Participating road operators and public authorities are working on common procurement, commercial and data frameworks to make connected vehicle data easier to buy, compare and use for maintenance, winter services and safety monitoring
Istanbul, 28 April 2026 – Participating road operators and road authorities today announce the launch of the Connected Vehicle Data for Road Operations working group. The participating authorities are formally starting a series of European alignment meetings that will run for approximately 24 months. The initiative aims to reduce fragmentation in how connected vehicle data is procured, interpreted and used, helping road authorities support safer, smarter and more efficient road operations across borders.
From fragmented connected vehicle data to practical cross-border use
Connected vehicle data and derived indicators are becoming increasingly important for road operators and road authorities. Modern vehicles can generate valuable information on road condition, winter hazards, network performance and safety risks. Yet adoption at scale remains fragmented. Differences in procurement rules, budgeting cycles, market maturity, data taxonomies and quality reporting practices can make the same type of dataset difficult to compare or reuse from one country to another. As a result, many authorities still have to “reinvent the wheel” when bringing connected vehicle data into operations.
“Across Europe, public authorities are facing similar questions about how to buy, compare and use connected vehicle data. This collaboration gives us a practical way to align requirements, reduce duplication and create clearer signals for the market,” says Erik Vrijens, program manager Connected Cars from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management.
Developing shared frameworks for procurement, use and harmonisation
The working group’s purpose is to develop pragmatic alignment among participating authorities on commercial models, procurement approaches, and the harmonisation of connected vehicle data definitions and outputs. The ambition is not to centralise procurement or impose a single rigid standard. Instead, the group will work towards a common set of reference approaches, definitions and reusable templates that members can adopt voluntarily in their own national and regional contexts.
The collaboration will focus on pricing and commercial models that are transparent and comparable across borders, clearer tendering and procurement approaches, practical harmonisation of data definitions and quality metrics, shared use case definitions and performance indicators, and options for efficient data sharing between providers, use case providers and road authorities. This includes exploring modular commercial models — for example pricing per use case, per data layer or per coverage level — and aligning how events, indicators, coverage, confidence and aggregation choices are documented so that like-for-like comparisons become possible.
“Harmonization creates added value for both road operators and authorities, as well as for data providers. By establishing a common set of reference approaches, definitions and templates, harmonization increases the availability and comparability of relevant vehicle data, and significantly improves the ability to use, combine and fuse this data in support of road operations”, says Peter-Paul Schackmann, project manager Connected Mobility from TNO, an independent research and innovation institute of The Netherlands.
A bridge between public authorities and the market
The initiative is intended to support both sides of the market. For road authorities, it will help reduce repeated negotiations, bespoke procurement work and the need to translate operational needs into tender language from scratch. For providers, OEMs and platform actors, it will create more predictable demand signals and a clearer pathway to scalable offerings that can be reused across multiple countries.
“its only logical – the roads are there for the road users, the service levels in the whole Europe should therefore be based on the road users. Todays and the future road users.”, says Pontus Gruhs, Chief Strategist Swedish Transport Administration.
Data-driven road operations across borders
The working group will follow a use-case-first approach. Members will begin with a small number of priority use cases that are widely shared among road operators and road authorities, including road maintenance, safety monitoring and winter services. From these use cases, the group will derive data and quality needs, interface and aggregation expectations, and the procurement and contracting implications. The initiative will also examine practical options for efficient data sharing, including European mobility data space initiatives as well as national and international alternatives.
The working group will not negotiate specific price levels, select vendors or run procurements on behalf of its members. It will also not build or operate a shared technical platform. Instead, the focus is on frameworks and interoperability guidance that members can use within their own procurement and operational contexts. In this way, the collaboration aims to connect national initiatives with wider international ecosystems and support a more interoperable market for connected vehicle data.
What does this mean for road authorities?
Road authorities that participate in the working group will help shape how connected vehicle data is specified, evaluated and used for road operations across borders. This will support more comparable tenders, clearer expectations on data quality and coverage, better cross-border benchmarking, and faster learning between authorities facing similar challenges in maintenance, winter management and safety.
Road operators and authorities interested in participating in the European alignment meetings can contact us (ROMO@minienw.nl)
About Connected Vehicle Data for Road Operations
Connected Vehicle Data for Road Operations is a public collaboration by and for road operators and road authorities, initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management and its ROMO project, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Department for Transport (DFT) of the UK and the NPRA of Norway.
The initiative focuses on practical alignment on the use, procurement and commercialization of connected vehicle data and derived services. Its initial focus is on road maintenance, winter management and safety monitoring. The launch of the initiative at ITS-Europe in April 2026 marks the start of a 24-month European alignment meetings
About the ROMO project
ROMO, (https://roadmonitor.nl) is a collaboration for and by road authorities, supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. ROMO is collaborating with its innovation partners: Deloitte, Inspectigence, LSM Analytics LLC, Mercedes-Benz Connectivity Services GmbH, Mobilisights (the Stellantis Data as a Service Company), Mobito, Moove.AI, NIRA Dynamics AB, RoadTrace by AISIN, Univrses and Xouba. ROMO is supported by the expertise of TNO and NDW. ROMO is made possible (in part) by the European Union (Verkko verrko-project.eu).