On 8th of July, we hosted the second meeting of the Expert Group on Autonomous Driving as part of our Interreg project Drive2Transform – with inspiring contributions and in-depth discussions on how to scale, regulate and implement autonomous driving across Europe.
Key impulses came from:
• Stefan Reisinger, DigiTrans (AT): Sharing insights from the eVAN project, which tests autonomous shuttle operations under real-world conditions in Austria – including stress-testing in adverse weather, complex routing and advanced modular sensor systems.
• Martin Russ, AustriaTech: A strong voice on European regulation – highlighting the urgent need for harmonised test procedures, data policies and safety standards to ensure Europe remains globally competitive. Sharing findings from the project FAME
• Tomasz Pacan, BLEES (PL): Fascinating real-world experience from autonomous microbus pilots in Katowice, Chorzów and Gliwice – including remote operation, on-demand service models and over 5,000 passengers transported safely in public traffic.
In the workshop that followed, we dived deeper into:
• Regulation & standardisation
• Microbus and shuttle operation
• Fleet operations and scalable service design
What’s next? Two exciting events this autumn:
• Automotive Transformation Conference in Bruneck (IT)
• Clusters Meet Regions in Regensburg (DE)
A big thank you to our dedicated experts and moderators:
Doris Straub (Biz-up, Automobil-Cluster), Lukas Waidelich (Pforzheim University) and Luk Palmen (Silesia Automotive).
A successful day driven by innovation, cross-border collaboration, and a shared goal: making autonomous driving safe, scalable, and fit for real-life deployment.
Participants/Experts
- Christian Schmid, Infineon Technologies Austria
- Patrick Feucht, Patvice
- Jens Schippl, KIT
- Marcin Talaga, Huf Polska Sp. z o. o.
- Martin Russ, AustriaTech
- Jürgen Wittmann, TH Deggendorf
- Roberto Ferrari, TTControl
- Stefan Reisinger, DigiTrans GmbH
- Tomasz Pacan, BLEES
- Anne Häner, Cluster Mobility & Logistics
- Steve Schumann, Cluster Mobility & Logistics
- Ewa Dudzik, Silesia Automotive
- Silvia Mihalikova, Slovak Electric Vehicle Associaction