Skip to main content

Key transport research conference underway in Brussels

Some 200 automotive and road transport researchers have gathered for the annual ERTRAC conference, which was opened by Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, acting Chairman of ERTRAC and EGVIA. "Road transport today offers major opportunities for innovation, which are also opportunities for job creation and competitiveness in Europe," said Paola-Galloni, who is Corporate Vice-President for Sustainable Development of the automotive supplier VALEO. ERTRAC, as the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, provid
March 3, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Some 200 automotive and road transport researchers have gathered for the annual ERTRAC conference, which was opened by Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, acting Chairman of ERTRAC and EGVIA. "Road transport today offers major opportunities for innovation, which are also opportunities for job creation and competitiveness in Europe," said Paola-Galloni, who is Corporate Vice-President for Sustainable Development of the automotive supplier VALEO.

ERTRAC, as the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, provides a unique platform to develop a vision for road transport research in Europe. At the conference, ERTRAC’s Working Groups have presented research needs as identified in continuous work. Stakeholders from industry, researchers and representatives of national and local authorities collaborate through ERTRAC to identify the research needs related to the following topics on the agenda: powertrains (engines, fuels, and electrification), connectivity and automated driving, and infrastructures, urban mobility and freight. In these three strategic sessions, ERTRAC Working Group leaders and invited high-level speakers from industry and the 2465 European Commission will exchange information and ideas on the research and innovation priorities for Europe.

Innovative vehicles such as electric cars have been exhibited at the conference and this includes test drives through Brussels.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ERF and RSMA team up to deliver 1st European Road Infrastructure Congress
    January 18, 2016
    Europe’s road infrastructure is one of its largest community assets, yet today this asset faces unprecedented challenges. Shortage of public resources for maintenance, inadequate public procurement models for the delivery of infrastructure, coupled with the inevitable impact that the advent of vehicle automation will have on Europe’s infrastructure means that there is a urgent need for Europe’s road sector to work together to find solutions for the future. In this backdrop, and at a time when the UK governm
  • Chinese automaker opens first European plant
    April 24, 2012
    Great Wall Motor has become the first Chinese carmaker to open an assembly plant in Europe as it aims to lift sales in the region and, according to a company statement, is also a symbolic event for Chinese auto brands to challenge the high-end market car in the EU. The assembly plant, inaugurated this week in Bulgaria, has a production capacity of 50,000 cars and the Voleex C10 will be the first assembled model, followed by the Wingle 5, Voleex C20R, and Haval.
  • Road transport must evolve in line with users’ needs
    April 12, 2012
    At its annual plenary meeting held on 25 May 2010, during the 16th IRF World Meeting in Lisbon, the European Road Federation (ERF) elected a new President in the person of Jacobo Díaz Pineda. Mr. Díaz Pineda has been the Director General of the Spanish Road Association (AEC) since September 2006, and is also President of the Ibero-American Road Institute (IVIA). We took advantage of his presence in Lisbon to ask him a few questions about his new responsibilities:
  • India’s road to safety
    September 5, 2012
    India's growth rate is the envy of the world, and its infrastructure is rapidly improving, but its road safety record is the world's worst. Patrick Smith reports on a conference aimed at finding answers to the problems Ambling through the gardens and marble magnificence that is the Taj Mahal or gazing down on the city of Jaipur from the hilltop Jaigarh Fort is far removed from the world outside.