Beyond Deployment: How C-Roads and MATIS Are Proving the Real Value of ITS

A shared methodology to better demonstrate the value of Intelligent Transport Systems

As Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) become increasingly present on European roads, a key question remains: how can we accurately measure their real benefits? To answer this challenge, C-Roads Working Group 3 (WG3) developed the new ITS Evaluation and Assessment Plan, providing a common framework to support project managers, operators and public authorities in assessing ITS deployments in a consistent and transparent way.
The work was built on years of European experience, drawing lessons from previous initiatives such as the European ITS Platform (EU EIP) and earlier ITS deployment projects. Existing evaluation methods and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were reviewed and consolidated to create a framework adapted to current and future ITS applications.

From technology deployment to measurable impacts

One of the main principles of the Guidelines is to focus as much as possible on real-world evidence. Rather than relying only on theoretical assumptions, evaluations should , whenever possible, use field data collected ; evaluations should use field data collected before and after deployment, (if observations periods before and after deployment are long enough) to measure actual changes and better understand the contribution of ITS solutions.
The methodology also encourages a broader view of impacts. ITS benefits are not limited to a single indicator: improvements in traffic management can influence journey times, congestion, safety and environmental performance. Understanding these links helps provide a more complete picture of the value created by ITS.

 MATIS contribution as one of its main cross-corridor activities

The MATIS project played a significant role in enriching this evaluation approach by presenting the evaluation methods already developed in MedTIS and ArcAtlantic, and by highlighting their main results. These methods are based on leveraging improvements in response times (event detection and alert times) after project deployment to assess progress in terms of safety, congestion, and the environment. The three indicators reflecting the gains achieved in terms of safety (number of victims avoided), congestion (number of hours lost, avoided), and CO2 emissions (tons of CO2 avoided) will constitute the basic deliverables for estimating the socio-economic gains provided by each corridor program..

 A framework for the next generation of ITS projects

The new Guidelines provide a practical roadmap: define objectives, identify relevant KPIs, collect reliable data, analyse impacts and share comparable results across Europe.
By combining European experience and new operational insights from projects such as MATIS, this work contributes to a better understanding of how ITS can deliver safer, more efficient and more resilient transport systems.

From Cameras to Fog Lights: How MATIS’ Projects Keep Drivers in the Know

Whatever the risk on a motorway — an incident, a queue forming, or a sudden drop in visibility — the first line of defence is almost always the same: getting accurate information to the driver quickly enough for it to matter. Across all the MATIS’ project, this principle takes different forms depending on the corridor and the hazard involved.

SCT: connecting a whole network around Barcelona

Around Barcelona, Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) built its project around a single question: how does a driver find out what’s happening on the road ahead quickly enough to act on it? Deployed across roughly 200 km of the busiest routes surrounding Barcelona and Baix Llobregat, the answer combines several channels feeding into one another. New Variable Message Panels deliver real-time updates directly to drivers, while advanced CCTV cameras with AI capabilities detect incidents the moment they happen — turning raw video into the trigger for the information a driver sees on the road.

The link between detection and communication is what makes this project distinctive. Rather than treating cameras and signage as separate systems, SCT routes everything through the CIVICAT Control Centre: an incident spotted by a camera can inform the message displayed on a panel further down the same route, often before the driver even reaches the affected section. Modern speed monitoring equipment adds a further layer, feeding data back into the same network while also discouraging the risky driving that so often causes incidents in the first place. The result is less a collection of separate tools than a single feedback loop — see, decide, inform — repeated continuously across the corridor.

ADF: turning footage into a number drivers can use

Where SCT took a network-wide view, Autostrada Dei Fiori (ADF) focused on a specific, well-defined stretch: 9 km of the A6 Torino-Savona motorway. Here, the starting point is the driver’s immediate need: knowing what conditions look like on the exact section they’re about to enter. The project installed 17 cameras in both directions to capture that picture in real time; many of them use artificial intelligence and algorithmic processing to calculate individual and average travel times automatically, converting raw footage into a figure a driver can use to judge their journey.

