards to rural policies, and using AI and digital
twins could accelerate the deployment, and therefore benefits
including safety, of ITS for rural communities.

A detailed report on a Japanese case study described thechallenges facing rural areas, particularly the comparative age ofthe population, combined with the reduction in public transportroutes, increase in the number of older people who could not
drive and the lack of home deliveries in rural regions due to thelack of truck drivers. Different solutions had been deployed in
32 rural areas across Japan trialing the use automated driving
vehicles to enable a variety of activities and bring agriculturalprojects to the morning food markets. User feedback had
been very positive with 60-70% satisfied with the automateddriving service.
LESSONS LEARNED
A session ‘No Success Without Failure’ had a wide-ranging
panel of representatives who agreed overwhelming that there
was no better way to learn than through deployments, andthat to have successful deployments there should be constantreview and learning, adapting the programmes based on what
had been learned along the way.
There was also strong consensus that it was critical for different
projects, within States, across the country and globally to sharethe lessons of their project with a more systemic method ofsharing to avoid wasting money, repeating the same mistakes
and all learning the same lessons in silos.

Dezbah Hatathli in SIS 8 Autonomous Vehicle Deployment in Arizona

ITS WORLD CONGRESS28

Laura Fraade-Blanar in SIS 10 Highlights from the ARTS 2022

WHAT WAS LESS POPULAR
Equity was a strong theme of the overall conference but
seemed to feature less in Topic 3. There was little discussion
on affordability of AVs, who would be able to travel in AVs, andhow they could be made an option for all. The Net Zero goal
was expected to be a strong theme if not the main one in this
topic but the emphasis was on safety. Transport accounts for
29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA but we had very
little on how deployment of connected or automated vehicles
might enable reductions.
The legislative issues around CAV’s were not a popular theme,
possibly due to the complexity and diversity between global
nations so we had less than in previous years on regulatory andlicensing issues.

The new concept of ‘‘Drivership” was presented in the context
of AVs developing from just ‘safe driving’ to ‘good roadway
citizenship’ in the sense of going beyond driving safely eg notjust going because there is a green light but letting people passon a zebra crossing, dropping off a passenger at a location a
few metres away if it is safer to do so. The research concept
of Drivership could build trust, by meeting and exceeding
stakeholders’ reasonable expectations on how autonomous
driving systems should behave on the road. It was a social
concept – more than safety alone and, more than the absenceof bad driving; it was an interesting evolving concept.

WHAT WAS NEW
Post Covid Automation was a new topic not existing a few years
ago but the almost universal drop in public transport use after
Covid has prompted the question – how will this trend impact
automated travel, which is predominantly a shared travel
experience? Many speakers agreed that failure was an integral
part of innovation, but it was inevitably expensive and difficult
to acknowledge publicly. Nevertheless live v virtual testing
was a common discussion point. Some studies were using live
components in real-world situations either on test tracks or by
deploying technology at public intersections. Others examined
the technologies in virtual or constructed settings. A hot topic
for the next Congress is likely to be how can we enable morecooperative testing and allow multiple participants to examine
their technologies in environments that can include interactions
between live and virtual components.

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FORWARD VS CONSTRAINEDFORWARD:The uses of Machine Learning, Virtual Reality and sensor
technologies all appeared to be moving forward. Similarly
experience of using 5G and V2X in automated transport was
making progress albeit too slowly from some.
CONSTRAINED:
A global area which seemed to be constraining was achieving
a commonality of policy. This looked to be a major challenge inEurope with so many countries each with different regulations
and laws but the European Commission was visible and active
in setting a framework for the 27 Member States and otherassociated countries. The USA had difficulties with different
approaches across different States. Globally the complexityof this challenge is immense Future Congresses needed toorganise sessions on how we work could together on AV policy
as a planet policy not a city, region, country, or even continent.

A session delivered an update from the Automated Road
Transportation Symposium and the clear message was thatsignificant research was still needed to enable progress in thenext few years on a wide range of CAM related areas including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Human factors
Standards
First responders
EquityData sharing
Roadway operations
Safety topics such as freight, transit, and passenger vehiclecommercialisation
Safety and cyber security assurance
Sustainability and climate change
Digital and physical infrastructure
Formulating legislation and policy for use of automateddriving systems.

The industry needed to move from collaboration to integration in three main areas:

Geographic Level• Isolated, local solutions are
not the way forward and whatis needed are global, national,
regional approaches covering
numerous areas including• Strategies• Roadmaps• Frameworks• Standards• Terminology & definitions• Policies

System Level

Data Level• Coordinate human and ADS
performance - Leverage
strengths, address weaknesses and infrastructure• Trucking• Teleoperation• Traffic management• First responders• Construction & inspection zones• Rural use• Climate change• Transit• Digital infrastructure• Cybersecurity• Including:• Test data
• Live & historical road network
operational data
• Asset/road environment data
• Monitoring data
• Modelling data
• Sharing data via Research,
Planning, Operations andCapture & Communications• Open standards & specifications

Other areas where progress was not straightforward included:•••

Support from and interaction with the infrastructure werenecessary requirements for future traffic systems withconnected and automated vehicles eg for improving the
Operational Design Domain or implementing traffic rules.
We needed to ensure the quality and security of the dataexchanged among vehicles and between the vehicles andthe infrastructure.
Traffic management systems needed to be integrated
with the deployment of automated vehicles to addressunanticipated negative effects eg impacts on traffic
efficiency.

••

Human factors must be incorporated in the design ofautomated vehicles and traffic management strategies andresponses. Further research on behavioural factors, withparticular emphasis on edge cases and an acceptability of
traffic management measures, was overdue.
There needed to be more collaboration among stakeholders(eg involving vehicle manufacturers) to better frame theproblems and seek better solutions.

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TOPIC 4
ORGANIZING FOR SUCCESSFUL POLICY & GOVERNANCE,
BUSINESS MODELS, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONOVERVIEWWHAT WAS NEW

Most of the sessions under Topic 4 focused on the disruption andorganisational challenges created for public and private sector
professionals by new digital technologies and advancements
in micro/E-Mobility. Whilst the high level focus was policy,
business models, organisation, standards, and governance, thecontinuing theme throughout was all about “sharing” – bringing
together the lessons learned, data and intelligence gathered tounderstand how the sector could come together to acceleratetransformation.

ORGANISING FOR SUCCESSFUL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE
In a way the whole Topic was new – organising for successfulpolicy and governance was not programmed as a separate
subject in earlier Congresses. Over the past 10 years we hadseen a global increase in E-Mobility services across our cities
and public spaces. Customers were engaging directly withthese providers, utilising their services and the convenience
they could provide, giving them data, journey records andintelligence on needs and wants from a publicly available ondemand service. This in turn had created more challenges for
authorities. Local authorities needed this data for equitable,
accessible, and effective evidence-based policy making. This
made E-mobility an innovative space where public and private
sector collaboration could catalyse new mobility services forplaces and the people who lived work and played in them.

We heard how new technologies had enabled new value
propositions such as automated driving, intelligent parking,digital kerbs. These propositions had brought potential but alsounchartered challenges, for example separating hype from fact
when considering risks and opportunities and misconceptionsof application and usage (customers feeling safe vs being safe,
in an AV). We were frequently reminded not to forget businessbasics – don’t get carried away with the tech and before
considering the business case for any new value proposition
first ask; “What is the purpose; who will it serve? who will pay?”
We saw examples of where the pace of change had been further
driven by private sector investment influencing the AV sector
and new mobility, creating even more complexity for public
sector and organisations servicing public sector clients. With
fast evolving tools for digitalisation and new data technologies
such as “data in the cloud” and edge computing creating more
realistic opportunities for C-ITS (as the backbone for automation,connectivity, and new mobility), came recognition that theevolution of ITS did not match the ability of organisations,particularly those in the public sector, to keep up.
There was a key message across the topic: The current
protracted models for decision making, governance processes
and procurements resulted in delays so extensive that by thetime we got to implementation the technologies and markets
would undoubtably have moved on.
It was also very clear that transport generally had not avoided
the global phenomenon of skills shortages exacerbated byan ageing and non-diverse workforce. As a sector ITS must
broaden and diversify if we were to overcome the challenges oftransformation. We must learn new ways of working and build
partnerships with new players such as start-ups and productdevelopers. Diversity had a broad span: age, education,
disability, ethnicity. The challenges were visible, many groups
were unable to participate as they were under-represented
in the industry in the first place. We heard how non-diverse
decision making frameworks had left unwanted landmarks oflegacy infrastructure, in-equity in transport, unsafe liveable
places and economic poverty.

