'Urban Mobility 2.0. The Rise of Intelligent Vehicles and Smart Infrastructure' is the workshop that took place today at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, promoted by the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility (Most), in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Madrid and the Centro de Investigación del Transporte (TRANSyT)) of the Polytechnic University.
This was an opportunity for dialogue between institutions, universities and companies, with the aim of promoting innovative solutions for a more sustainable, intelligent and accessible urban mobility and strengthening international cooperation between Spain and Italy. Welcoming the event on behalf of the Italian ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, was the embassy's scientific attaché, Sergio Scopetta, noting that the event is part of the initiatives promoted by the embassy to celebrate the 'Day of Italian Research in the World' 2025. An opportunity "to present to the Spanish ecosystem the Italian excellence represented by the Most and cooperation platform on innovative projects", considering also the related areas of research with the TRANSyT Centre created in 2022 by the Polytechnic University.
At a time when European cities are urgently called upon to respond to mobility challenges, the meeting offered a concrete and multidisciplinary look at the future of urban transport.
Most, Director General Gianmarco Montanari recalled at the opening, was born from the collaboration between 24 universities and their research centres and 24 major companies active in the mobility and infrastructure sector, from Eni to Stellantis, to accompany the sector's green and digital transition. And it is a project, financed by the NRP, that represents an important industrial slice of the Sistema Paese, with over 600,000 employees and 300 billion in turnover.
From the outset of the workshop, a shared awareness emerged: the change underway is not only technological, but cultural, regulatory and infrastructural. Autonomous vehicles, already present in numerous experimental projects in Europe, today represent a transformative lever that goes beyond automatic driving and touches on issues such as the interaction between vehicles and infrastructure, data collection and management, and the impact on urban organisation.
Alongside technological development, great attention was devoted to shared mobility, supported by digital platforms and based on the integration of different means and modes, which is seen as one of the most concrete answers to urban congestion, pollution and inequalities of access.
Another crucial element that emerged was the role of data, now in unprecedented quantities, the combination of which makes it possible to build increasingly reliable predictive models capable of optimising traffic and improving services. But it is necessary to strengthen analysis capabilities and define common standards for sharing.
The Madrid meeting was an important moment of confrontation between two countries committed, with different but complementary approaches, to the transformation of their mobility systems. From the sharing of best practices to the presentation of research and development projects that are already active, a picture rich in potential emerged.
"A few weeks after the event organised at the Osaka World Expo, we are proud to have extended the international scope of the projects developed by Most with its partners, which represent national excellences not only in terms of their content, but also in terms of public-private collaborations," said Gianmarco Montanari. "This is a winning formula that best integrates the respective competences of universities and companies, whose collaboration is essential to win the challenges of the present and the future," he concluded.
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