2022 ITS World Congress, Los Angeles

The ITS World Congress took place on September 18-22 and brought together intelligent transportation and future mobility communities, from automation and connectivity to mobility and digital infrastructure and other innovations. The conference theme was Transformation by Transportation, which paves the way to learning how we can collectively advance the deployment of intelligent transportation technologies to save lives, improve mobility, promote sustainability, and increase access to communities across the globe.

One of the focus areas was the AASHTO ( American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) International Day, which is now in its 18th year as an integral part of the ITS World Congress, AASHTO International Day (AID) was presented by the AASHTO in partnership with the US Department of Transportation.  It brings together transportation officials from around the world to talk on topics of consequence, addressing the transportation challenges and opportunities facing public agencies.  This year’s AID was focused on “Transformation by Transportation” and the latest ITS solutions and mobility technologies from around the world. Two roundtables were highlighted in the agenda, TSMO’s Transformation of Transportation and Ongoing Technology Innovations and their Transformation of Transportation.

Another focus area was the MOD/MaaS Global Forum, which advances inclusive, safe, and sustainable mobility. The Global Forum is jointly sponsored by ITS America, ERTICO, the MaaS Alliance, and ITS Asia-Pacific. The event provides an opportunity to hear from regional leaders and subject matter experts, and interactively engage in discussions with peers, to explore the current state of Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in the global transportation ecosystem. The discussion highlighted topics such as the sustainability implications and opportunities associated with MOD/MaaS, as well as what can be done to improve access to and adoption of these tools and services. One of the key issues was to align the various definitions and taxonomy of the MOD and MaaS vocabulary and processes which are very close in nature but being called and implemented differently around the regions.

An example of international cooperation as a tool for progress on the worldwide deployment of autonomous mobility is the demonstration of the Horizon 2020 SHOW project (https://show-project.eu/) or Shared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption. This project brings together 69 partners from 13 EU countries, covering the whole urban mobility chain, leveraging academia and worldwide industries, and is targeted to be completed by 2024.