Sessions demonstrated that the key challenge was to set
Standards that would both support interoperable accessible
services and at the same time allow for innovation, and form abroad marketplace providing best value and options for users.
The rules for engagement needed to ensure everyone could
get what they needed, and everyone needed data. The richer
the data, the more effective the policy making, the user services
and system design. Cities needed data sets; E-mobility services
needed cities, customers and the data; and customers needed
smart and integrated mobility options.
Standard setting must reflect these needs if we were to have aneffective eco-system and there was an example that worked: theOpen Mobility Forum. The OMF is a not-for-profit organisation
working as a collaboration hub to understand what was needed
to inform the standards that would deliver an effective ecosystem for new mobility. The OMF had been developing
standards for cities with CAVs in mind and had adapted thespecifications to create the Mobility Data Standard (MDS) fore-mobility. Over 300 cities had adopted the MDS standard – a
set of KPIs and rules for compliance and access for the service
provider to use the city, customers to have their options andcities to be guardians of the data. Service providers received apermit to deliver their services in an agreement to comply with
the Standards. The key was for cities to be clear and robust
about what data they really wanted that was purposeful for theirneeds, rather than just ask for everything.

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Andrew Hastings in SIS 35: Building a thriving eco-system for ITS Standards

BUSINESS MODELS/CASESThe ERTICO Academy session shared 3 years of valuable
research developing business cases for intelligent parking
and automation which illustrated why the business casefor automation was complex. However there was reason
for optimism.
A session explored “Other AV Markets”– opportunities driven by private sector investment inmarketplaces where autonomy could be more safely deployed
today and where there was potential to make money. This
had made the business cases for off-road or in-yard autonomy
much more relevant because it related to problems that could
be solved. Given the global shortage of HGV drivers, madeworse by expected retirements, there was a considerable casefor drivers to be on the road rather than performing tasks that
could be safely automated.

A session giving an update on AVs shared a snapshot of thetimelines for driverless deployments across different market
places; controlled, street, resource roads and the highway. It
was clear from the timelines that the driverless industry was
being accelerated by start-ups and manufacturers. Somestart ups were successully running driverless delivery services
now eg a collaboration with a supermarket chain in Arkansas.
However, to achieve robust level 4 automation required both alevel 4 ecosystem and level 4 factory built trucks which were
not expected before 2024.

Another opportunity was described – the case for re-use of the
97% underutilised network of rail track with AV movements. In
the US over 300 million miles of truck activity were recorded
annually, whilst a large percentage of the network might not bein an ideal place the carbon footprint of rail for freight was verymuch better than that of road . Future Rail was an opportunity
for a modal shift to rail, perhaps a Future Rail and AV trucks
joint service for last mile/first mile deliveries?

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INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
Looking globally Automation and New Mobility were the top two
focus areas where there were many unanswered questions.
What purpose do they solve? what are the legal implications?
what are the customer perceptions of safety and security
and regulatory challenges? If customers did not feel safe,
they believed they were not safe. The need for international
cooperation to address this type of challenge was extensively
discussed. There were intriguing regional differences – theUK sector was seeking standards from the insurance sector;
the US transportation market was seeking use cases to set
precedents. The overwhelming message was that with greaterinternational cooperation in the sharing of data accumulated
from pilots, multiple collaborations and trials the sector could
learn at pace and catalyse the transition to an environment
where autonomy and new mobility could thrive. Regulatory
controls were critical but potentially easier to navigate when incontrolled environments.
Again regional differences were interesting: in the UK an
activity not prohibited was permitted; in the US if not prohibitedit was assumed to be permitted. Either way cooperation –open sharing with no quid pro quo – would catalyse the routeto regulatory certainty which all agreed was a “must have” forautonomy and new mobility to thrive.
PERHAPS WE COULD HAVE HEARD MORE ABOUT…
Revenue deficits arising from increased autonomy, zero
emission fleets and a shift to MaaS and micro-mobility would
impact future ITS funding. The subject of road pricing within
this Topic area was missing, perhaps because the words “roadpricing” were taboo for many; perhaps because the content had
been exhausted over the last 30 years.

FORWARDS VS CONSTRAINEDCONSTRAINED
It was recognised that we needed to learn more from Humancentred research linked to Automation and Artificial Intelligence.
There was still much to be understood regarding artificial
intelligence in transport. As an industry we did not yet fully
understand the complexities of product liability v human liability
when it came to automation, or how we balanced the benefits
and risks, concerns of safety, privacy and equity. Further tothat the discussion around AI in AVs agreed there would need
to be trade-offs, as AVs were purported to be safer than thealternative there was a need for a fundamental shift in the legal
eco-system to a more product liability basis.

Sessions reviewed some examples of AI deployments in thefield for example how AI was improving traffic management.
Junctions could be decentralised, in effect controllingthemselves and sending messages to neighbours forcing“collaborative decision making” in the field. Trials conducted so
far had tested the technology in a “clean” environment with nohumans in the system; we had yet to understand how humans
might perform when AI was making the decisions. The earlytrials did not measure impacts on pollution but the available
data was indicating up to 21% lower emissions achieved frommanaging road junctions with AI.
All speakers agreed level 3 automation was the most dangerous
but no use case data or evidence was presented during thesessions to substantiate this statement. Further trials werewelcomed for human centred research, as a key concern was
the impact of humans in the vehicles and pedestrians in thesystem. For example how did users learn to trust automation
when AI-based services were running the system?
It was recognised that automation could solve some transportchallenges such as the skills shortage of HGV drivers but it was
likely that the increase in AVs would generate more automatedvehicles miles v human. Against this argument, data analysed
during the pandemic crisis revealed that whilst human vehicle
miles reduced, incidents did not. With more automation comes
more movement and a demand for new skills to modernise
infrastructure and to implement and support a digital ecosystem.
It was agreed that more research was needed, more use cases
tested with the human in the system.
FORWARD
We heard about successful progress with Infrastructure designin California. The key to success was incorporating multiple
stakeholders in the eco-system who could benefit from sharing
their data and would do so openly. This was emphasising themessage “collaboration is critical for the future of transport”.
Relating to the Congress’s top level theme, transformation intransportation could only be enabled by multi-stakeholders
and that in turn required transformed regulatory control andequitable policies so that innovation could thrive.

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The Californian example of collaboration was the State’s
transport agency Caltrans and SANDAG the association of local
San Diego County governments. SANDAG had very clear goals:

Innovative delivery:•••

Repurposing assets more effectively using technology.
Preparing for CAVS and Smart City technologies.

••
Importantly, it was also recognised that transport authorities
were slow to organise and deliver projects in a marketplace
where technological advancement was moving at pace. They
had therefore taken an innovative approach to how to organise
themselves to deliver projects within a governance framework
maximising agility and innovation. This involved innovative
public private partnerships and collaborative project delivery:••••

Attracting private investment
Jumpstarting development
Testing new tech and delivery models
Stimulating innovation

Proving Ground Partnerships reducing project delivery
from 7-10 years through concept testing
Planning and pilots creating opportunities to solve real
problems
Project delivery with an iterative process

For the past 75 years vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure
design had been influenced by “Green Book” rules. Given the
exponential progress in the last 10 years with V2I, V2X and V2Vtechnologies the next 10 years of infrastructure design werecritical to the future market for AVs. CAVNUE, one of the partners
collaborating with SANDAG in delivering their vision, hadreimagined the driving environment fusing road infrastructurewith automated vehicle technologies. Their solution bridged
the gap between vehicle technology and roadside design.

