The city of Istanbul straddles two continents and has one of the most complex multimodal transport networks on earth. It’s fitting then that the 17th ITS European Congress is taking place in Istanbul from 27 to 29 April. For ERTICO-ITS Europe CEO Joost Vantomme it represents a deliberate statement of intent, not just about where the industry gathers, but about the expanding geography of intelligent mobility.

“Turkey is one of the key growth areas,” he explains. “We have the European legislative framework on ITS, the whole complex of systems on data, automation and data sharing. Turkey is looking at what we and the UK are doing, and asking: what are the good pieces of that? Let’s implement it in Turkey so that we have a seamless, cross-border approach for Europe on data spaces and automation.”

“If you can manage traffic in Istanbul,
you can manage it anywhere”

The Turkish capital was selected through a competitive process, winning out against other candidate cities for the 2026 congress. Its suitability, Vantomme argues, is self-evident. “Istanbul is not coincidental,” he says. “If you can manage traffic in Istanbul, you can manage it anywhere.”

The city offers a genuinely multimodal canvas. Roads, bridges, tunnels, a waterborne network splitby the Bosphorus, an extensive rail and public transport system, and a busy international airport – all four transport modes are represented at scale, and all integrated within a single journey planning application that Istanbul has already deployed.

“The city has a seamless app which can bring you from point A to point B and C through a multimodal journey,” says Vantomme. “This is unique, and I think that the rest of Europe can learn a lot from it.”

Turkey is also advanced in traffic management, with a sophisticated control centre that will be showcased during the congress. Delegates will also be able to experience a C-ITS corridor demonstration – running connected and automated vehicles from the airport into the city centre – that Vantomme describes as “bridging the gap between roads and other transport modes.”

“The European Congress is so critical because it really enables international learning”

The congress theme is Bridging Innovation: Integrated, Safe and Seamless Mobility, with the tagline ‘Where East meets West to shape the future of mobility’. The programme will span road traffic management, connected and cooperative systems, artificial intelligence in traffic control, digital mobility applications, low-emission transport, vehicle-to-grid energy systems, and – increasingly prominent – smart logistics.

“Smart logistics is very important,” he says. “If you deliver something, you need access to the streets, access to the kerbside. Digital tools can help with slot management, but this will bring the delivery of goods and people right into the middle of Istanbul.”

Safety is another central theme, with a focus on the safety of AI algorithms and what they mean for drivers and end users.

Among the high-level speakers confirmed for the event are Turkey’s minister and deputy minister of transport and infrastructure, the mayor of Istanbul, and at European level, the European Union commissioner for transport and tourism, together with the EU’s representative in Turkey and officials from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).

A notable structural innovation is ERTICO’s introduction of ‘co-created sessions’ – one-hour collaborative sessions developed with partner associations including national ITS organisations, the European Passenger Forum, Eurocities, and police networks. Eight such sessions are planned, sitting alongside what Vantomme estimates will be around 120 concurrent sessions across the three days.

ITS UK chief executive Max Sugarman confirms that the Transport Technology Forum will lead a UK pavilion at the congress. “The European Congress is so critical because it really enables international learning,” he says. “Being able to go to a city and see how it is managing congestion, road safety, integrated transport, public transport – there’s no better way to get insight.” Doing so with people from cities across Europe and the globe only increases the opportunity to share knowledge.

The UK government will also have representation at the event, with officials from the Department for Transport attending alongside partners including West Midlands, who will be promoting Birmingham as the host city for the ITS World Congress 2027 (see The road to Birmigham, overleaf).

The conversation between UK and European ITS communities is, both Vantomme and Sugarman agree, genuinely productive. The UK’s Automated Vehicles Act has drawn admiration from across the Channel. “We’re pretty jealous,” Vantomme says with a smile. “You did a quite good job adapting traffic rules and making it fit for purpose for these new types of vehicles.”

Sugarman, meanwhile, points to the momentum building around AV deployment in the UK, with trials in London planned to include operators Waymo, Waven and Uber. “There’s a real moment to be captured with AVs,” he says. “The legislation that’s been set out is all about road safety, and I’m a big believer that if we get the rollout of AVs right, there will be a marked improvement. The government has set targets around a 60% reduction in KSI – AVs must be a critical part of that.”

