The MATIS project Steering Committee visited the Grupo Brisa Control Centre in Portugal, exploring the systems behind large-scale motorway operations.

Three presentations on infrastructure management

The visit opened in the control centre’s auditorium with presentations by Ana Silvia Santos, Jorge Lopes and Helder Curado. They covered key topics such as operations, innovation and the challenges of managing a national motorway network.
Each session gave MATIS partners direct insight into how an operator of Brisa’s scale structures its decision-making, anticipates disruptions, and integrates new technologies into daily operations.

A control room at network scale

The centrepiece of the visit was the control room itself. The main screen notable for its size visualises live traffic data across the entire Brisa network, making the complexity of real-time coordination immediately tangible.

For MATIS partners, seeing this infrastructure in operation clarified what coordination at scale actually requires: not just technology, but the human organisation built around it.

Cooperation at the heart of innovation

This experience perfectly illustrates the power of European cooperation and knowledge-sharing in driving innovation within the transport sector. Through MATIS, these collaborative moments strengthen synergies between key players and help build mobility solutions that are smarter, more sustainable, and better connected.

For transport authorities and road operators across the TEN-T network, infrastructure investment decisions increasingly rely on measurable outcomes, documented methodologies, and replicable results. MATIS is now in a position to meet that demand. With more than 80 projects already launched, the project has moved well beyond concept. Three flagship cases illustrate what that means on the ground.

Safer tunnels through AI-powered incident detection

Tunnels concentrate risk. Reduced sight distances, limited escape routes, and the confined spread of smoke or toxic gases make incident response time a critical variable. Italian MATIS’ partner, CDT, has deployed AI-based software that detects incidents automatically and in real time, directly inside tunnel environments. The system identifies abnormal situations (stopped vehicles, pedestrians, smoke) within seconds, triggering alerts before operators would otherwise be aware.

The gain is twofold. Response times for both operators and emergency services are reduced. At the same time, false alarm rates decrease. This combination of faster detection and greater precision directly improves safety outcomes while reducing operational noise. The solution is documented as a best practice, making it assessable and adaptable for other operators managing tunnel infrastructure across the network.

Smoother traffic through ramp metering

Urban ring roads are among the most congestion-prone sections of the TEN-T network. Access points are where flow breaks down, where small variations in entry volume cascade into significant delays further along the corridor. French MATIS’s partner DIRO (part of the French Ministry of Transports) ramp metering system on the Rennes ring road addresses this directly: using real-time traffic data, the system regulates motorway access to smooth the flow before congestion builds.

The objectives are specific and quantified. MATIS 1 targets a 3% reduction in lost hours at strategic bottlenecks and a 3% reduction in CO₂ emissions at major congestion points. The Rennes deployment is a direct contribution to both. It also demonstrates a broader principle: that demand management at the point of entry, informed by live data, is a more effective intervention than reactive traffic control after congestion has already formed.

Smart parking management on cross-border area

Infrastructure managers are increasingly confronted with disruption scenarios that fall outside normal operating parameters. These situations overwhelm the network faster than standard traffic management protocols are designed to handle.

MATIS’ partner ASFA – Atlandes has developed an intelligent parking solution specifically engineered to optimise the use of HGV parking spaces. By combining real-time occupancy data with dynamic signage and routing, the system redirects heavy goods vehicles toward available parking areas before gridlock sets in on the mainline. The approach shifts the intervention upstream: informing drivers before they reach saturation points rather than managing consequences after the fact. For operators responsible for network resilience, this represents a concrete answer to a challenge that is growing in frequency and severity.

Three projects. One transferable methodology.

These cases are not isolated experiments. They belong to a 16,000 km real-life laboratory where advanced ITS and C-ITS technologies are deployed, tested, and evaluated at operational scale. Best practices issued from MATIS flagship projects are structured to capitalise on accumulated field experience, share documented methods, and create a cross-mentoring dynamic between network partners.

MATIS is expanding its scope with MATIS 2. After connecting four regions across France, Italy, and Spain in its first phase, it now covers seven, with the Basque Country representing the most significant new geographic addition. The objective: to strengthen cohesion between major European transport corridors and improve cross-border mobility along the entire southern arc of Europe.

Two new Basque partners have joined the consortium: Interbiak and the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia. This signals a deliberate northward extension of the Mediterranean-Atlantic arc. Their inclusion closes a geographic gap that left part of the Atlantic TEN-T corridor underequipped in MATIS 1, addressing cross-border sections and bottlenecks that had never previously been covered. The ambition is clear: build a truly continuous ITS spine from the Adriatic to the Atlantic.

At the crossroads of Franco-Spanish trade flows, the Basque area is a vital link between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. By integrating this territory, MATIS 2 strengthens the interoperability of transport systems and promotes the deployment of sustainable digital solutions across the entire southern arc of Europe.

With its expanded scope and reinforced partnership, MATIS 2 exemplifies the European commitment to building a more coherent, safer, and more sustainable transport network — contributing to smart mobility on a truly continental scale.