The travel time data feeds into both “in itinere” and external variable message signs positioned along the route, giving drivers a concrete answer: not just “there is an incident ahead” but “here is what your journey through this section will look like.” The underlying logic is identical as the previous project: better images, processed faster, translate into more precise information reaching the driver at the moment it’s still useful.

Autovia Padana: guiding drivers through a single hazard

The third project narrows the focus even further, addressing not a corridor’s overall traffic picture but one specific and often underestimated danger: fog. On the A21 Piacenza-Cremona-Brescia motorway, an anti-fog device has replaced traditional passive orange reflectors with active LED signs positioned every 25 metres along the central divider. Rather than relying on a vehicle’s headlights to catch a static reflector — something that fog itself can defeat — the new yellow/amber LED edge delineators create a continuous, actively lit guide along the route, managed centrally by the Traffic Control Centre.

The goal here is to reduce secondary accidents caused specifically by poor-visibility conditions, and by extension cutting the congestion, lost vehicle-hours and CO2 emissions that these secondary incidents generate. It’s a reminder that not every real-time information system needs cameras or AI to be effective — sometimes, a clearly lit path is enough to keep drivers safely on course.

Heavy Goods Vehicles Under Control: Two Answers to the Same Safety Challenge

Heavy goods vehicles are essential to European trade, but they also bring specific challenges to motorway operators: where do they rest safely, and how are the riskiest loads among them identified and managed? Two MATIS projects, one in France, one in Italy, tackle these questions.

Lugos: rethinking space instead of expanding it

On the A63 motorway between Bordeaux and the Spanish border, Atlandes faced a familiar problem at the Lugos rest area: chronic saturation caused by high volumes of cross-border HGV traffic. Rather than pursuing a costly land expansion, Atlandes redesigned the existing space using a compact “column parking” concept, arranging trucks in groups of four. The result is a jump in capacity from 72 to 128 spaces (a 40% increase) achieved largely through smarter organisation rather than new construction.

The technology behind this reorganisation is what makes it work. License plate recognition at entry and exit tracks vehicles as they arrive and leave, while laser scanners and LIDAR systems monitor occupancy in real time. Drivers indicate their expected break or departure time via a terminal, and the system then guides them to the most efficient available space via variable message signs and a mobile app. Initial simulation point to average peak occupancy rising from 72 to 110, easing saturation without the delays and expense of a traditional expansion project. The project also demonstrates a model that other high-demand corridors could replicate: limiting civil works while still delivering a meaningful capacity gain, alongside greater comfort and safety for resting drivers.

SINA–SATAP: knowing what’s on the road, not just how many

Further along the network, on the A4 Torino–Milano motorway between the Novara Est junction and the Milano Ghisolfa barrier, SINA and SATAP addressed a different question: what exactly is travelling through, and whether it’s safe.

To address that issue, a Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) solution was implemented: two dynamic scales equipped with 28 sensors and 9 cameras, installed across different carriageways, alongside a static weighbridge. The system is designed as a flexible, modular “end-to-end” solution that can be configured to different applications, allowing continuous, real-time weight monitoring without requiring vehicles to stop.

The second component targets dangerous goods specifically: four ADR detection stations, equipped with 10 cameras and dedicated software, interface directly with the radio control room. Intelligent cameras issue a notification for every relevant transit, capturing license plate, country of origin, ADR vehicle plate, transit time, direction and vehicle class. This data feeds into Sincro ADR, a purpose-built software platform providing risk analysis, post-incident strategy management, video analysis integration and automatic alarms for the traffic control centre, giving operators a single, unified view of dangerous goods movements along the corridor, in both routine and emergency conditions.

Tunnel Safety: One of MATIS’s Priority

Tunnels are amongst the most demanding environments on Europe’s road network. Confined spaces, limited visibility and the difficulty of intervening quickly in an emergency all raise the stakes when something goes wrong. Across the MATIS programme, 3 partners have each tackled this challenge and show how MATIS partners are approaching the same underlying question — how to make tunnels safer — from genuinely complementary angles.