As ITS and connected vehicle systems evolve, cooperation and buy-in from automakers is increasingly vital. The congress will represent an opportunity to engage with Turkish OEMs – including some that are members of ERTICO, such as Ford Otosan and Tofaş – on this subject. Vantomme is helping to address the issue of data sharing head on as chair of the General Assembly for the Data for Road Safety (DFRS) initiative, bringing together European OEMs, road authorities, and service providers to share real-time hazard data. As momentum grows Vantomme sees the opportunity for DFRS to expand data sharing beyond the EU. The UK’s latest road safety policy documents explicitly reference DFRS and encourage membership. Vantomme will be promoting the iniative at the event as well as advocating for mutual recognition of vehicle type approvals across Turkey and the EU, removing the need to for OEMs to duplicate the process.

With the congress taking place against a backdrop of regional tensions, some may have concerns about attending. Vantomme is direct on the subject. “Turkey has already declared the city to be safe,” he says. “Istanbul is far from the border, and we have heard no bad news. Exhibitors and speakers – even from overseas – are all coming.”

The message, ultimately, is that Istanbul is ready to welcome the global ITS community – and to demonstrate what a city operating at the intersection of continents, cultures, and transport modes can teach the rest of the world.

Full programme details registration at 2026.itseuropeancongress.com

Exhibitor highlights

Umovity

Booth C3

Urban mobility systems face mounting pressure from rising demand and congestion to ambitious climate and safety targets. At the ITS European Congress, Umovity will demonstrate how its integrated mobility technology helps cities address these challenges. By combining the strengths of Econolite and PTV Group, Umovity enables interoperability across the mobility ecosystem, integrating modelling, simulation and predictive planning with proven traffic management hardware. At its booth, Umovity will present the vision of its intelligent Mobility Operating System (MOS) that unites planning and operations in a single data-driven platform. A key focus will also be on supporting cities with sustainable urban mobility plans.

Navtech Radar

Booth F13, UK Pavilion

At the Navtech booth, visitors can see how 360-degree radar-based automatic incident detection identifies incidents in real time and automatically directs PTZ cameras to the exact location, helping reduce response times and secondary incidents. Navtech’s ClearWay solution enables road operators to improve safety by detecting high-risk events within seconds, from stopped vehicles and pedestrians to debris and wrong-way drivers. Unlike camera-only systems, the technology performs reliably in fog, snow, spray and glare, when accidents are most likely. ClearWay provides continuous long-range coverage across entire highways or tunnels, requiring fewer sensors than traditional alternatives, and integrates with leading traffic management platforms.

Intercomp

Booth G18

Exhibitor highlight

At the ITS European Congress, Intercomp will highlight its advanced vehicle weighing technologies designed to improve transportation infrastructure and enforcement. The company manufactures high-speed, low-speed and static weighing systems using durable strain gauge technology known for accuracy, stability and longevity. Portable and in-ground sensors allow vehicles to be weighed in motion, delivering reliable weight data without disrupting traffic flow. These solutions support critical applications such as data collection, preventive road maintenance and overweight vehicle control, including high-speed direct enforcement. With more than four decades of experience and deployments across more than eighty countries, Intercomp continues helping agencies protect roads worldwide.

The road to Birmingham

Istanbul is very much in the foreground, but beyond it looms an even bigger milestone: the ITS World Congress returns to the UK in October 2027, for the first time since London in 2006. The host city will be Birmingham, with organisers Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) working in partnership with ERTICO-ITS Europe, the Department for Transport, ITS UK and others.

The 33rd congress – the world’s largest ITS event – will run from 25 to 29 October 2027 under the theme Connect Ideas. Transform Transport and is expected to attract more than 15,000 attendees.

For ITS UK’s Max Sugarman, Istanbul is already part of the Birmingham story. “We’ll have a really strong presence at ITS Istanbul with the Transport Technology Forum leading on a UK pavilion,” he says. “And of course, West Midlands will be there promoting Birmingham.”

ERTICO CEO Joost Vantomme adds: “With the European Congress 2026 in Istanbul and the World Congress 2027 in Birmingham, we demonstrate what makes the ITS community unique: connecting research and innovation with public authorities, policymakers and industry.”

Four thematic areas have already been announced, covering safe and inclusive mobility, sustainability, technology deployment, and business impact. TfWM’s Chris Lane has said the aim is to ensure the congress delivers tangible value – not just ideas, but solutions that transport authorities from all around the world can apply.

2027.itsworldcongress.com

This article first appeared in the April/May edition of TTi magazine