COVID-19: boosting connectivity and automation to overcome the crisis

COVID-19 is having a major impact on the economy with retail and manufacturing activity at a deep low, and the European automotive sector being hit particularly hard. CLEPA and its partners have come together to bring up concrete actions to recover from the crisis.

Four associations representing the automotive sector (CLEPA, ACEA, CECRA, ETRMA) have issued a joint paper proposing “25 actions for a successful restart of the EU’s automotive sector”. With this initiative, they aim at contributing to an effective policy response to Covid-19 that ensures public health, minimises the impact on the economy and maintains a focus on the overarching objectives of our time: the digitalised and carbon-neutral society.

In particular, the recommendation 20 urges to “speed up the regulatory work on Digitalisation of Transport to enable new and multiple digitalised services”. This will help set a clear framework for technologies to deliver their full potential. Connected and Automated Driving is in first line with e.g. the need for an adapted road infrastructure and clear rules for the use of data.

Since the beginning of the pandemic crisis, while European automotive production units had to gradually come to a halt, immediate and tangible actions have been taken: DRIVES and ALBATTS blueprint projects jointly invited employees, who have been left with reduced or no activity, to devote time for education to acquire new knowledge and skills. An interface was set-up for an easy access to free online courses made available by major world-renowned universities and selected by DRIVES and ALBATTS partnerships. This set includes a module about autonomous vehicles. On top of that, the DRIVES Project has launched the new platform “DRIVES-Compass”, offering courses that will help to meet the sector demands for reskilling and upskilling, with several courses being launched in the months to come. Dedicated courses about expertise on connected vehicles and highly automated drive will be available as from December 2020.

Picture: SAE Mobilus ©