Dec 10, 2018
On 28 and 29 November, the fourth high-level dialogue on connected and automated mobility took place within the framework of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Under the motto "Beyond SAE Levels: Towards Safe & Sustainable Mobility", numerous high-level mobility experts from the EU followed the invitation of BMVIT and AustriaTech for two intense days of work to the Prater in Vienna.
Last week, the automation and mobility experts of all European member states, the Commission and other organisations gathered in the classic ambience of the Vienna Prater and the traditional Ferris wheel to steer the developments of the new technology into sustainable and integrated tracks. "Within the framework of the High-Level Dialogue, we are looking forward to jointly investigate new automated services for a future-proof and sustainable mobility ecosystem," said Section Head Christian Weissenburger from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, welcoming the participants. For the first time, representatives from ministries as well as European and national experts from research and development projects were represented in order to enrich the dialogue with their experiences.
The meeting was organised jointly by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and AustriaTech as the national Contact Point for Automated Mobility. The meeting drew on the experience of Austria's numerous efforts in this field and highlighted Austria's role as a representative of a proactive approach to the topic. "Despite different experiences, the aim was to generate a common European understanding of the opportunities of automated mobility," said Martin Russ, Managing Director of AustriaTech, describing the initial situation. "One thing is therefore very important: we are not only looking for a business case but also for society cases. We must therefore continue to focus on social added value," Russ adds. AustriaTech supports a large number of activities at the national level, for example through concrete measures from the Action Programme Automated Mobility.
"One thing is therefore very important: we are not only looking for a business case but also for society cases. We must therefore continue to focus on social added value" - Martin Russ, Managing Director, AustriaTech
In order to achieve comparable results at the European level, the numerous components of automated and integrated mobility solutions must be considered in a differentiated way. The most relevant elements for testing and operating automated shuttles were analysed, good practices with regard to methods and data were examined, knowledge was shared and common goals were sharpened. By asking comparable questions, the participants developed comparable indicators that can make the effects of automated mobility measurable.
Traffic safety, user experience and user acceptance as well as the development of the digital and physical infrastructure were considered essential by all. On the one hand, the discussion always focused on the overall picture and at the same time reached specific areas, such as concrete use cases. "The illumination of concrete use cases with a special focus on shared mobility, such as fleet solutions or automated shuttles, has shown that it is really first and foremost a matter of integrating automated mobility well into our mobility system, in order to actually leverage positive potentials. A shaping public authority - for example in the area of innovative legal instruments but also in the clear communication of relevant objectives - is absolutely crucial here," summarised Henriette Spyra, Head of the Mobility Transformation & Transport Decarbonisation Unit at the BMVIT. In the end, the most important learning was the experience that it is enormously important for Europe and the individual states to continue to use the synergy effects that arise from the mutual exchange of experiences and the comparison of the respective activities.
The high-level dialogue on connected and automated mobility took place every six months since 2017. After the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, Austria was the fourth host. The aim is to promote European cooperation and the further development of automated and connected mobility. This goal has also been achieved this year: The European dialogue is lively and productive. Subsequently, it will be a matter of recording the new experiences in tangible progress in order to successfully continue the next dialogue in Spain.
© Reich / BMVIT
