Thirty-five years of ERTICO means more than three decades of innovation, with knowledge and experience built through 182 projects and over a dozen innovation platforms that have helped steer the evolution of intelligent transport systems.

At our 35-year celebration, ERTICO unveiled ERTIBOT, an AI-powered engine bringing its project portfolio into one interactive environment. Drawing on publicly available deliverables from projects in which ERTICO has been a coordinator or beneficiary, it makes decades of research, results and experience searchable, connected and accessible.

Its real value is helping us identify what has delivered impact, where results can be taken further, and where gaps or opportunities remain. In the coming months, ERTIBOT will help uncover how EU-funded projects have contributed to innovation in transport and mobility.

From research to roads and beyond

How European collaboration turned intelligent transport from a promising concept into infrastructure, services and common practice

ERTICO – ITS Europe was created in 1991 to close the gap between strong transport research and deployment. Its database comprises 182 project records, from CORD in 1992 to projects continuing as far as 2030. The portfolio spans FP3 to Horizon Europe, alongside deployment funding through the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, Connecting Europe Facility and Digital Europe Programme. The real measure of impact is what remained after a project ended.

A distinctive model of impact

ERTICO’s projects work across the innovation chain: defining concepts, agreeing interfaces, connecting prototypes, testing in real traffic and channelling evidence into standards, regulation and deployment. Vehicles, road operators, cities, telecom providers, researchers and users must work together. This neutral, multi-stakeholder approach reduces fragmentation and deployment risk, gives authorities credible evidence and allows one project’s specifications, datasets and networks to become the starting point for the next.

Safety from driver support to the Safe System

RESPONSE 2, AIDE and PREVENT advanced driver assistance and preventive safety; euroFOT and UDRIVE extended evaluation into real use and human behaviour. V4SAFETY, SUNRISE, EvoRoads and CERTAIN carry that principle into virtual assessment, automated-system assurance and a Safe System approach including vulnerable road users.

E-MERGE, HeERO and HeERO2 helped turn emergency-call harmonisation into interoperable 112 eCall. Since 31 March 2018, it has been mandatory for all new types of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the EU. The European Commission estimates it can accelerate emergency response by 40% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas. The transition to 4G and 5G shows the durability of the service chain.

Interoperability as the invisible infrastructure of ITS

ACTMAP, FEEDMAP and ROSATTE helped address trusted road-data exchange between authorities and map providers. Their legacy continues through TN-ITS, established in 2013 and hosted by ERTICO, and its 2025 agreement with DATEX II to align approaches. CVIS, SAFESPOT and DRIVE C2X developed and tested cooperative mobility; Compass4D, C-MobILE, INTERCOR and CONCORDA brought it closer to city and corridor deployment. Cross-border interoperability remains central to European C-ITS.

Testing evidence and a common language for impact

FESTA developed a methodology for field operational tests. FOT-Net and its successors built a community around comparable evaluation and data sharing, while euroFOT and UDRIVE supplied real-driving evidence. FAME, coordinated by ERTICO, has developed the European Common Evaluation Methodology for CCAM. This progression created a durable capability to learn consistently from trials as automated systems move into mixed traffic.

Cleaner mobility and better use of energy

FREILOT, eCoMove, ecoDriver, AMITRAN and optiTruck explored energy efficiency, emissions and ways to measure ICT’s environmental effects. The scope then broadened to electrification: smartCEM tested connected electromobility, NeMo addressed interoperable charging and eCharge4Drivers focused on user-friendly services. NextETRUCK, ZEV-UP, ePowerMove, MACBETH and WiBiCharge extend this work to electric trucks, affordable urban vehicles, fleet-to-grid integration and advanced charging. The continuity lies in making energy systems work with users, infrastructure, data and transport operations.

Logistics and fragmented supply chains

E-THEMATIC, CITYLOG, FREILOT, CO-GISTICS and NOVELOG explored digital logistics, cleaner urban freight and business models. AEOLIX tackled fragmented information systems through a collaborative ecosystem. FENIX took that concept to TEN-T scale with a federated architecture for logistics data sharing and a €60.6 million deployment across corridors and pilot sites. BOOSTLOG and STORM focused on wider research impact and stronger methods. PrepDSpace4Mobility, deployEMDS and DELPHI now connect this direction with mobility data spaces. Freight efficiency depends on trusted, governed data exchange as well as vehicles and infrastructure.

Urban mobility inclusion and the shift to systems

From EU-SPIRIT’s intermodal information in the 1990s to ITRAVEL, In-Time, VIAJEO and OPTICITIES, ERTICO’s portfolio widened towards integrated traveller services and urban mobility management. CITYMOBIL2 and SHOW demonstrated automated urban transport; SOLUTIONSplus, SUM and metaCCAZE connect electric, shared and digitally enabled mobility.

SINFONICA, REALLOCATE, inclusiveSpaces, CulturalRoad and SMARTIN put social acceptance, active travel, accessibility and co-creation closer to the centre of innovation. Impact is increasingly defined by who can use a service, who benefits and whether communities trust the change, alongside technical performance.

From individual projects to a European innovation pathway

The strongest conclusion from 35 years is that ERTICO’s impact is cumulative. The pathways to eCall, TN-ITS, common evaluation methods, cooperative services and federated logistics data show how successive projects build on one another. Impact extends beyond patents, publications and demonstrations at project close. Shared specifications, trusted networks, validated methods and policy-ready evidence provide the confidence to invest in deployment. ERTICO’s portfolio has repeatedly supplied those missing links.

The way ahead

As the organisation enters its next 35 years, the challenges are increasingly interconnected. Automation must be safe and socially accepted; electrification must work with energy systems; data must be accessible yet secure; infrastructure must be resilient; and services must cross borders without excluding users.

There is further work before ERTIBOT is ready for wider use, with ERTICO Partners the first audience. Revealing it at our 35-year milestone was significant: we are taking the knowledge built over 35 years and using it to help shape what comes next.

Coming soon: What Two Decades of European ITS Research Can Tell Us About Road Safety by ERTICO and IRF.