On 17–18 September 2025, the Diversify-CCAM Stakeholder Advisory Board and Community Meeting brought policymakers, transport planners, CCAM developers, government representatives, and local stakeholders together in Rhodes, Greece—one of the project’s pilot sites. Over two days, participants explored how diversity, inclusivity, and fairness can become cornerstones of the future of Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM).
Day one focused on how to translate scientific insights into real-world deployment. Discussions highlighted that:
- There is no single CCAM solution. Instead, the value lies in providing flexible tools and frameworks that adapt to local needs.
- Human diversity matters. Elderly people, individuals with disabilities, and those with mobility impairments must be included explicitly in CCAM design.
- Last-mile solutions are key. Shuttle services integrated into public transport networks emerged as a priority for planners.
- User trust and transparency are essential. Developers stressed the importance of making outputs clear, data-driven, and tailored to local contexts.
Breakout sessions revealed different perspectives: planners emphasised integration with public transport, while developers called for a more dynamic and user-friendly decision-support tool. Both agreed that CCAM must address citizen concerns directly—from affordability to accessibility.
The second day shifted focus to policy and deployment challenges. Policymakers warned that Europe risks falling behind the US and China due to fragmented governance and slow regulation. Recommendations included:
- Establishing regulatory sandboxes to test and accelerate innovation.
- Promoting harmonisation across Member States.
- Encouraging political champions and stronger investment.
At the same time, participants stressed that regulation alone cannot close the gap. Investment, preparedness, and citizen trust are equally critical. Developers pointed to recurring trade-offs between efficiency and inclusiveness, while municipalities underlined the need for gradual but steady integration of diversity in mobility planning.
An international perspective from the US confirmed that exposure accelerates acceptance of automated vehicles—though challenges remain in scaling production and sustainable business models.
Following the meeting, Chair of the Stakeholder Board Prof. William Riggs summarised four main conclusions:
- There is no one-size-fits-all approach to CCAM: tools and frameworks must allow stakeholders to adapt to their own context.
- Europe faces a speed gap compared to the US and China, requiring regulatory innovation, political leadership, and investment.
- Human factors must shape design, as inclusivity and diversity are essential for system acceptance and uptake.
- The future of CCAM must move beyond roads to embrace multimodality, linking automated road transport with rail, shared mobility, and other modes to deliver fair, efficient, and sustainable mobility systems.
Reflecting on another successful Stakeholder Advisory Board and Community meeting, Guido Di Pasquale, Managing Director at PAVE Europe commented:
"What I take from the Rhodes meeting is the importance of dialogue across perspectives. Policymakers, developers, and planners all face different pressures, yet all converged on one point: inclusivity is not optional, it is the key to CCAM acceptance. Our role at PAVE Europe, as leader of the Stakeholder Advisory Board, is to ensure that these conversations are structured, continuous, and feed directly into the project's outputs. The feedback on the D-Tool was particularly valuable and confirmed that Diversify-CCAM is on the right path: creating frameworks that empower, rather than prescribe, so that every context can find its own inclusive mobility solutions."