Alex Estrella et al in SIS 77

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TOPIC 5
PATH TO VISION ZEROTHE OVERALL SITUATIONThe Path to Vision Zero topic focused on the question: ‘How
can we work towards eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe
injuries, while increasing safe, healthy and equitable mobility?’.
For such a complex yet important question it was rather
surprising that this was the smallest topic at the 2022 Congress,
with a focus on urban mobility and little consideration given tointer-urban highway networks. The technical papers addressed
essentially the same issue – safe urban mobility in a shared-use,
multi-modal mobility landscape. They identified the key safety
challenges surrounding urban mobility, the socio-economic
trends, and presented technological innovations to address thechallenges in order to achieve Vision Zero targets following thesafe system approach.

The increased attention on safe urban mobility was a likely
result of the rapid increase of active travel options in many
cities across the world (bicycle hire, e-scooter, walking, mobility
scooters, e-cargo bicycles etc.) This had led to a spike inmixed-use urban road traffic collisions, which many existing
urban highway networks were ill-equipped to handle. Similarly
there had been a significant increase in pedestrian injuries andfatalities in urban areas during the last decade, predominantly
at crossroads. Both of these worrying trends were well coveredat the Congress, where they were identified as significant
blockers in achieving Vision Zero targets.

Designing and Maintaining a Safe System– Ian Patey et al in TS3

The Special Interest Sessions primarily focused on data:
connected vehicle data, crowd-sourced data, access to the data
(and tools), how to leverage and analyse the available data, andpractical applications that allow for improved decision-making.
There was no shortage of technologies to support Vision Zero –but clear top-down policy coordination was missing in many cases.
The technical sessions covered three main themes:
USING THE SMART ROADWAY TO REDUCE FATALITIESThe technical papers focused on technological innovations that
had been tested, trialled, and deployed in real-world settings
that provide solutions to improve road safety, and increased theefficiency of urban roadways.

Innovations such as smart roadside units showed how datafrom advanced roadside infrastructure (eg vehicle detection
imagery and pedestrian in-road detection) could be combinedwith in-vehicle data and third-party sources (eg weather data)
to provide meaningful in-vehicle messaging to drivers, andprovide warnings when safety thresholds were violated (egdriving at unsuitable speeds during wet weather, fast corneringand reported downstream traffic events). Other papers focusedon technologies that could track and influence pedestrian
behaviour, which in turn reduced jaywalking and increased
compliance with pedestrian signal settings at intersections.

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TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE SAFER ROADWAYS
This popular subject combined both big data and Vision
Zero thinking. The technical papers explored how the everincreasing pool of crowd-sourced connected vehicle data
was being leveraged to improve our understanding of driver
behaviour and to advance machine learning capabilities. This,in-turn, had enhanced decision-making regarding humancentred design, and initiated the advancement of automatic
detection of traffic events (eg debris in-road, vehicle tracking,wrong-way driving, vehicles driving at speed, pedestrians inroad and weather alerts). One paper also presented the useof simulation to improve highway operator training packages,
where on-road scenarios (built using real-world connectedvehicle data) could be modelled and adjusted following
the actions of the operator within the training environment.
Wrong-way vehicle driving was another well reported subject
area, where trials had been undertaken to identify the mosteffective mechanisms of reducing the likelihood of wrong-way
driving, and of mitigating the risks to other road users during alive event.
HOW TO ACHIEVE VISION ZERO
This high-level session saw thought leadership articles
presented on the imperatives of eliminating road fatalities andwhy the time was ripe to focus on Vision Zero. Urban roadways
were now considered to be the most harmful roadways (incomparison to interstate roadways, freeways, and motorways),especially at interfaces between motor vehicle traffic, and active
travel road users (eg at roundabouts, intersections, pedestriancrossings, and non-grade separated junctions). This, combinedwith growing and ageing urban populations, and the everincreasing deployment of connected vehicles, built a pictureof a highly kinetic transport environment where all road users
needed to adhere to the concept of shared responsibility.
In addition to the focused academic nature of the papers
sessions, broader themes emerged from Special Interest
Sessions. Main themes included:
THE NEED FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY TO BE
COLLABORATIVE IN TERMS OF DATA RECORDING, DATASHARING AND DATA ANALYTICS.
Discussions were clear that the industry had moved on fromcollision counting and hotspot identification, to making datadriven, proactive decisions. However, the automotive industry
must take collective responsibility to achieve Vision Zero targets.
Firstly, data gatherers (eg original equipment manufacturers(OEMs), third-party crowd-sourced data facilitators) needed toensure data was recorded and shared. Secondly, data enablers(eg third-party data corporations) must disseminate the data,enhance access, and educate the industry on what information
was available. Finally, consultancies (eg transport planners orengineering professionals) then needed to leverage the dataand provide feedback to the OEMs and network operators inorder to implement countermeasures.

The Federal Highway Administration Systemic Safety Project Selection
Tool shown in SIS78

THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING FULL USE OF AVAILABLE
CROWD-SOURCED
CONNECTED
VEHICLEDATA.
Panellists agreed that the automotive industry must leverage
crowd-sourced connected vehicle data in order to better
understand vehicle performance, driver behaviour and road
operator performance. It was considered that this, in-turn,would facilitate the ongoing development of CAV technology.
Advancements in connected vehicles, coupled with mobile
phone-vehicle integration, meant that driving behaviour andvehicle performance data had never been more accessible,
with very few roads now considered to be ‘data-less’. Highly
granular data sets were considered to be the main driverin future innovations for OEMs, network operators andtechnology providers alike. In particular there was a focus
on driver behaviour data, where great attention had beenplaced on understanding how drivers interacted with highway
infrastructure.
However, it was agreed that a focused vision, and clear objectives
must be set in order to navigate the vast quantity of available
crowd-sourced data, in addition to strict legislation regarding
data protection. The use of near-miss and collision data wasalso well covered, where proactive, data-driven solutions need
to be implemented to influence driver behaviour, reduce thelikelihood of road traffic collisions, and ultimately achieve Vision
Zero targets. However, a lack of cross-governmental policy andsupport was considered a key blocker to achieving this vision.

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THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY AND OWNERSHIP OF CAVS.
There were energetic discussions on the problems andpossible solutions around financing and taking ownershipof the extensive networks required to operate CAVs in the
future. These looked at vehicle maintenance and programmed
driving behaviour, instalment of roadside units, maintenanceand operation of data transfer telecommunication networks,
maintenance of smart infrastructure, maintenance of the roadsurface and lane markings, operation of data centres etc..
Although no firm conclusions were reached it was noted thatstrong cross-governmental and regulatory framework support
must be leveraged to make CAVs a reality across the globe.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN. Panellists
discussed the unpredictable, highly changeable nature of
roadway systems across the world, where it was agreed thatroads needed to be designed to be forgiving, even for themost inexperienced drivers. Furthermore, by placing humanfactors and human decision-making traits at the forefront ofroad design even the most inexperienced drivers considerable
not be penalised by serious injury in the event of a driver error.
The concept of ‘applied’ autonomous driving styles was also
discussed. Panellists agreed that driving would be a humandominated function for the foreseeable future. It was therefore
imperative that autonomous driving styles complemented
the local ‘way of the road’ in order to be successful, and gain
confidence from global markets.

