• Published on 06 Mar 2018
• Events

ECA2030: Roadmapping Workshop

ECA2030 The Roadmap workshop to pave the way for the electric, connected, automated car for the 2030 customer (ECA-cars)

ECA2030 was the roadmap workshop which was held on 30-31 January 2018 in Mallorca to discuss the next evolution cycles, technology gaps and limits of today´s technologies to pave the way for the electric, connected, automated car for the 2030 customer (ECA-cars).

The ambitious aim of the lighthouse Mobility.E is to make the electric, connected and automated car mainstream in 2030. Bert De Colvenaer explains that the lighthouse initiative builds on well identified market-pull related, to social needs with a strong pan European dimension. In the mobility Lighthouse this means that on a global scale, today´s yearly manufacturing volume of more than 80 Mio conventional cars will contain a share of estimated 40 Mio ECA-cars in 2030, which have to be produced in a sustainable way.

An ECA Car is built on latent needs which can be defined as a desire of preference which cannot be satisfied due to a lack of information or availability of a product or service. Simply this means that a latent need is a problem that a user or consumer did not realised yet. In mobility this means that we do not want to waste time and safe driving, for ourselves and the environment. Our ecological footprint has to be reduced and driving has to turn into a service that gives the consumer more time for other activities to save time. Eat your lunch in a relaxing way, drink, listen, talk, surf or have a call. But, we are not there yet. During the two days in Mallorca the discussions where based on 6 urgent priorities:

• Data availability and sharing
• Intelligence on board
• Infrastructure and services for smart personal mobility and logistics
• Decarbonization clean, sustainable affordable propulsion
• Connectivity
• Sensors and sensor fusion.

Today´s perception of the individual Ownership of a car will compete with mobility on demand as the future user will only be willing to pay for the service they used, consequently the need for co-mobility will emerge.

As a consequence of this disruptive change, the attendees of this event need to define not only the needed technology basis, but also identify possible gaps to gain and keep the sovereignty and the IP to build our cars in and for Europe.

Lighthouse Initiative Mobility.E

ECA2030 was the official starting point of lighthouse initiative Mobility.E and aims to build bridges between the roadmaps that are out there and search for gaps on the path to 2030.

By defining these bridges and gaps the emphasis and way of thinking will move increasingly from vehicle to mobility, in other words, connections. Not putting more vehicles on the road, but optimising their use to enhance the flow of people and goods. At the event it was emphasized that at all times, we must keep in mind the Mission Zero target. This is essential for user acceptance. And so, in the light of Mobility4.E Lighthouse Initiative, it is important that the relevant peripheral challenges like standards, rules, regulations, legislation, liability and obligation are well signposted and can be tackled just as effectively as the technology challenges. If we can do this, we can help to sustain leadership in Europe and sustainably boost economic growth and prosperity as well as quality of life.

The European Commission (EC) has set the ambitious target of achieving a 60% vehicle emission reduction by 2050 compared to 1990, through the progressive implementation of a zero-emission policy. From an engineering perspective, the zero-emission target is implemented through drivetrain electrification, while the benefits of co-modality are achieved through connectivity, which plays a major role in the megatrend of digitalisation. All car manufacturers, public authorities, and other stakeholders are in agreement that (cooperative) driver assistance, active safety systems and automated driving functions are vital to approach Europe’s vision 2021 and the long-term goal of zero fatalities, zero injuries and zero accidents. In parallel, economic development requires an efficient and sustainable mobility system.

To reach that goal the current impact needs to be improved and pushed forward. Francisco Ibanez explained at ECA2030 that the European Commission expects that the lighthouse initiatives provides direction, improve cohesion, maximize impact, aligns with policy and provides a full patch through the innovation Cycle. Shortly, the expectations of the potential of the lighthouses as strategic initiatives are high. Pushing research forward, finding value beyond the projects and searching for more benefits and impact.

An extended report about this event and the follow-up actions will be published in the ARTEMIS Magazine of May/June 2018.