35 Years On, Intelligent Transport Systems Shift From Vehicles to Entire Ecosystems

Intelligent Transport Systems have come a long way since the concept first took root. As Ertico marks its 35th anniversary, the organisation’s Chief Finance and Operations Officer, Didier Gorteman, reflects on a journey that began with connecting individual vehicles and has gradually expanded to link entire mobility ecosystems.

The evolution Gorteman describes is one of scope as much as technology. Early ITS work centred on the vehicle itself, wiring up cars and the infrastructure around them for smarter traffic management. Over three decades, that focus has widened to encompass the many ways people and goods move through cities, from public transit and shared services to the smaller electric vehicles that increasingly populate urban streets.

Ertico’s own role has tracked that shift. The organisation, which brings together public authorities, industry players and research bodies, has spent 35 years acting as a meeting point for the public and private interests that shape transport policy and deployment across Europe. Its anniversary offers a moment to assess how far the field has travelled from its early, vehicle-centric beginnings.

For the micromobility sector, the trajectory is telling. Electric scooters, e-bikes and other light electric vehicles only became a mainstream part of the urban transport conversation relatively recently, yet they now sit firmly inside the ecosystem model Gorteman describes. The task ahead, he suggests, is less about inventing new connections and more about making the existing ones work together.

Three and a half decades of ITS development have produced a dense web of technologies, standards and stakeholders. What remains is the harder work of turning that groundwork into everyday impact for the people moving through cities.