Adapted from the Swedish Transport Administration Original;
shown in TS3

OLD VS NEW

In addition, the rise of active travel in urban areas, and theassociated safety impacts were frequently discussed at theCongress. In recent years, there had been a greater global
emphasis on active transport and environmental consciousness,with an increased availability of electrified personal mobility
vehicles. This had been particularly dominant following
government endorsements during and after the Covid-19
pandemic. It was considered that many existing urban highway
networks were ill-equipped to handle mixed use by pedestrians,
cyclists, electric micromobility vehicles, and traditional
automobile traffic, often contributing to crashes where one
party was outside a vehicle and was seriously injured. This wasa significant blocker to achieving Vision Zero targets. Empiricalanalyses had confirmed this trend, where urban roadways(particularly at intersections) were now considered to be themost harmful (in comparison to inter-state roads, freeways,
and motorways).

NEW
It was clear in all sessions that the concept of shared responsibility
was impacting all technological advances. Rather than applying
standardised vehicle-centric designs regardless of context land
use planners, system designers and highways designers must
identify the purpose of a road, what activities would be occurring
on it, who would be using the public space, and then design
accordingly. Road users are required to be mindful of all otherroad users and follow the rules of the network. Given that thepotential for crashes resulting in fatalities and serious injuries
reduces with lower speeds good speed compliance (from road
users) and measures that control speed (system designers) had
the greatest potential for achieving Vision Zero.

Similarly, there was great emphasis on ageing urban populations(especially in Japan and Western Europe) and disabled road
users, where additional consideration and bespoke technicalsolutions were presented in order to provide equitable transport
options in urban areas (eg increased time to cross intersections/roads, roadway infrastructure updated to account for increased
use of mobility scooter traffic). There was a growing emphasison human-centred design across the active travel landscape,where ‘pedestrian calming’ measures were being introduced tosoften the interface between motor vehicle traffic and active
travel road users (eg variable pedestrian crossing timings,
countdown to ‘green’ pedestrian signals, and segregatedcycleways).

THE OVERARCHING AIM OF VISION ZERO. There wasunanimous agreement in sessions that Vision Zero was theultimate goal for the transport industry. However, the industry
could only get so far without robust road safety policies endorsed
by national governments. Discussions suggested that thefundamental next steps should be to facilitate long-term politicalengagement across governmental departments to ensuretransportation policies were backed, implemented, and enforced.

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Overview of roadside unit data collecting and providing process (Donghyun Kwon et al in TS 1)

OLD
There was very little coverage geared towards interstate
roadways, freeways, and motorways. It was considered that
due to the rapidly evolving urban mobility landscape, coupledwith increased injury and fatality rates on urban roads, andprevious long-term research and investment in motorway/ interstate roadway safety, attention is being diverted tothe more volatile, kinetic and unpredictable urban mobility
landscape. Furthermore, following long-term trials of CAVs on
unidirectional, ‘linear flow’ highways and motorways, attention
was growing on testing the technology in more demanding,quick-decision-making, urban environments. Both of thesetrends were frequently raised at the Congress, where due tothe rapidly changing transport system, the industry must focus
its resources on the areas where most improvement could bemade (out with the old and in with the new).

As a result, the path to Vision Zero and the Safe Systems
approach must always evolve in-line with the current mobility
landscape. Therefore, Vision Zero thinking must always be
forward-looking, and not constrained to be effective. Several
innovative solutions with the potential to contribute towards
Vision Zero targets were presented throughout the sessions(eg collision detection, disabled/stopped vehicle detection,
wrong-way driving detection, congestion warning, merge lane
assist, weather warning, green light optimised speed advisory(GLOSA)). However the common factor in all use cases was theintegration with in-vehicle messaging (vehicle to infrastructure(V2I)). It was clear that in-vehicle messaging, the most basic formof the connected vehicle ecosystem, is an easily deployable
method to improve hazard awareness and driver behaviour inthe near future.

FORWARDS VS CONSTRAINEDThe mobility landscape constantly evolves. Responding toand preparing for demographic, economic, environmental andtechnological developments, while new transport modes andtechnologies appear alongside traditional modes disrupting
them, has been a permanent challenge for the transportindustry.

However, public acceptance of crowd-sourced data gathering,and concerns about data privacy, are considered to be potential
blockers as CAV technologies become more advanced andreadily deployed across the globe. Handling the volume ofassimilated crowd-sourced connected vehicle data has its
challenges, where advancements in edge computing, machinelearning and computer power are required in order to fully
understand and utilise collated vehicle data.

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TOPIC 6SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCETHE OVERALL SITUATION
Sustainability was a very broad term which had been used by alarge variety of groups to their own ends. In general the term
referred to sustaining the status quo for future generations.
In modern research circles this was seen as comprising three
primary areas (the “triple bottom line”):
1.

2.

3.

Social Sustainability - This referred to the ongoing physicaland mental wellbeing of a people. This could refer tothe travellers and their ability to maintain a lifestyle while
benefitting from new transport options, but it could alsoeasily refer to the equity and welfare of a labour force.
Environmental
Sustainability
Sometimesusedsynonymously with “Sustainability” as a whole, It referredto the planet and its ability to regenerate resources within
the scope of humanity’s impact. These resources included
obvious tangible assets such as plants, animals, minerals,
or fossil fuels. Less obviously, resources like clean air
and clean water must also be taken into account. Withintransport the use and disposal of these resources must be
considered when evaluating the sustainability of a network.
Economic Sustainability - This meant profitability. Whateconomic value was created by the new service or product?
Who would be willing to pay for it? For transportation
programmes, the answer here was often the local, state,
or federal government. But even for publicly-funded
programs, this question remained vital to any service’s
ongoing operation.

Resiliency referred to a system’s ability to respond then recoverfrom emergencies. Within the higher-level of sustainable
planning every transport service and network experienced more
immediate cycles of emergencies, responses to them, thenbuilding back stronger. These cycles demonstrated a system’s
resiliency. The emergencies themselves could take many
forms, from natural disasters to other climate-related systemicchanges like temperatures above or below the expected
range for a region. Some emergencies were man-madelike economic crises, cybersecurity attacks, or (literally) war.
Transport – both commercial and personal – was susceptible toall of the above. The most resilient services responded to theseemergencies in the moment as well as in their long term plans.
WHAT WAS POPULAR
Across the Topic as a whole the most popular topics were:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Taking account of social factors (especially behavior)Transport operations
Congestion mitigation
Modelling impacts + emissions
Electrification and related technologies
Cybersecurity

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Sessions looked at aspects of improving efficiency such as
ITS for emissions reductions and decarbonisation; safety
improvements; and signal timing for improved transit
performance. Many panels and papers discussed developments
in cybersecurity to improve resilience with much sharing of bestpractice. Climate resilience featured prominently:–•••

Optimising energy resources to support EV charging
New tools for measuring climate impacts from energy
usage and emissions
Supporting cities towards meeting goals and regulations
for pollutant reduction

WHAT WAS LESS POPULAR.
The sustainability and decarbonisation discussions had very
little mention of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles; and there
was little discussion of external resources resilience and thepotential constraints on climate strategies (for example: world
lithium reserves).
Panelists in International Forum 2 described physical vsdigital infrastructure, and how both together represented asystems-level approach towards improving the versatility andresiliency of transport modes. An unusual reference to the past
described multimodality in ancient Rome, where 75,000 milesof roads established the civilisation’s dominance. Congestion
pricing was built into city centres and managed over a dozen
classifications of carts (along with pedestrians and horses).
Over a thousand years of technology set this example apartfrom modern times, but the obvious point was that collaboration
could enable innovation just as much as technology.

