Madrid, 16 January 2025 - Roads are the lifeblood of modern society and our economy, but Europe’s roads are getting old. Innovation and collaboration are key to their future, EU–funded projects OMICRON and InfraROB and high-level guests agreed in the one-day conference ‘Old Roads, New Technologies: safe and intelligent road asset management’. Held in Spain’s College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports in Madrid, the event highlighted regulatory, sustainability and collaborative challenges as well as innovative solutions for smarter infrastructure management.
To protect the future of Europe’s roads, OMICRON and InfraROB have developed ‘intelligent road asset management solutions’ for improved monitoring and maintenance in ways that support public and road-worker safety. During the event, both projects presented their digital, robotic and other technologies for cheaper, safer and smarter road construction, inspection and maintenance.
Around 120 industry leaders, researchers, representatives of road authorities, government departments, agencies and other expert stakeholders from around Europe joined the event, trying some of the demonstrated technologies and discussing how to pave the way for their wider adoption for safer, smarter and more sustainable infrastructure.
KEY MESSAGES FROM THE EVENT:
Panel discussions reviewed the presented technologies and considered the challenges and solutions for future safe and intelligent road management.
“The future of road maintenance and inspection will be automated, data-driven and sustainable, leveraging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and robotics for proactive, efficient and eco-friendly solutions.” Claudia Ciuca, Project Officer, CINEA
“The future of road maintenance lies in autonomous machinery and robotics to minimise safety risks for workers. As road operators, our goal is to reduce the time workers spend on roads in order to minimise their risks. We are seeking autonomous machinery for pavement operations and robotic platforms.” Federico di Gennaro, Autostrade per l’Italia
“The ever-increasing volume of traffic and the growing need to refurbish our infrastructure is becoming a challenging task. The use of new technologies is therefore a welcome and important opportunity to ensure the safety of our employees and road users.” Christian Honeger, ASFINAG
The event presented OMICRON and InfraROB results under five session themes:
CONCLUSIONS:
The event showed how Europe’s road infrastructure sector is on the brink of a technological revolution, with digital and robotic solutions shaping the future of road management. The ability to collect and analyse data effectively and in a collaborative way will be critical in making proactive decisions to prevent infrastructure deterioration and mitigate risks. The use of new materials, advanced construction methods, as well as robotic tools and digital technologies are all part of this ongoing evolution.
A full report of the event and each technology can be found via:
About OMICRON:
OMICRON fostered the industrialisation and automation of road construction, inspection and maintenance technologies. We integrated a broad portfolio of solutions, from inspection to execution, to: improve safety levels; increase the availability, reliability and capacity of the road network; reduce traffic disruptions; and lower construction and maintenance costs. The project ended on 31 January 2025, but we remain open for enquiries.
About InfraROB:
InfraROB aimed to reduce workers’ exposure to live traffic and construction machines, increase the availability of the transport network, reduce the cost of repetitive tasks, and increase the safety of road users by promoting significant advances in automating, robotising and modularising the construction, upgrade and maintenance of road infrastructure. The project runs until 28 February 2025.