The Knowledge Base – an excellent tool for sharing and exchanging knowledge on innovative solutions for connected, cooperative and automated mobility

Connected, cooperative and automated mobility has great potential to provide new mobility and freight delivery services, fostering benefits for users and for the mobility system as a whole, with the aim of making transport safer, greener and more accessible.

But before we can safely deploy automated mobility systems and services on our roads, we must address a multitude of technical, social, human, legal and economic challenges. A robust legal, ethical and regulatory framework will be essential. Trust and public acceptance will be key in addressing societal and environmental concerns.

The European Commission is committed to support the development of connected, cooperative and automated mobility and to ensure it respects EU principles, benefits EU citizens, and supports EU industries. Connected and automated driving offers a perfect opportunity to tackle some of the most pressing issues we are facing today, which lie at the intersection of technology, democracy, and the environment.

Nevertheless, we have to manage our expectations. Significant investments are still needed to test the relevant technologies, systems and services, and to create the necessary infrastructure support for automated mobility.

A solid, bold and innovative R&I agenda is needed to maintain a proper balance between being inspired by automated mobility, and being practical about it. We are still at a crucial stage that allows us to guide the transition to connected and automated driving into the right direction so that it promotes safety, efficiency and sustainability. However, we must do this together. We have to strengthen cooperation with industry, public authorities and in particular with future users.

With this in mind, the Commission has launched a new platform that brings together all relevant public and private stakeholders to coordinate open road testing of Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) and to provide the link with pre-deployment activities.

As part of the CCAM platform, and together with the EU-funded ARCADE project, we are setting up a Knowledge Base to coordinate all research, testing and pre-deployment activities in Europe. This Knowledge Base will provide a space where experiences, practices, data and knowledge on pilots, demonstrations and large-scale trials can be collected, compared and shared between the entire CAD network.

We believe that the Knowledge Base will help to cultivate a shared and common understanding of the goals, challenges, and benefits that connected and automated driving solutions can bring, especially when we take into consideration the cross-cutting nature of this exciting field.

Mobility is a key driving force for European integration. Mobility across borders makes the ambition of free circulation of goods and of people – along with their ideas, skills and services – a practical reality within the Union. Today, and in the years to come, the deployment of connected, cooperative and automated mobility will help us maintain, protect, and promote these freedoms.

Patrick CHILD

Acting Director Clean Planet – DG Research and Innovation