The European Innovation Action “SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption (SHOW)” formally launched its work during its successful Kick-off-Meeting that took place in Brussels at the 29, 30 and 31 of January 2020.
The SHOW project aims to deploy shared, connected, electrified fleets of autonomous vehicles in coordinated Public Transport, Demand Responsive Transport, Mobility as a Service and Logistics as a Service operational chains in real-life urban demonstrations in 5 Mega, 6 Satellite and 3 Follower demonstration sites in 20 cities across Europe. SHOW will deploy a fleet of more than 70 SAE L4/L5 AVs of all types for both passenger and cargo transport in dedicated lanes and mixed traffic, connected to a wide range of supporting infrastructure (5G, G5, IoT) and operating under traffic speeds ranging from 18 to over 50km/h.
Its Consortium consists of 69 Partners across Europe, as well as 10 third parties, including OEM’s & Public Transport operators, citizen engagement entities, SME’s, Research & Academia, Tier 1 & Telecom providers and other industrial Partners. It started officially on the 1st of January 2020 to last 48 months.
During this first official gathering of the Consortium, all project activities were presented in detail by the responsible Partners, while very interesting relevant discussions followed with the involvement of all participants.
The Project officer of SHOW, Georgios Sarros, (INEA, EC) participated by presenting the expectations on behalf of the European Commission from the project, while also Mr. Patrick Mercier-Handisyde from DG-RTD honoured the event with his presence and his contribution in presenting the EC policy perspective.
During the 2nd day of the event a panel consisting by experts with profound experience and expertise in the field was organised, with its members discussing and expressing their perspective across different aspects of automomous mobility deployment. The panel’s participating experts are the following:
- Tom Vöge, Head of EU Affairs at ICC (Moderator)
- Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General UITP
- Nikos Tsampieris, Senior Manager, ERTICO ITS Europe
- Dorthe Nielsen, Policy Director EUROCITIES
- Susanna Zammataro, Director General IRF
- Jean-Francois Aguinaga, DG RTD, EC
- Delphine Grandsart, European Passenger Federation
Throughout the duration of the 3-days event, the importance but also the demanding requirements of this particular project have been stressed out by both the project’s Coordinator, Guido di Pasquale, UITP and the Technical & Innovation Manager, Dr. Evangelos Bekiaris, CERTH/HIT. However, the whole Consortium was committed in an enthusiastic way to work hard to achieve the project’s goals and vision and live up to the expectations.
