A true momentum and eye-opener for thriving public and private investments in CAD

ACEA and its members – Europe’s 16 major automobile manufacturers – have put their focus on the following key pillars to foster collaboration with policy makers:

• Delivering clean and safe mobility, with the objective of enabling the transition to zero emissions and zero fatalities.
• Making road transport smart and convenient, with a view to establishing the EU as a world leader in consumer-focused, innovative mobility solutions.
• Ensuring affordable mobility and choice for all citizens, meeting the diverse needs of all Europeans, regardless of their financial means.
• Safeguarding a thriving and globally competitive industry, which can continue to contribute to employment and economic growth in the European Union.

Digitisation and automation are shaping the transformation of mobility. A 360-degree approach is needed: the vehicle as a product that moves people and goods, the vehicle as part of multimodal and MaaS solutions, the vehicle as an intelligent and high-tech data device and the vehicle as part of the solutions addressing societal needs. Vehicle manufacturers spend a big part of the €57.4 billion that the automotive industry annually invest in R&D on CAD in cooperation with our EUCAR partnership.

When trying to explain the complex labyrinth of projects, stakeholders and policies, I recommended the experts working for our member companies to consult the ARCADE Knowledge Base on CAD. It is the one-stop shop for data, knowledge and experiences on CAD in Europe and beyond. It is also an invaluable and unique tool for my contacts with policy makers and companies in Asia and the United states.

Do you want to have a snapshot of all ongoing projects in Europe? Just click on the tab ‘Find a project’! Do you want to know how to organise data sharing and develop a license agreement with your partners? Give your creativity a head start and click on ‘Data sharing’. Are you writing a contribution on CAD policies, strategies, deployment roadmaps with its legal and regulatory attention points? Get inspiration in the ‘List of strategies and policies’ section.

The cooperative efforts of the partners in upgrading the knowledge pool of ARCADE have resulted in an indispensable list of ingredients to cook your meal in the CAD kitchen. ACEA and its 16 members are committed to further contribute to the tool as we do with the CCAM Single Platform of the European Commission.

Vehicles take people and goods across borders in the EU and are a live example of key European values such as the freedom of people, goods, services and data flows to name a few. Cross-border CAD is not yet a given for many use cases. Several national legal frameworks, inspired by subsidiarity, still need to be synchronised (at least) and ideally harmonised to fully tap into the potential of borderless CAD.

My best greetings to all readers. Stay connected!

Joost Vantomme,
Smart Mobility Director ACEA,
Member of the Supervisory Boards of ERTICO and the Maas Alliance.