Another speaker illustrated how data drives decision-making.
In summary: “data has no value on its own until you make adecision; data needs to go through decision-makers”. If weviewed data management as processes in a data chain we
could better understand how the chain was only as strong as its
weakest link. Data processing must be decision-maker-centric.
Decision-makers could be policy makers, operators, authorities,
traffic management centres, or even users. Automated vehicles
or automated traffic signals could ultimately only respond to thedecision-maker who developed the system.
Ultimately, the panel focused on incentivising more sustainablebehaviours through infrastructure and accessibility.
As more and more vehicle fleets electrified to help meet
decarbonisation goals, the conversation around sustainability
could sometimes centre on carbon goals. For some groups,
this conversation was driven by regulatory efforts. For others,
consumers’ demands kept decarbonisation at the forefront ofan organisation’s efforts. This trend was not just land-based.
One session demonstrated the intersection of both as anorganisation with the example of ports across Europe having
decarbonisation goals as a broader part of long term changes
to ports’ Just-In-Time (JIT) operations. The goals would comealongside other JIT benefits such as reduced inventory at handand faster times receiving and shipping new inventory.

Slide from IF2: Sustainability and Resiliency with Mobility Network Management

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Many companies which relied on transit through ports had set
their own commitments to consumers and governments forgreen transport, and in the case of maritime freight delivery
part or all of those commitments were then passed along
to the shipments themselves. In these cases technology
was leveraged to prevent shipping delays and thus reduce
unnecessary carbon emissions created by keeping ships awayfrom port longer than necessary. While these goals weresometimes framed within environmental sustainability, theprimary goal behind such decision-making seemed to be theorganisations’ economic sustainability.
Cybersecurity was a primary component of Resiliency
across the conference. A specialist Session described theinteroperation of the different federal agencies under the
USDOT (including the Federal Transit Administration, theFederal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and many other agencies) who had
worked towards developing their own offices of cybersecurity
under the guidance of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology’s (NIST) framework. A number of specificcybersecurity threats were identified together with theestimated impact on the normal operations of transport facilities
across the US. This included impacts to passenger transportand freight deliveries, especially along US highways.
While cybersecurity was sometimes seen as the sole domainof IT departments within each agency the panelists stressed
how important it was for everyone to learn the basics. This
created fewer gaps in understanding across an organisationand more knowledgeable communications, both internal (suchas memos and communications) and external (such as RFPs
and job postings). Transport was international and the USA wasalso collaborating with partners in Europe towards these same
goals. . In Europe 30% of road users crossed an international
border. Although that figure was much lower in the USA thelessons were the same: collaboration and partnerships were
key to achieving resiliency goals.
At the Congress some of the discussion around sustainability
focused less on “direct sustainability” (meaning deploymentof technologies with direct impacts to carbon emissions, likeEVs and wind farms) and more instead on technologies with“indirect sustainability” impacts. These technologies focusedon improving overall efficiencies within an entire transportsystem and therefore reduced wait times and congestion —which in turn lead to excess emissions and wasted capital.
Indirect sustainability impacts could be complementary to directsustainability. One example was Xtelligent, a cloud-enabledcongestion and asset-management service. It was built froma mindset where an entire system must be considered whenchanging any small piece of a transport network. No single
emitter exists in isolation — a series of emitters interact with one
another to form an entire system. The software helped guideand model signalisation with this entire system in mind.

A demonstration used downtown LA as an example, showing
the potential for roughly 5-6% emissions savings simply due tocongestion mitigation from signalisation. If traffic-coordinating
and data around idling time was included then the figure could
potentially be nearly 20%, It was emphasised that for any
technology to enable such sweeping changes there needed
to be trust between the private sector, public agencies, andultimately the general public. While such solutions could betruly transformative the deployment process required a great
deal of engagement with the public sector.
Many of the research papers presented at technical sessions
explored the space between direct and indirect sustainability.
While improvements to efficiency like corridor optimisation
could lead to short term gains in terms of emissions reductions,
historically, these gains had not been sustainable in the longer
term. There were no examples of technological improvements
where increased efficiency has led to less use of a resource inthe long term – the Jevons paradox. In the 1860s coal usage
increased following the introduction of steam engines. Similarly
when cars became more fuel-efficient, people tended to travel
more. The same was true of street space and travel time.
Increased availability led to greater increases in usage. Thisdistinction between efficiency and sustainability needed to beclarified.
There were also papers that focused on a more direct view ofsustainability. Researchers presented data-driven approaches
to measuring the impact of transport decisions across multiple
geographies, including Wiesbaden, Germany, Seoul South
Korea, and the US. Some of these papers also focused on
optimisation problems, with the key difference being optimising
the deployment of new electrification to reduce vehicle
emissions. While electrification of new vehicles was not acomplete solution to emissions reductions new technologies
and their deployment still represented an opportunity for drastic
reductions in the carbon output of the transport sector.
Other papers focused on resiliency, namely cybersecurity. As
ITS became more and more integrated with public infrastructure
and transport systems as a whole, cybersecurity took on agreater role. Multiple papers were submitted regarding specificcybersecurity issues around new technologies and bestpractices around protecting those technologies. In many cases
this simply involved engaging leadership and educating themaround the inherent threats with these new technologies. In
some cases new management practices could help penetrate
the silos between information technology and operations
technology, as the latter became more and more deeply
integrated into the former.

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Many speakers sought to define “mobility” for this tech-focusedaudience for example: “Mobility is the quality of a network or
system to connect people to goods, services, and employmentthat defines a high quality of life.” This helped define mobility
for a specific area, especially compared to layering together
individual, siloed metrics such as walk score, bike score, transitscore, or average travel time by car. Plotting opportunities
against travel radius could demonstrated how easy it was toget around without a car. The goal was improving the transit,
biking, and walking maps to look more like the driving maps.
Broadly speaking, this accessibility was a way to measure anddefine mobility.

Optimisation had always been a primary use of ITS but seen
through the lens of environmental sustainability its benefits
could be translated to carbon reductions along with the usual
time and resource savings. Technical papers described aplethora of optimisation strategies from agent-based models
to AI methodologies. For the most part techniques aimed
to optimise the throughput of travellers but the number oftravellers was not always the same as the number of vehicles
and newer modelling strategies seek to rectify this imbalanceand put people before vehicles.

WHAT WAS MOVING FORWARD
The goal of mode shift went hand in hand with sustainability.
A speaker argued “if a prerequisite for high quality transport
is individual vehicle ownership, we will never address theinherent inequities in our society, nor substantially advancetransport sustainability.” In addition to the direct sustainability
implications of new technology reducing emissions (such as
EV deployment and new charging infrastructure) we needed toremember the opportunity for indirectly sustainable solutions.
This included congestion mitigation through optimised traffic
patterns from real-time data integration.

Electrification was a natural focus for sustainability given
the wave of public funding. In addition to personal EVs andelectrified transit buses we saw innovative strategies forelectric shared micromobility (bikes and personal scooters).
These included not only deployment in new markets but also anemphasis on partnerships with public agencies, the gatekeepers
to infrastructure. Successful technology companies developed
partnerships with those agencies not just as a lead to funding,but ultimately, these relationships allowed new technologies
the opportunities to integrate more deeply with public life.

OLD VS NEW
Some aspects of this topic were familiar – though notalways framed as “Resiliency,”
Cybersecurity had been a major
concern for decades.
Whendealing with intelligent technology
in transport systems this concern
expanded to critical. Cybersecurity
was a very popular topic across theconference, with many exhibitors
demonstrating products extending
beyond digital resilience and into
physical infrastructure. Because theCongress was held in Los Angeles
many important, geographic, subtexts featured in discussions suchas Southern California’s resiliencethrough recent natural disasters
such as drought and wildfires.
ITS
directlyengagingwithsustainability was new. Topics such as electric vehicles or signal
optimisation were seen in former conferences but not together
under the banner “sustainability.” The earlier coverage of suchtechnologies was driven by economic demand and market
forces rather than equitable considerations or decarbonisation.
This was understandable as public funding for these goals was
not always abundant or readily available.