Cerchiarello: equipping the tunnel itself

On the A4 Torino–Milano motorway, SATAP focused on the Cerchiarello tunnel, an 800-metre twin-bore structure sitting at a complex interchange node. The tunnel was equipped with a comprehensive package of ITS devices: 18 AID (Automatic Incident Detection) cameras, 7 cross/arrow signs, 3 variable message signs, 4 entrance traffic lights, 127 lighting devices (15 of which are dedicated blue safety-distance lighting), and 5 SOS stations complete with LED signalling and radio retransmission cabling.

The aim is straightforward: reduce the number of accidents and cut the time it takes to manage an emergency once one occurs. The project also included configuration and upgrade work at the control centre itself, so that the new equipment integrates properly with existing operations.

traffix.ai: teaching the cameras to think

Cameras alone are only as good as the software interpreting what they see. That was the starting point for SINA’s work with CDT on the A12 Sestri Levante–Livorno and A15 La Spezia motorways in Tuscany. The issue wasn’t a lack of detection technology: it was the sheer number of false alarms it generated. A change in brightness, or something as trivial as a sheet of paper blown onto the sidewalk, could be misread as a pedestrian, triggering an alert that operators then had to investigate.

The solution, deployed across roughly 26 tunnels, is the traffix.ai software: a system combining 3D object tracking with a Deep Learning module to classify vehicles and detect abnormal traffic situations in real time. The results speak for themselves: in the May–September 2024 evaluation period, the average false alarm rate fell to just 3%, down from around 90% before the software was introduced. That is a dramatic reduction in the noise operators must filter through, freeing them to respond faster to events that are genuinely happening.

AUCAT: a full-scale overhaul on the C-32

On the C-32 motorway near Barcelona, AUCAT faced a different starting point altogether: not one tunnel, but sixteen, spread across a 47 km coastal corridor carrying more than 26,000 vehicles a day. Rather than a single fix, the project set out to modernise the whole safety chain at once, tying every upgrade together through the HORUS tunnel management platform.

Optical sensors on roads and ramps detect oversized trucks before they reach a tunnel too low for them, triggering automatic alerts on nearby signs to guide them off safely. Over 100 new LED warning signs, built to withstand the weather, have replaced faded older ones, displaying clear day-and-night messages on hazards and speed limits. Slow mobile links have been swapped for dedicated fibre connections, giving signs and equipment an instant, reliable line to the HORUS control room. Inside the tunnels themselves, cameras now monitor escape routes, lane lights guide or block traffic at entrances, and backup power keeps everything running through outages, all coordinated by smart controllers reporting into the same platform.

The results reported so far are substantial. Detection times have improved by around 12 seconds, keeping more vehicles from entering tunnels where an incident is already unfolding. Queues caused by incidents have been cut by roughly 50%, freeing up more than 10,000 vehicle-hours a year and accident risk inside the tunnels is expected to fall by around 1.5 crashes annually.

ITS and Decarbonisation: MATIS’s Contribution to Greener Road Networks

Reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 also means squeezing the emissions out of the infrastructure we already have. Congestion itself is a carbon problem: a vehicle stuck in stop-and-go traffic burns far more fuel per kilometre than one moving at a steady pace. This is the specific problem the MATIS consortium’s ITS deployments are built to attack. Across MATIS 1 alone, the programme targets a 3% reduction in CO₂ emissions at major bottlenecks — a modest-sounding percentage that, multiplied across an entire TEN-T corridor, represents a substantial volume of avoided emissions.

Smoothing the flow to avoid stop-and-go emissions

The clearest emissions lever is preventing traffic from bunching up in the first place. On the Rennes ring road, DIRO’s ramp-metering system holds vehicles at the access slip roads for up to a minute, so the ring road itself never tips into gridlock. Each vehicle that doesn’t sit in a queue is a vehicle that isn’t idling and re-accelerating; the first deployment already delivered significant queuing time avoided per day across morning and evening peaks, a direct proxy for fuel and emissions saved, with four further access points now feeding into the same logic.

