ITAPA 2019 International Congress, the largest event in Slovakia aimed at digitising public administration in Slovakia, was held in Bratislava on 28 May 2019. Smart cities, Smart Mobility, eGovernment, Cybersecurity and Digital transformation were the main topics discussed at the ITAPA 2019 spring edition.
Per invitation of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation, Slovakia, the ERA Chair Holder, prof. Tatiana Kováčiková, participated in the Smart Mobility session together with Norbert Schindler from GNSS Consulting, Austria, Martin Kavka from KPMG, Czech Republic, Patrik Križanský from SEVA (Slovak Electric Vehicle Association), Shiran Baroukh from HERE Technologies in Israel and Peter Varga, the Director-General of the Road Infrastructure section at the Ministry of Transport and Construction, Slovakia. The session was moderated by Peter Kárpáty from the Office of Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation.
In her presentation on current and future R&I trends in Intelligent Transport Systems, Tatiana Kováčiková pointed out that transport and mobility in Europe is in transition, which is driven by three major underlying trends: decarbonisation, digitalisation and diversification. Diversification concerns both the transport modes as well as an ownership of transport means. Digitalisation is a technological disruption which sees the increasing merging of the mobility sector with information and communication technologies (ICT), rebranded under the sweeping terms Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), or ‘Smart Mobility’. Solutions target all parts of transport: real-time and multimodal data monitoring for traffic and infrastructure management, end-user services such as mobility-as-a service (MaaS), car/bike sharing, carpooling or eco-driving apps, as well as vehicle-specific technologies, particularly in terms of automation. While the technologies for Connected and Automated vehicles (CAVs) are well-advance and a number of large-scale tests are ongoing within European R&I projects, there are still aspects, in particular socio-economic and ethical that have to be addressed, such as dilemma-based situations, responsibility, cybersecurity, data privacy, etc.
Norbert Schindler introduced “smart” approaches from big cities such as using lightweight scooters instead of heavy vehicles in Taipei, tremendously popular underground public transport in Tokyo or using bicycles in Copenhagen. Slovakia was mentioned as a good example in freight transport using a satellite toll system, one of the biggest in Europe.
Using a regional potential for testing autonomous vehicles as an approach to smart mobility was presented by Martin Kavka. According to him, in the city of Ustí nad Labem, it was the geographical location of the city situated between Prague and Dresden that led to a decision to set up the U-smart cluster and a testing zone for autonomous vehicles. The testing zone covers almost 27 km of roads for testing different type of technologies including detection, diagnosis, control and monitoring.
Shiran Baroukh presented 3D maps developed by HERE Technologies, which enable to move from the previously asked question “How to get from point A to point B” questions like “Which route is the fastest one?” or “Which route is the most pleasant one?”
Patrik Križanský from SEVA highlighted dependency of Slovakia on car manufacturing since it represents 44% of the overall industrial production. Despite being the biggest car producer per habitant worldwide, even our neighbours are more advanced in innovations. Instead of investing to R&I, the Slovak government re-allocated 70 mil. EUR from the budget for innovations to road reconstruction.
Peter Kárpáty from the Office of Deputy Prime-Minister for Investments and Informatisation confessed a smart mobility was not a priority of the Government in the past. However, this gap will be filled in by the Smart Mobility 4-year project, funded through European Structural and Investment Funds. Managed by the Ministry of Transport and Construction, in collaboration with the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation, it will develop the technical, legislative and regulatory framework in 2021 and implement it in 2022.
The speakers agreed that several trends have an impact on transport today: Climate change needs actions to reduce emissions as well as for adaptation measures. Information and communication technologies modify the way users make their mobility choices. Finally, diversification is also the result of the two previous trends: transport is diversifying. Diversification is occurring not only with transport modes, but in ownership and use models as well.
The session was concluded by a short presentation of the project objectives and timeline provided by Peter Varga, the Director-General of the Road Infrastructure section at the Ministry of Transport and Construction Slovakia, who took this opportunity and has officially launched the project.