One of the more intriguing challenges for EV charging networks
involved rural geographies. A session by states in the Midwest

Slide from SIS2: Electrifying the Heartland

region discussed shared goals of decarbonisation throughvehicle electrification. Representatives from Michigan described
the partnerships behind the shared goals of expanding
the domestic EV industry through product development,
manufacturing and workforce training and expanding theconsumer side to accelerate EV customer adoption and deploy
smart and connected infrastructure throughout the state.
This multi-faceted approach demonstrated the many benefitsof electrification: while the state was concerned with theenvironmental sustainability of its transport emissions, the newtechnology could be a driver for the state’s economy and social
equity programme through its application.
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WHAT WAS CONSTRAINED
Although they were inexorably intertwined Housing andTransport were typically siloed and awareness that transport
networks were a reaction to the built environment, rather thana progression from the available technology, hung over many
sessions. Housing development (eg EV charging requirements
for multi-family dwellings) and land use patterns were integral tothe adoption of sustainable transport solutions and mode shift
away from unsustainable, single occupant vehicle trips directly
followed population density. Yet public transport agencies
rarely had any say in housing or the built environment.
Another point heard in many presentations was so much of
the developed world’s infrastructure is nearing the end of its
natural lifecycle. Governments were looking at replacing theseroads, bridges, and railways. But by framing the conversation
as replacing, these public agencies risked deepening economic
inequalities and worsening the future sustainability of theirtransport systems. A speaker summed it up succinctly: “If apre-requisite for high-quality mobility was individual vehicle
ownership we would never address the inherent inequities inour society nor substantially advance transport sustainability.”
In order for new infrastructure to address these inequities
planners needed to understand that replacing existing roads
and bridges could not come at the cost of future innovation.
The effects of such massive investments would be felt for many
generations so the investments needed to be made with theneeds and values of those future generations in mind.

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TOPIC 7
TECHNOLOGY FROM ENTRY TO THE LAST MILE

THE OVERALL SITUATION
Technology from entry to the last mile covered a lot of groundwith key building blocks of communications, data and data
analytics, integration, and pilot projects. Speakers in a numberof sessions argued that the future of ITS was integration of data,and innovative techniques for sharing, processing, integrationand management. Pilot projects reported work in a number ofareas including software to collect multimodal travel behaviour
data; and broadening the scope of multimodal services forunderserved populations to improve access to jobs, healthcare,education etc.
Freight solutions continued to develop. Long-haul freight
networks were evolving to streamline the movement of goods
and improve efficiency. To combat multiple deliveries on thesame day and to one address but by multiple companies last
mile delivery by modes such as cargo bikes, eScooters ordelivery robots with reduced environmental impact was being
trialled. Emerging topic areas presented included enforcement,
kerbside management, electrification and quantum computing.

THE TOPICS IN DETAILCOMMUNICATIONS
Billions in government and private sector funds was being
spent building wireless and wired networks in public rights ofway, improving ITS infrastructure and erecting millions of 5G
towers to move data from the transport network to the cloudand back to the edge. But the emphasis was mostly on the
supply side and we needed to look from a user perspective
and leverage our infrastructure in a different way. There wasmuch activity with installing fibre across the USA and sometowns were growing because of their culture, communications
and connectivity although only a few Metropolitan Planning
Organisations included connected vehicles and the associatedcommunications in their long range plans.
This was not the busiest subject in the topic and the discussions
tended to be very technical and focused on supply side issues.
DATA
There was strong agreement that data was the primary building
block for ITS and sessions addressed many aspects. Cellularbased vehicle probe data was being used to provide real-timetraffic estimations and an advanced Machine Learning trial
was being used to estimate work zone traffic volumes. The
US DOT reported work on developing data exchanges andspecifications like the Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx).
This project aimed to get data on work zones into vehicles toimprove safety and mobility by enabling better driver awarenessof active work zones and helping automated driving systems
and human drivers navigate more safely. WZDx was evolving toincorporate advanced technologies and unlock the possibility
for future data exchanges

The DOT was also working on how to use data to power
the future of ITS by integrating data, AI, machine learning(ML), and other innovative techniques for data sharing,data processing, bias mitigation, privacy preservation, data
integration, and data management. Sessions also discussed,
a new initiative, Research, Operational, and AI Data Integration
Initiative (ROADII). This is a multi-year initiative with a focus on
research-to-operations activities by identifying and prioritisingresearch problems, identifying potential solutions using
data and AI techniques, and rapidly investigating/testing
the feasibility of such solutions by targeted prototyping.
A number of speakers from the US DOT reviewed the six
strategic pillars:
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Innovation
Advancing trustworthy AI
Education and training
Infrastructure
Applications
International cooperation

The ITS data hub, ITS code hub and secure data components
were key elements of the CARMA programme on cooperative
driving automation research, development, and testing together
with an initiative on open source solutions for ITS.
Most presentations on data at the Congress were roads-related
but a different aspect, based on future facing technologies,
came from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
who presented work on a $30Bn programme to upgrade
passengers handling facilities. The key elements were:••••

Information availability
Seamless connectivity
Quality of pedestrian experience
Vehicle management

Investments had been made in vehicle and pedestrian detection,
video, lidar to collect data enabling real time decisions for theagency to support providing information through digital kiosks
to travellers. Data hubs with analytics would identify the causesof any issues and monitor success of mitigation strategies.
Early lessons learned from the La Guardia project stressed thatdata was the number one priority.

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INTEGRATION
Integration of Cooperative ITS with transport management was
not well established. Transport agencies needed to innovatewith digital tools to offer a solution in just one click that was
simple, flexible and with access to a multiple mobility offer.
Two concepts were deployed: Mobility on Demand (MOD) in
real time and Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Demand-responsive
transport (DRT) had the potential to revolutionise public transit
for network optimisation; from feeding into fixed-route services,
replacing low-performing routes and providing new services
where no public transit existed previously. For all people
whether their journey was by car, transit, bike, E-Scooter or on
foot and for freight, Transportation Systems Management andOperations (TSM&O) unified all aspects of a transport network.
A Regional Forum included an ambitious example ofintegration, Honda’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 alongwith zero traffic collision fatalities. A mobile Power Pack was
the basis for eMaaS carbon free mobility. Project examples
presented included wind power in the Philippines and electric
rickshaws in India. Each battery pack had a brain with data thatit collected. The business model offered individual charging
versus subscription as both had different usage. One of thebenefits for use in construction was no emissions and very
quiet operation. Standardisation was important and there
was a Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA)
consortium including Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and others.
There was another strategic use of the Power Pack during
disasters when electricity could be exported for EVs.

A number of excellent examples of the need for integration were
presented in sessions addressing problems and opportunities
for getting people to and from the venues for major events
quickly, safely, and efficiently. Stadiums, concert halls, theatres
etc were places where all forms of transport and mobility came
together and had to work in sync. Facility operators wereclear that bringing people to middle- to large-scale events wasmanaged far more effectively and efficiently through masstransit rather than personal vehicles. This often needed a pushfor modal shift as it represented trying to bring back customers
who no longer felt safe and comfortable. Clean public transport
vehicles were essential during service, not just at the ends ofthe day. Reliability, safety and comfort were critical along withease of use.
A key question was how to incentivise change ? Traditionally
event parking was essentially free and that might need tobe amended. For a new stadium transit passes (or a parking
charge) could be added to a ticket. A focused initiative wasneeded to address diversity, equity and inclusion in order toreduce the travel path for those who need it. There were noeasy answers and developments with micro mobility wereintroducing new issues such as secure bike parking, e-bikecharging, different traffic management arrangements etc.