A share of a motorway’s emissions also comes from the jams that build up behind an accident or a false alert. This is where MATIS’s incident-detection work has a direct decarbonisation payoff. On Catalonia’s C-32, AUCAT’s tunnel-management upgrade goes further, cutting incident-related queues by more than 50% and freeing over 10,000 vehicle-hours a year that would otherwise have been spent stationary rather than moving.

The energy backbone behind a lower-carbon road

Decarbonising the network also depends on infrastructure most drivers never see. On the A4 Brescia–Verona–Vicenza–Padova corridor, a new SCADA system gives operators real-time remote monitoring of the power supply feeding tunnels and roadside equipment, catching faults before they cause an outage that would otherwise disrupt traffic flow — and with it, generate the very stop-and-go emissions the rest of MATIS is designed to eliminate.

Taken together, these projects make the same point from different angles: cutting road transport emissions is not only a question of which vehicles are on the road, but of how well the road itself manages the flow, the incidents and the conditions that push a smooth journey into a stationary, fuel-burning one.

 

Cybersecurity on the Road: Why MATIS Puts Digital Resilience at the Core of Road Safety

Road safety no longer depends only on the state of the asphalt — it also depends on the robustness of the digital systems running smart roads. Among its 89 projects along the Mediterranean, Atlantic and North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T corridors, MATIS treats cybersecurity as one of its five core intervention areas. Two completed projects, in France and Portugal, show what that means in practice.

Securing the Sirius traffic management system in Île-de-France

The DGITM-DIRIF secured the Sirius traffic management system, covering the A13, A6, N104, A104, N184 and N10 — about 1,000 km. Sirius connects all roadside equipment outside tunnels (variable message signs, data collection points, access control) to the traffic centre, driving traffic plans and real-time information.

The upgrade covered three layers: encrypted, certificate-based exchanges at the software level; switches and routers replaced with firewall-equipped, cyber-secure devices at the network level; and firmware or module updates on terminal equipment to enable encrypted communication. It also had a human side: the project trained maintenance technicians, supervisors and traffic operators who weren’t previously familiar with cyber issues, and kick-started DiRIF’s broader cybersecurity policy.

Securing data communication on the A24 in Portugal

APCAP/NORSCUT renewed the telecom and telematics infrastructure of the A24, linking Chaves (Spanish border) to Viseu. The project deployed a 157 km Local Area Network with new backup hardware (a Backup Proxy server, a StoreOnce 3660 unit) connected to the existing fibre network — securing 24/7 data communication, including data transmission to the Portuguese State.

Cybersecurity, again central in MATIS 2

Now with MATIS 2, the approach is consistent: securing the digital layer is part of road safety, not an afterthought.

 

 

 

MATIS to attend Connecting Europe Days

MATIS will be taking part in Connecting Europe Days 2026, held in Brussels from 28 September to 1 October 2026. MATIS will be represented at the event by Christophe Boutin, Coordinator of MATIS.

This flagship event is organised by the European Commission specifically for projects that have received funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). It brings together the various beneficiary projects, offering a valuable opportunity to exchange experiences, identify potential synergies and discover best practice across the sector.

The gathering draws together a wide range of players in the transport world — elected officials, banks and other financial backers, businesses from across the industry, and representatives of the European Commission itself. Their shared aim is to work through practical steps and swap lessons learned, with a view to shaping a European transport network that is more competitive, better able to withstand shocks, safer and more sustainable. The program is built around several essential priorities:

  • how Europe’s transport system underpins competitiveness, resilience and global connectivity,
  • the future of infrastructure funding and financing,
  • how transport and connectivity policies contribute to strategic autonomy and resilience of essential supply chains, enable military mobility, and strengthen Europe’s ability to act with partners beyond its borders.

MATIS at the ASECAP Days 2026: The Technology Securing the A4 Turin-Milan Motorway

On 27–29 May 2026, the 53rd ASECAP Days — one of Europe’s most influential gatherings for toll road operators, infrastructure leaders, and mobility professionals, gathered more than 380 participants from 28 countries. The event set the stage for high-level discussions on the future of European road infrastructure, under the theme “Investing to make road infrastructure resilient for Europe’s future mobility needs.” MATIS was there — and took the stage.

