Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, alongside Adina Vălean, the European Commissioner for Transport, concluded the European Conference on Connected and Automated Driving, organised on 16 and 17 February 2022 under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Over two days (16-17 February), the conference was attended by over 300 participants in total, representing the various public and private stakeholders involved in developing new automated road mobility services. Local experiences from numerous cities and regions in the European Union were presented.
During the conference, France presented the developments in connected and automated driving particularly those achieved through the support for innovation offered by the France 2030 initiative (€250 million in public funding invested since 2019). France also mentioned its framework allowing the actual operation of automated road transport systems, in place since June 2021.
The conference confirmed the need to continue experiments, by expanding pilot services in Europe, as well as to coordinate European and national regulations. The conference also highlighted the increasingly important role of local governments in implementing these services, in order to fill the gaps in current public transport services with services suited to meet real needs, for example in rural areas.
On behalf of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari commended the momentum created by the European automated and connected mobility ecosystem, which is allowing the European Union to become a world leader.
Automated and connected mobility doesn’t mean less jobs; it means more services for users and communities. In places without buses, or only one bus per hour, we could run 10 self-driving shuttles overseen by a remote driver. These shuttles would pick you up right at your doorstep, and drop you off at your nearest train station for example. This is a question of providing better connection for isolated areas, and it’s also a question of European technological sovereignty.
– Jean-Baptiste Djebbari