ERTICO – ITS Europe has released Episode 8 of its podcast series Connecting Dots & Talks, offering an in-depth discussion on the findings of the ITS Market Radar Report 2026, focusing on the Suppliers, Vehicle Manufacturers and Connectivity industry sectors. The episode addresses the critical challenges Europe must address to remain competitive in Intelligent Transport Systems.
“Inside the ERTICO ITS Market Radar 2026 - What Europe Must Solve Next” episode brings together senior voices from across the mobility ecosystem to explore how cooperation, technology maturity, and system integration will shape the next phase of ITS deployment.
The discussion features Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe; Ralf Weber, Director of Standards and Industry Organisations at Qualcomm; David Elizalde, Chief Innovation and International Development Officer at Actia Group; and Juan Alamo, Senior Engineer for Safety Research and Technical Affairs at Toyota. The episode is moderated by Agne Vaitekenaite, Head of Partnership and Advocacy at ERTICO – ITS Europe.
The conversation opens with sector-specific viewpoints on the most pressing needs within Europe’s ITS landscape. Joost Vantomme highlights the increasing interdependence between vehicles, infrastructure, digital systems, and policy, stressing that stronger cross-sector cooperation is now essential to move from fragmented initiatives to scalable, Europe-wide deployment. From the supplier perspective, David Elizalde reflects on how the shift toward modular architectures, electrification, and software-defined systems is reshaping competitiveness and innovation strategies across the industry.
Connectivity innovation is one of the key themes of the episode, with Ralf Weber outlining the emerging technologies most likely to drive the next wave of ITS advancement. He underlines the importance of coordinated standards development and timely adoption to ensure Europe can fully leverage connectivity as a foundation for automated, connected, and cooperative mobility services. Representing the OEM viewpoint, Juan Alamo focuses on interoperability as a key priority, stressing the challenge of ensuring that advanced safety, automation, and connectivity systems operate seamlessly across Europe’s diverse vehicle fleets, infrastructure environments, and regulatory contexts.
In the second part of the episode, the discussion turns to Europe’s capacity for cooperation and system integration. The speakers examine how effectively Europe is coordinating across sectors, technologies, and standards to accelerate real-world ITS deployment. While acknowledging areas of progress, they also point to persistent gaps in alignment between stakeholders, the complexity of cross-border implementation, and the need for stronger collaboration models linking vehicles, infrastructure, connectivity providers, cities, and regulators into a cohesive innovation ecosystem.
The episode concludes with a forward-looking reflection, asking all speakers to identify the single breakthrough Europe must achieve to stay globally competitive in ITS. Their responses converge on the need for integration at scale - combining harmonised standards, trusted data-sharing frameworks, and robust public–private partnerships to enable deployment beyond pilots and into everyday transport operations. The discussion reinforces the message that Europe’s strength will lie not only in technological excellence, but in its ability to connect actors, systems, and policies into a unified mobility ecosystem.
The episode is now available on Spotify.
Stay tuned for more thought-provoking discussions from Connecting Dots and Talks, where technology meets transformation.
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