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A number of excellent examples of the need for integration were
presented in sessions addressing problems and opportunities
for getting people to and from the venues for major events
quickly, safely, and efficiently. Stadiums, concert halls, theatres
etc were places where all forms of transport and mobility came
together and had to work in sync. Facility operators wereclear that bringing people to middle- to large-scale events wasmanaged far more effectively and efficiently through masstransit rather than personal vehicles. This often needed a pushfor modal shift as it represented trying to bring back customers
who no longer felt safe and comfortable. Clean public transport
vehicles were essential during service, not just at the ends ofthe day. Reliability, safety and comfort were critical along withease of use.
A key question was how to incentivise change ? Traditionally
event parking was essentially free and that might need tobe amended. For a new stadium transit passes (or a parking
charge) could be added to a ticket. A focused initiative wasneeded to address diversity, equity and inclusion in order toreduce the travel path for those who need it. There were noeasy answers and developments with micro mobility wereintroducing new issues such as secure bike parking, e-bikecharging, different traffic management arrangements etc.
Los Angeles would have the Olympics in 2028 and a vast
amount of infrastructure work was underway to manage notjust the ‘visible’ crowd traffic but also the fast and reliable‘invisible’ movement of athletes and the organising and support
staff. The city viewed the Olympics as an opportunity; it was
all about being proactive and coordinating and sharing to
break down institutional barriers to deliver the Games. Goods
movement was important and would be using the games route
network off hours. The Olympics app would be integrated into
public transport ticketing. Bike access would be crucial for theworkforce; bike valets were being considered for the mobility
hubs. Bikes would be used for last mile deliveries to minimise
the number of freight trucks. The city managers hoped the
Olympics would catalyse many additional users for public
transport and have a broader impact on mobility in the region
after the Olympics.

IMPLEMENTATION OF PILOTS AND PROJECTS FREIGHTThe freight and logistics sector offered perhaps the ultimate
examples of Technology from entry to the last mile covered.
The thoughtful application of technology had moved from anice-to-have use case to a primary methodology to improveoutcomes. As always freight congestion at the ports was asignificant challenge, but long-haul freight movement networks
were evolving to streamline the movement of goods and utilise
advanced methods for improved efficiency. Commercial vehicle
overloading directly affected road safety and also accelerated
infrastructure wear. Last mile green delivery by modes suchas cargo bikes, eScooters or delivery robots with reduced
environmental impact were being used to combat multipledeliveries made on the same day and to one address but by
multiple companies.
Ports (airports/seaports), cities, counties nationwide had
important projects to share analogous to downtowns anddense developments involving: multi-modal connectivity, video,
smart parking, and a data-driven approach to data collection
and improving situational awareness and management.
Discussions also included: use cases, stakeholder engagement,
collaboration, and working through trade-offs. For example
the Port of Oakland was implementing a complex system of 15
elements including fibre network expansion and optimisation,
centre-to-centre communication, Wi-Fi network deployment
for public use, and camera and RFID reader deployments
enhancing incident detection.
A new Advanced Traffic
Management System to process and control all the new systems
and information being collected was being developed in the
updated Traffic Management / Emergency Operations Centre.

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Hillary Hyland et al in SIS 25

A busy session explored the potential to leverage multiple
emerging technologies to enable a trusted freight program that
distributes security procedures and processes across the fulllifecycle from origin to destination. The distribution of theseprocesses mitigated congestion and gridlock at seaports,
airports, customs facilities, and intermediate facilities. Proposed
approaches included the integration of connected vehicles,
RFID, weigh-in-motion, trusted carrier enrolment, and biometricaccess control systems to build an integrated platform toensure physical and cybersecurity for pre-screened movementof goods.

KERBSIDE MANAGEMENT
A number of cities were focusing on deploying the fundamentalbuilding blocks of kerbside management systems with thecapabilities to correctly identify when a vehicle was present (iekerbside occupied), when a vehicle was not present (ie kerbside
was vacant) and determine the duration for which a vehicle had
occupied the space.

The COVID-19 pandemic launched a market realignment, andthough in-store shopping had largely returned the rate of
kerbside orders and home food & goods delivery remainedmuch higher. This realignment had sparked innovations in
the freight ecosystem and in last-mile delivery technologies,
including the use of autonomous delivery vehicles, urban air
mobility (UAM) devices, and advanced use of kerb space inurban centres. These changes had not progressed without
challenges. The increases in food and goods delivery put atremendous strain on the already congested intercity and urban
roads network. Existing system inefficiencies include instanceswhere multiple deliveries were made on the same day and to
one address but by multiple companies.

Transport Agencies had procured and installed several videobased monitoring devices to test each system’s respective
accuracy, efficiency, and ease of use.

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OLD VS NEW
Some of the topic areas had been around since the beginningof ITS like freight and multimodality and we saw evolution rather
than revolution. It was clear that connectivity from the edge tothe cloud and back to the edge would be key to making data
driven, actionable decisions. The storing, management andexchange of data will be paramount as technology proliferates
and creates more and more data. The deployment of AI and
ML had gained a higher profile and particularly safety at workzones. New emerging topic areas included: enforcement,
kerbside management, electrification and quantum computing.
Might automated enforcement become de rigeur or would werequire AVs to explicitly follow every “rule of the road”? One
topic not developed much was using predictive technologies
though it was mentioned in a number of sessions.

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PART 4 | THE HIGH LEVEL POLICY ROUND TABLE

Laura Chace, CEO of ITS America, welcomed delegates to
the Round Table the aim of which was a cross-sector group of
experts exploring the theme: equitable sustainability – buildinga resilient, socially just future through sustainable climate
technologies. The focus would be on how infrastructure
investment could advance our global climate goals, grow job
access, and promote a more equitable future. There werearound 55 participants drawn from 16 countries.

Nationally work was under way on the design of a comprehensive
Transportation Decarbonisation blueprint. This was involving
a range of Government bodies: USDOT; DOE; EPA; Housing
and Urban Development. The eventual solutions package
would need to meet everyone’s needs and must also address
diverse communities, be affordable, and contribute to improved
environmental quality (Greenhouse gases, quality of Water
and Air)

KEYNOTE ADDRESSINTERNATIONAL PANEL DISCUSSION:

The session opened with a keynote address by Michael
Berube, US Department of Energy who said that he wanted
to focus on ways to decarbonise the Transportation sector.
There were powerful drivers for this: the impact on air quality
and sustainability as well as an impact, only recognised quite
recently, on societal equity. It had to be stressed that the clock
was ticking and we urgently needed to amend our practices
to address climate change. We had to face up to the reality:transport was the largest source (33%) of CO2 and was also
50% of energy expenditure. We needed a practical-to plan toaddress the 33% and it was useful to break it down further:

Michael Berube then moderated a discussion with a rangeof speakers to explore what were the top lessons learned toadvance transport decarbonisation, electrification, sustainability,
and resiliency? What actions worked? The panel comprised:

Angelos Amditis, ERTICO – ITS- Europe
Anna Roach, Atlanta Regional Commission
Karl Simon, US Environmental Protection Agency
Roger Millar, Washington State DOT

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30% light trucks
21%-passenger
21%- heavy and medium trucks
11% aviation
9%- off road2%- rail
3% marine
3%- other (pipeline, military, lubricants)

Looking at the categories it had been estimated that thepassenger vehicles and light trucks (51%) could be largely
electrified. However this was impractical for the remaining 49%
so different solutions were needed – direct approaches suchas hydrogen and biofuels as well as indirect methods such as
diversification. He noted that there was no single “Silver Bullet”
to reach the policy goals, the DOE was looking at solutions
that could be incrementally deployed to deliver real results by
2030. Solutions must in addition address life-cycle emissions
and also be able to integrate effectively with grid and energy
infrastructure.
He stressed that both the problems and the solutions impacted
every part of the economy so multiple solutions were necessary.
There were some very significant costs: in the USA Government
investment would be at least $100 Bn in Transportation
Decarbonisation Federal Investments and the private sector
was estimated to invest $85 Bn in EVs and batteries.

