On 1 October 2026, the deployEMDS Innovation & Scaling Group (ISG) Final Workshop brought together more than 40 participants in Brussels and online to explore how mobility data spaces can move from potential to practical application. Hosted by ERTICO – ITS Europe, the workshop gathered perspectives from across the mobility ecosystem, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry representatives, associations and mobility organisations.
The event also welcomed Bianca Jitea, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), who presented the Commission’s vision for the European Mobility Data Space (EMDS). Her contribution connected the project’s findings and stakeholder discussions with the broader European ambition to make mobility data more discoverable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
The workshop formed part of deployEMDS’s ongoing dialogue with its Innovation & Scaling Group and external stakeholders. Its aim was to explore how data space technologies could support real-world deployment, identify the opportunities and barriers facing different parts of the mobility sector, and gather input to inform the project’s final recommendations.
From the European vision to practical application
The workshop opened with an update on the European Commission’s vision for the EMDS and the progress made by deployEMDS. The project is testing how local mobility data spaces can be connected through a federated approach, using interoperable tools and shared governance rules to enable organisations to discover and share data while retaining control over their own assets.
This approach reflects a key principle of the EMDS: it is intended to be a connected ecosystem, rather than a single centralised database. Technology alone, however, is not enough. Common standards, trusted relationships, clear governance and viable incentives are also needed to make data sharing work in practice.
Building on the project’s work on the benefits and value of a future EMDS for different stakeholder groups, participants discussed what these principles mean for deployment in three areas: connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM), urban mobility, and authoritative mobility data standards.
Three areas of discussion
CCAM: enabling data sharing for safer automated mobility
The CCAM session explored how trusted data exchange could support the development, testing and deployment of connected and automated vehicles. Potential applications included scenario-based testing and safety validation, the development of advanced driver-assistance systems and AI training, large-scale field operational tests, in-service safety monitoring, and traffic and infrastructure management.
Discussions also addressed what is needed to scale these applications, including interoperable data sharing, common safety-assurance principles and cooperation between industry, regulators and public authorities. A key question was how to balance local requirements with the need to share data across countries and at European level.
Urban mobility: connecting data and local ecosystems
The urban mobility discussion focused on the challenges that continue to limit mobility data availability and provision. Differences in data formats and profiles, update frequencies, the availability of on-demand information, and barriers related to governance, trust and business value can all affect the ability to share and reuse data.
Participants explored how local mobility data spaces could connect to the EMDS without creating unnecessary complexity. The discussion also considered which data-sharing use cases offer the greatest value, what could encourage cities and mobility providers to contribute data, and which partnerships, tools and actions could help address existing barriers.
Authoritative standards: improving consistency and reuse across borders
The session on authoritative mobility data standards examined how data spaces could complement National Access Points (NAPs). While NAPs provide the legal and technical basis for data availability, data spaces could strengthen discoverability and reuse by connecting catalogues across countries and transport modes, as well as linking authoritative data with commercial and cross-sector datasets.
Participants also explored how catalogues and metadata could make the standards, versions and profiles used by data products more visible and machine-readable. This could support conformance checks and traceability, while helping identify inconsistencies between national implementations. By revealing ambiguities and incompatibilities when datasets are combined, data spaces could also contribute to improving data quality and the consistent application of standards across borders.
Turning discussion into recommendations
Across the three areas, the workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders with different priorities and perspectives to exchange experiences and identify practical considerations for deployment. The discussions highlighted the importance of addressing not only technical interoperability, but also data quality, governance, trust, incentives and the value that participation can bring to data holders and users.
The feedback gathered will contribute to deployEMDS’s final reporting and recommendations, helping inform future work on the development of a common European mobility data space.
Thank you to all participants and speakers for sharing their expertise and contributing to the discussions. Their input is an important part of connecting the European vision for mobility data sharing with the needs and realities of the organisations that will help make it possible.