ERTRAC 2015 Annual Conference taking place today
Some 200 automotive and road transport researchers are gathering at today's annual ERTRAC conference, which has been opened this morning by Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, acting Chairman of ERTRAC and EGVIA.
"Road transport today offers major opportunities for innovation, which are also opportunities for job creation and competitiveness in Europe", said Paola-Galloni, who is Corporate Vice-President for Sustainable Development of the automotive supplier VALEO.
Ideas for road research and innovation priorities for Europe
ERTRAC, as the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, provides a unique platform to develop a vision for road transport research in Europe. At today's conference, ERTRAC's Working Groups are presenting the research needs as they identified them in continuous work. Stakeholders from industry, researchers and representatives of national and local authorities are collaborating in ERTRAC to identify the research needs related to the following topics that are on today's agenda: powertrains (engines, fuels, and electrification), connectivity and automated driving, and infrastructures, urban mobility and freight. In these three strategic sessions, ERTRAC Working Group leaders and invited high-level speakers from industry and the European Commission will exchange information and ideas on the research and innovation priorities for Europe.
Innovative vehicles such as electric cars are exhibited at the conference and can be tested in short drives through Brussels.
New roadmaps published on automated driving and urban freight
The ERTRAC conference also marks the official release of its latest research roadmaps on urban freight and automated driving. The roadmaps will contribute to the definition of research programmes involving cities, industry, retail, logistics service providers, supported by Horizon 2020, the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2014-2020.
Jointly drafted by ERTRAC and ALICE (Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe), the urban freight roadmap lists the research priorities related to urban freight delivery, returns and urban logistics to improve the efficiency, sustainability and security of this activity.
A draft of the ERTRAC roadmap addressing automated driving, a globally recognised field of road transport innovation, is also revealed today. A new ERTRAC task force was created to gather experts from industry, research institutes, and national and local public authorities to address definitions and roadmaps in order to develop, test and deploy automated driving solutions.
Pick up your print copies at today’s annual ERTRAC conference, or access the electronic versions here: