A joint paper by SCALE partners Autostrada del Brennero (A22) and AlmavivA has been accepted for presentation at the 2026 ITS World Congress, which will take place in Gangneung, South Korea, from 19 to 23 October 2026.

Authored by Carlo Costa, General Technical Manager at Autostrada del Brennero, and Dario Ferrillo, Director of the Transport & Logistics Department at AlmavivA, the paper presents the contribution of the SCALE project to the large-scale deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), with a particular focus on the Italian motorway and urban pilot sites.

From pilot projects to operational deployment

Across Europe, motorways and urban areas are increasingly becoming real-world laboratories for connected mobility. However, the paper highlights that the full potential of C-ITS will only be achieved when road infrastructure and vehicles can exchange information directly and bidirectionally.

By enabling infrastructure to both send and receive data, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle communication can help reduce human error, improve road safety and make more efficient use of existing road capacity without requiring additional land consumption.

This transition requires close cooperation among road operators, local authorities, mobility service providers, technology companies and the automotive industry. SCALE addresses this challenge by bringing together 84 organisations from four European countries to develop interoperable services, common operational approaches and practical evidence supporting the wider industrialisation of C-ITS technologies.

The project adopts a hybrid and technology-neutral communication architecture, combining short-range ITS-G5 communication with cellular connectivity. This approach is intended to ensure that safety and mobility information can reach drivers through different communication channels and human-machine interfaces, while supporting geographical continuity and service availability.

Large-scale deployment on Italian motorways

The Italian motorway pilot described in the paper covers approximately 732 kilometres across the networks of several motorway operators, each with its own infrastructure and traffic management systems.

The planned deployment includes 106 Roadside Units, 42 On-Board Units, 22 additional traffic sensors or cameras and a fleet of instrumented light and heavy-duty vehicles. This infrastructure will support services such as Hazardous Location Notification, Road Works Warning, In-Vehicle Signage, Probe Vehicle Data, Traffic Information and Smart Routing.

The pilot will also test new services for logistics and freight transport, including modal transfer information, terminal slot requests and assignments for heavy-duty vehicles, and solutions designed to optimise freight operations.

A central objective is to verify interoperability among different Italian motorway operators and with the wider European C-ITS ecosystem, thereby supporting coordinated operations and a seamless experience for cross-border traffic.

Extending C-ITS services to urban mobility

The paper also presents activities planned in the urban pilot areas of Turin, Verona and Trento. These include the upgrading of approximately 165 traffic lights, the monitoring of around 460 parking spaces, and the installation of 10 Roadside Units and 61 additional sensors or cameras.

The services will support public transport priority, parking management and the protection of pedestrians and cyclists. Further applications will address logistics, emergency vehicle priority and automated driving, enabling vehicles to receive real-time information on the recommended level of automation according to road, infrastructure and weather conditions.

The acceptance of the paper at the ITS World Congress represents an important opportunity to share SCALE’s work with the international ITS community and to showcase how cooperation among infrastructure operators, cities and technology providers can help turn C-ITS experimentation into interoperable, large-scale operational services.