Susanna Zammataro, the Director General of the International Road Federation (IRF), Geneva, Switzerland and a member of the Advisory Board of the High Level Panel on Road Safety of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), was the guest speaker who provided her overview on autonomous vehicles (AV) development around the world and its future.

Susanna introduced the session by stating that the world is currently in the intermediate stage en route to driverless cars. Research on AV in Europe is in a more advanced stage than the rest of the world, where Europe has taken on several initiatives in undertaking pilot projects. Netherlands is the pioneer among all European countries.

Susanna discussed the challenges that she sees in the AV industry at the moment. The issue on “who would be responsible due to negligence or any accident or any technical failure of autonomous cars?” still needs to be resolved. Integration of the system within the whole autonomous mobility ecosystem system and infrastructure, and the effects of automation on the transport labour force, future working conditions and skills requirements are the other main challenges.

It was pointed out in the presentation that proper space and infrastructure use in urban area, development of supporting facilities and preparation of work forces are the key factors to move AV forward. Susanna concluded the presentation with recommendations including the need to consider infrastructure and sustainability within autonomous mobility, and that more research and innovation are required on areas such as policy, processes and new business models.

The presentation was well received by the audience, followed by a detailed question and answer session. This seminar is part of CIHT Qatar Group’s events. The Group thanks their sponsors AECOM, BG&E, DCE, EGIS, FUGRO, MUHEL, PAF, PTV Group, SALFO, SEERO and WSP for their generous contribution to the event.

Technical Seminar on “Data, automation and work-force skills: an agenda for tomorrow’s transport” on November 19, 2019.

Susanna Zammataro, Director General of the International Road Federation.