Drive to create cleaner, safer transport systems

THE EU has been evaluating innovative technologies in mobility and transportation in a bid to move towards cleaner, more sustainable and safer transport systems.

In 2017, the European Commission (EC) adopted the Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda Roadmap for Smart Mobility and Services.

The aim is to examine new technologies - such as multimodal, electric and automated driving, as well as drones - and determine their impact on transport and mobility systems and services.

The roadmap sets out action plans up to 2050, towards the EU's aim of transport decarbonisation. The EC has also been advocating smart mobility research and innovation projects and trials.

Opportunities for Singapore companies

Singapore companies can offer their expertise in innovating and developing sustainable and safer transport and mobility systems.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

In land transport, Singapore has launched standards in areas such as autonomous vehicles and electric vehicle charging systems. For sea transport, Singapore has developed new standards to promote the use of liquefied natural gas as marine fuel.

GERMANY

Germany is the EU's largest automotive market in terms of production and sales. With an annual industry turnover of 435 billion euros (S$696 billion), it is one of the country's core industrial sectors.

Germany is home to many of the world's renowned automotive brands, and invests heavily in R&D and innovation. The automotive sector accounts for more than a third of Germany's total R&D expenditure, and absolute innovation investment spending has been on the rise.

Under its 2030 Climate Action Programme, the government aims to have up to 10 million electric vehicles and one million charging stations on German roads by 2030 - paving the way for smart mobility solution providers in Singapore to explore co-innovation opportunities with interested German players.

ITALY

Italy is among the largest automotive markets in the EU in terms of production. Its consumers are also increasingly aware of electric vehicles, with new electric car registrations more than doubling in 2019 from the year before.

The automotive market in Italy is also paying increasing attention to smart mobility technologies and services such as self-driving cars, vehicle-to-everything communications, and shared mobility.

Smart mobility is one focus area under the national Smarter Italy programme, with the government recently investing 20 million euros in developing smart mobility solutions.

CZECH REPUBLIC AND HUNGARY

Due to solid fundamentals such as a highly educated and trained workforce and relatively lower labour cost base, the Czech Republic and Hungary became manufacturing hubs for global automotive companies.

As a result, large automotive companies have sited manufacturing facilities and R&D for electric and autonomous vehicles in these countries as well, to reap synergies with their existing investments and in the regional supply chain.

This year, the Czech Republic launched a Mobility Innovation Hub, focusing on areas such as autonomous driving, clean mobility, and digitalisation.

French automotive supplier Valeo has established its main research centre for autonomous technologies in Prague.

As for Hungary, a key focus is electric vehicles or "electromobility", in terms of both production and uptake. Major Asian electric vehicle battery manufacturers such as Samsung have also chosen Hungary to serve as their European manufacturing hub.

The German engineering supplier Bosch Group invested 120 million euros in 2018 to expand its Budapest Engineering Centre, which includes a 10,000 square-metre proving ground and will focus on automated and electrified mobility.