On 7 October 2025, the ArtMED project successfully held its 2nd Roundtable, titled “Autonomous Mobility & Smart Transport: Technology, Safety and Social Inclusion”, hosted at JOIST Innovation Park in Larissa (Greece) and streamed online.
The event gathered over 60 participants – on-site and online – including policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders from across Europe.
The session was moderated by Professor Nikolaos P. Ventikos from the National Technical University of Athens, and featured insightful contributions from leading experts in transport innovation and policy:
- Albert Borreguero Ruiz, Innovation Project Manager, CARNET – UPC
- Fabio Antonialli, Researcher, École Centrale Lyon, and Associate Professor, PPA Business School (Paris)
- Cyrille Médard de Chardon, Researcher, LISER – Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research
- Theocharis Vlachopanagiotis, CEO & Co-founder, Rhoé
- Vasilis Podimatas, Senior Researcher, School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, NTUA
The roundtable opened with a hands-on presentation of the .MOBI decision-support tool, developed within ArtMED to help policymakers and transport planners design sustainable, demand-responsive and autonomous mobility services tailored to regional needs.
Subsequent discussions explored multiple perspectives on the future of autonomous transport:
- Cyrille Médard de Chardon examined the social innovation and inclusion aspects, raising questions about accessibility, affordability, and behavioral change in autonomous public transport.
- Theocharis Vlachopanagiotis presented an engineering and resilience perspective, focusing on how cities can integrate autonomy into robust and adaptable mobility systems.
- Vasilis Podimatas highlighted lessons from the maritime sector, showing parallels between urban and marine smart transport and emphasizing the socio-technical challenges of automation.
The dialogue concluded with an open Q&A, where participants discussed the role of municipalities in adopting autonomous mobility solutions, the balance between policy and technology, and the importance of European collaboration in ensuring sustainability and social inclusion.
This roundtable is part of ArtMED’s effort to promote political dialogue and knowledge exchange across the Euro-MED area, supporting regions in planning for autonomous mobility on demand and contributing to the GLA mission.
