Apply AI Sectoral Deep Dive - Mobility, Transport, and Automotive
•February 10, 2026
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Why It Matters
Accelerating AI‑driven mobility safeguards Europe’s industrial competitiveness, enhances road safety and drives sustainable transport, preventing the continent from ceding leadership to the US and China.
Key Takeaways
- •AI accelerates autonomous vehicle development but Europe lags behind US/China
- •Over‑the‑air updates turn cars into software‑defined, connected platforms
- •Data spaces and labs enable secure, competitive AI model training
- •EU aims to create sovereign AI software stack for autonomous driving
- •Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities will pilot operational self‑driving services
Summary
The European Commission hosted a sectoral deep‑dive on AI in mobility, transport and automotive, outlining how the newly launched Apply AI strategy seeks to embed artificial intelligence across the EU’s transport ecosystem. Speakers Max Lea and Jakob Lman highlighted current AI applications—from driver‑assistance and route optimisation to smart electrification and over‑the‑air vehicle updates—while stressing that Europe is falling behind the United States and China in deploying fully autonomous vehicles.
Key insights included three strategic pillars: moving AI from experimentation to large‑scale deployment, achieving European scale and technological sovereignty, and establishing trust through regulation and city‑level pilots. The discussion identified regulatory complexity, fragmented data access, and insufficient cloud‑AI infrastructure as primary barriers. To overcome these, the EU plans cross‑border regulatory harmonisation, the creation of European mobility data spaces and data labs for privacy‑preserving model training, and massive public‑private investment in AI factories, chips, and software stacks.
Notable examples underscored the urgency: Max described future cars as "software‑defined supercomputers on wheels" capable of OTA updates and level‑four/‑five autonomy, while Jakob cited the Netherlands’ autonomous‑vehicle safety benchmark—matching a driving‑instructor’s skill—to illustrate safety gains. The speakers also referenced the Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities initiative, which will pair European OEMs, mobility providers and city authorities to transition autonomous shuttles from testbeds to full‑scale services.
The implications are clear: without coordinated action, Europe risks losing industrial value, talent and market share to overseas competitors. A sovereign AI stack, unified data frameworks, and city‑level pilots are essential to boost safety, sustainability and competitiveness, positioning the EU as a leader in next‑generation mobility.
Original Description
#DigitalEU #AIinEurope
Chapters and timestamps
05:04-7:41
Introduction and the EU’s Apply AI Strategy
7:41-12:11
State of play and importance of AI in mobility
12:12-14:15
Why AI deployment is crucial to transport in Europe
14:15-16:22
Tackling data barriers
16:22-20:50
Supporting development of AI models, ECAVA and investment
20:50 – 24:24
Speeding up deployment of AI-enabled autonomous vehicles in cities ‘Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities’
24:24-27:42
Tackling regulatory complexity, testbeds and aligning with EU countries
27:42-29:29
Is legislation in the EU and EU countries suitable for testing and to compete with the US and China?
29:30- 32:28
Can Europe keep up with the large investments in the US on AI infrastructure? How can Europe remain competitive despite the investment gap?
32:28-39:11
Key infrastructure needed
39:12-41:02
Is EU legislation open enough for testing self-driving cars in real traffic? Can we expect regulation this year still?
41:03-49:00
Other transport modes like bikes and public transport, use cases, European funding
49:01- 49:37
Why did we prioritise autonomous driving prioritised today?
49:38 –53:09
How can autonomous mobility reach rural areas?
53:09-59:18
How can you make sure AI systems are safe? How is safety addressed under the AI Act and other rules?
59:18 – 1:00:33
Closing
This webinar explores AI-driven solutions for connected autonomous vehicles, intelligent mobility systems, and data-driven transport services.
AI advances are transforming how vehicles and transport systems operate - how they perceive their environment, make decisions, and interact with infrastructure and users. This is opening a new wave of opportunities, with impacts felt across road, rail and multimodal transport, logistics, public mobility services, and the wider automotive value chain. Beyond vehicle automation alone, AI can significantly improve safety, efficiency, sustainability, and the optimisation of transport systems and mobility services.
This session is part of a series of Apply AI thematic webinars, focusing on Commission's and private sector initiatives to accelerate AI adoption across the automotive and mobility ecosystem. The link between research excellence and deployment at scale will be on the spotlight, with a strong focus on real-world use cases, end-users, and SMEs.
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