Safety, efficiency and collaboration were the common threads as senior figures from across the ITS community shared their hopes for the week on the opening day of ITS World Congress 2026 in Gangneung, South Korea. This video features comments from Seval Oz, Laura Chace, Silje Troseth, Shailen Bhatt, John Gaffney and Darren Capes.
Seval Oz, assistant secretary for research and technology at USDOT, said priorities including interoperability of data, connectivity and real-time information were common to everyone attending. “These are all shared goals and they demand shared solutions,” said Oz. Oz added that the next evolution of information and communications technologies would be defined by what it enables, from safer mobility to faster emergency response, and said the US was proud to stand with its international partners in advancing the work.
A moment of convergence
Laura Chace, president and CEO of ITS America, said the congress mattered because it gave the global community a chance to meet, share knowledge and keep innovating. She also said the current moment was significant because of the convergence of artificial intelligence, automation, connected systems, digital infrastructure and real-time data, all accelerating at the same time.
From early computing to autonomous trucks
Silje Troseth, president of ITS Australia, and John Gaffney, winner of the 2026 ITS lifetime achievement award, reflected on how far the technology has come, from the early days of computing to autonomous trucks now operating in the US, while stressing that the goal remained reducing fatalities and improving quality of life.
Shailen Bhatt, CEO, US and LATAM at AtkinsRéalis, said a recent secondary crash near his home showed why the work matters. “Just a few weeks ago, I was involved in a traffic incident at home that I think technology would have helped prevent,” said Bhatt. He said he was unharmed and his family was not involved, but noted that traffic fatalities still run to around one million a year globally and 40,000 in the US.
Looking ahead, Darren Capes, leading organiser for ITS World Congress 2027 at Birmingham NEC, invited delegates to the West Midlands next year and pointed to the region’s long history of innovation.
