"We need to innovate our way out of trouble," said Carlo van de Weijer at the Opening Ceremony of Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024.
Van de Weijer, general manager of Eindhoven AI Systems Institute at TU Eindhoven, said that technology was needed to help decarbonise transportation - and to make the world's roads safer.
"3,000 people die on the roads each day," he said. "That's a '9/11' every day."
Amsterdam, host of the Intertraffic show, is well known as a 'bicycling city'. Melanie van der Horst, deputy mayor, City of Amsterdam, said that driving your car was "not a right".
She is responsible for traffic, transport and air quality, public space and green, water and development plan for Amsterdam Noord, and said: "Everybody can still go to Amsterdam by car but it may not be the fastest way to get there. It's not always the way in a city."
"I'm an optimist," said Carlo van de Weijer. "I do believe we'll have clean mobility. But on safety we still have to make big steps."
Encouraging visitors to see what's happening at the ITSUP start-up zone, powered by Swarco, he suggested that innovation is going to be key to this. "The breakthroughs of tomorrow are the strange ideas of today."
ITS International is producing the Daily News at Intertraffic Amsterdam - click here to read it
