Visitors to the 17th ITS European Congress in Istanbul, organised by Ertico - ITS Europe, are not attending out of a fascination with technology, said Jurgis Vilčinskas, deputy head of the European Union Delegation to Türkiye.
Instead, he suggested at the Opening Ceremony today: "I think it's really a search for an answer how best we build urban mobility systems that are sustainable, resilient, inclusive and, of course, safe."
For many years, European cities have seen a repeating pattern when it comes to ITS, he added: "You know, we launched pilots, we proved concepts, we tested digital tools, tried to connect junctions, automate shuttles, new data platforms. And you know, much of that work was very important, but too often it remained a pilot."
Scaling up now has to be a priority, Vilčinskas believes.