Veronica Vanterpool, US DOT Federal Transit Administration

The moderator asked panellists to give a brief summary of theactions that had worked from their Region. What were the
top lessons learned to advance transport decarbonisation,
electrification, sustainability, and resilience ? What actions had
worked from regions?
Anna Roach said that the problems varied hugely between
cities and so the solutions varied and were not necessarilytransferable. The Atlanta focus was on improving internal local
services. Federal funding was available but needed to be used
quickly as fashions for different solutions changed and with thatthe types of funding available. Atlanta preferred investmentsthat offered multiple family benefits such as Carpoolingschemes, enhanced transit and ensuring that job centres had
linked with walkable/commutable travel options.
Veronica Vanterpool explained that the Federal Transit
Administration was planning to invest over $100 Bn for a
programme led by decarbonisation. A high priority was
extending electric transit buses from 2% to at least 4% of the
fleet. She stressed the keynote speaker’s point about looking
at transport and energy use together; and to that end a Joint
office had been established by FTA and DOE to provide
funding resources, webinars, technical assistance at all levelsof government.

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Karl Simon described the work of the Environmental Protection
Agency which related to a number of transport sectors. Policies
needed to be discussed and set against information on available
technologies and their application but also an understanding ofwhat people really needed
Angelos Amditis described a major programme of researchand development work in Europe organised by the European
Commission. Priorities were decarbonisation and making
communities climate neutral, seamless travel supportedby the Trans-European Networks and measures on crossborder standards, encouragement of MaaS schemes and the
production of reference document to guide all aspects ofmobility. The Commission was working on a revision of its ITS
Directive and wanted all cities to make new plans setting out
the services, systems, technologies, and innovation they would
use to deliver sustainability, and resilience.
Roger Millar said that for many years both nationally and locallyAmerica had underinvested in transit so a powerful weapon
against sustainability, and resilience could not be properlyused. Many areas had no access to shared affordable transportand many areas were fighting road space congestion. It wasnecessary to move from commuting in personal vehicles onhighways to using public transportation, rail, active transportmodes and much better land use planning. In Washington
State transit used 2% of space but carried 34% of people. The
Federal government had made ill-informed land use decisions
and needed to think broader. At a local level multi family units
must be integrated with transport.

BREAKOUTS:
Michael thanked the panel for their thoughts andexplained that for the next part of the HLPRT there would
be a division into 4 breakout sessions for delegatesto dig deeper into key issues.
The topics were:
1. Demand management/mode shift (Moderator – Lilly Shoup,Rebel Group)a. Multimodal transportation options
b. Technology and policy solutions
2. EV Charging Infrastructure (Moderator – Chris Gearhart,
NREL)
a. Common global standards
b. Sharing best practicesc. Role of Public vs Private Investments
3. Resiliency and the Grid (Moderator – Kara Podkaminer, US
Department of Energy)
a. Solutions for building resilient infrastructureb. Managing increased Grid impacts for transportationelectrification
4. Equitable and Affordable Access (Moderator – Jannet
Walker-Ford, WSP)
a. Charging availability
b. Vehicle Cost/Incentives

KEY POINTS FROM THE BREAK-OUT TABLES:
After around an hour’s vigorous discussion the groups reported
back the key points from their discussions as follows:

DEMAND MANAGEMENT/MODE SHIFTThe moderator asked panellists for succinct statements on
measures that could be taken to enhance equity. Anna proposed
putting any applications to state authorities for funding schemes
should be examined with an equity lens to see how well, or not,they scored. There were many under-invested communities
who would not necessarily submit the best cases for funding
so assessment of proposals needed to be sensitive. Veronica
focused on assessment – having the tools to measure theextent to which what you were doing and the investments youwere planning actually helped communities. Karl agreed andreminded that very often small projects could work quickly andeffectively to make a real difference in communities. Angelos
said that many of Europe’s problems derived from a simple lackof space so traffic management needed to be improved to help
everyone. Local government funding needed to complement
private sector investments not compete; and every new building
should have charging infrastructure for universal benefit.

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Policy makers needed to be flexible and adaptable; there
was no one size fitting all
Be clear on the (community) policy goals
Shifting travel demand was sometimes simpler than trying
to shift travellers’ modes
You needed to recognise the diversity of rural and urban
landscapes; problems differedThink carefully about the sequencing and timing of the
carrot and the stick – it would need a large carrot to makesome ‘stick’ policies palatable
Need to invest massively in alternatives before resortingto the stick.
Balance the ‘stick’ on unwelcome modes with incentives
for the preferred ones
Policies and practice• Get information on all modes out to users (reliability,
cost, etc)
• Need options for communities to assess and choose• New policies would probably some need initial
incentivising and supporting
Payment and pricing were key. Look at transit from thecustomer perspective and have integrated payment;
ideally a single integrated fare.

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EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

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Projects needed political buy in from the highest levels.
Need standards to insure interoperability acrosscommunities
Need to provide education and consultancy on the bestplaces to put chargers.
Avoid putting high performance chargers where theywould not be needed – people see them taking up spaceand going unused.
From the beginning you need to monitor utilisation and forthis you needed access to data.
Make sure that if you provide grants there will besomeone in charge that understands the city’s technicalneeds.
Need criteria beyond price for selecting suppliers andinstallers of chargers. Examples – response time whenchargers are down, do they have their own response teamor do they contract it out, what are their sustainability
metrics.
Rate structures were often too complicated; we needed ahomogenous set of rates and regulations
Service providers would take good locations, butalso needed to take poor locations. Perhaps attach acondition to good locations or subsidise the poorer ones ?
Good standards; sharing best practice
Setting down good decision guidelines (not automaticallythe lowest bid) when procuring
Good metrics on service time, reliability
Get Communities, providers, users involved inconversations to make sure you meet needs••

EQUITABLE AND AFFORDABLE ACCESS
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RESILIENCY AND THE GRID

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Resilience capability needed to reflect local grid
infrastructure and generating methods – wind and solar
were intrinsically unreliable
Need consistency in technical standards
The system interdependencies in information systems
were not well developed or understood
How the changing/evolving business model for fundingtransportation needs to be discussed. That discussion
should happen now.
Consumers were unsure of the value proposition – weneeded a clear statement at national level.
Resiliency funding needed higher priority at state level
and above.
Improving both resilience and charging infrastructure
sometimes needed a carrot and sometimes the stick ofregulation
Lower income areas tended to have a low percentage
of EVs in fleets – were there ways to assist getting tocommercial fleets
Rural areas preferred trucks to EVs
Need to diversify the energy grid with more renewablesources. Need ability for central demand management– particularly during disruptions. Managers needed toknow what was happening – the “intelligence”. How
could we introduce a structure for information sharing?

Everything needs to connect. Systems needed toeffectively communicate.
Biofuels will be part of solutions but awareness andproduction are uneven.
Get the mobility right, so services are attractive ------smart
mobility
Are we clear we know what we should we be telling utility
companies?

Visible support from senior leaders was important
Equity is a permanent task and not a one-off; it permeates
all work. We were learning how to be better
We needed to stand back and consider if we were
providing transport options equitably
Delivering equitable systems needed prior work on
engagement and planning aspects
A key task was getting communities to the table whenplanning was underway to get real users’ assessments ofthe convenience and affordability of different options
Try to get personal discussions on organisational
challenges around equity as a sustainable issue
Make sure you assess progress: how did we do vs plans?. Did we meet our targets? Would you have us back?
Apply equity inclusion tools to all projects from beginning
There seemed to be resources to help relatively small
numbers of disabled users but much less for overcoming
the larger groups with language or education barriers
Think about how you reduce the gap (trust issues,
perceptions) make sure you are addressing people where
they live and work
Building organisational culture – so not wild shift if
leadership changes
Tell people what you have done
Recognise generational differences and challenges.
Learn from your mistakes.
Try to encourage a little more grace in the communication
sphere (social media):

CLOSING
Michael thanked all attending for their wise and varied
contributions. The issues discussed were far fromstraightforward but they were an important element ofTransformation by Transportation.

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THE 28TH
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