Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas outlined a vision for urban mobility emphasizing safety, intelligence, and sustainability during his video address at the Mobility World Congress 2025. His speech focused on the integration of digital tools to simultaneously enhance safety and efficiency in urban transport.
Concrete Safety Measures Commissioner Tzitzikostas set an ambitious target aimed at eliminating road fatalities and serious injuries by 2050. While noting progress—road deaths fell from 11,200 in 2010 to under 7,900 in 2023—the goal demands legislative action. Measures such as a new driving licence directive feature risk-awareness training, accompanied driving schemes, and probationary periods for novice drivers. Enhanced cross-border enforcement provisions promise more robust law enforcement. These plans suggest increased regulation and supervision targeting vehicle operation, infrastructure, and user behaviour to promote safety.
Driving Smarter Mobility Through Data and AI The Commissioner highlighted multimodal transport as the cornerstone of smarter urban mobility. Policy proposals include mandatory sharing of multimodal travel information and a forthcoming Digital Mobility Services proposal to ease comparisons and bookings across transport modes. The creation of a Common European Mobility Data Space aims to enable secure, intelligent data use. Artificial intelligence is positioned as pivotal for traffic management, efficiency, and passenger experience, consistent with a recently introduced EU AI Action Plan. Autonomous driving testbeds will be expanded with cross-border trials expected by next year.
Stakeholder Impacts and Policy Orientations The proposed measures strengthen EU-level digital regulation and data-sharing mandates, increasing EU powers over national transport policies. Urban consumers could benefit from improved service transparency and multimodal options, though these requirements might increase operational costs for transport providers and service operators. Public authorities are tasked with enforcing higher safety and data standards, potentially stretching resources but promising reduced accidents. EU innovative start-ups in urban mobility stand to gain through initiatives like EIT Urban Mobility's support programs, fostering innovation and market scaling in the single market.
Balancing innovation with safety and regulatory oversight, Commissioner Tzitzikostas’s address underscores a direction toward an integrated, technologically advanced, and safer urban mobility environment, appealing to a wide range of stakeholders involved in Europe's transport future.
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