A flagship project, front and centre

On Thursday 28 May, MATIS presented during the session “Strategic vision and regulatory foundations for cooperative and automated mobility”, with a concrete focus on one of the project’s most emblematic deployments: the C-ITS / Smart road, on the A4 motorway between Turin and Milan, operated by partner SATAP.

The presentation highlighted the solutions deployed along this stretch: wrong-way driving detection cameras, hazardous materials identification, dynamic weighing for heavy goods vehicles (Weigh-in-Motion), and the EMERAS C-ITS platform, with its roadside units enabling real-time communication between connected vehicles and the infrastructure. Together, these innovations illustrate a comprehensive approach to safety and sustainability, placing infrastructure at the service of smarter, more responsible mobility.

It was a concrete illustration of what MATIS stands for: not just vision, but verified, operational infrastructure delivering results on the ground.

A summit that echoed MATIS’s core ambitions

The broader conference, opened by ASECAP President and ASFA Executive Director Christophe Boutin, addressed the exact challenges MATIS was built to tackle. Boutin underlined that much of Europe’s motorway network — built in the 1960s — now faces mounting pressure from climate change, aging infrastructure, and shifting mobility needs. He called for continued investment in maintenance, modernisation, and decarbonisation and highlighted road safety as a key priority, with the fourth European road safety campaign set to launch on June 24th, focusing on the personnel working in the field every day.

For MATIS, this context was more than familiar. From C-ITS deployment to dangerous goods detection, from dynamic weighing to cross-border traffic data management, the project brings operational answers to the strategic questions that defined this year’s agenda.

MATIS 2 – One Year In: A Project Already Delivering on the Ground

One year after its launch, MATIS 2 is already a reality on European roads. The project is steadily translating ambition into concrete infrastructure, with two pilot projects fully completed and dozens more underway.

First deployments: ITS technology live on real infrastructure 

Two projects have already reached 100% completion. In Spain, project SP13 transformed the Artxanda tunnel and its evacuation galleries (operated by Interbiak) into a showcase for intelligent transport systems: more than 180 ITS devices are now fully operational, including 16 smart cameras enhancing safety monitoring around the clock. 

In Italy, project IT03 brought cutting-edge traffic monitoring to the A4 motorway (operated by SATAP : 16 stations combining radar, infrared, and ultrasound sensors are now live, feeding real-time data to 16 Variable Message Signs to improve both traffic flow and driver information. 

A consortium in motion 

Beyond these two completed projects, the broader picture confirms that MATIS 2 has hit the ground running. Three milestones are already achieved with more than half of the planned pilot projects already underway: 15 out of 27 in WP2 (Safe Road), 10 out of 14 in WP3 (Sustainable Road), and 10 out of 18 in WP4 (Smart Road). Overall completion rates stand at 21%, 18% and 18% respectively. 

Accountability built in from the start 

All four 2025 annual reports were submitted on March 9th, on schedule. This early commitment to reporting reflects the governance standards the MATIS 2 consortium has set for itself. 

The road ahead 

With 2026 KPIs already in sight (27, 14, and 18 projects started per Work Package), MATIS 2 is on track. Year one has shown that the consortium has both the capacity and the drive to make European roads safer, greener, and smarter. 

Visit to Lusoponte’s Traffic Control Centre

As part of the latest MATIS Steering Committee meeting held in Portugal, partners had the opportunity to visit the Lusoponte Traffic Control Centre.

From strategy to operations

Stepping into Lusoponte’s Control Centre brought a new dimension to the project: seeing, in real time, how traffic management and emergency response work on the ground. From monitoring live traffic flows to coordinating rapid interventions, the level of precision, organisation and technology involved is simply impressive.
Witnessing these systems in action brings a whole new perspective. It is a powerful reminder of the critical role infrastructure operators play in ensuring safety, efficiency and resilience every single day.

The MATIS project extends its sincere thanks to the Lusoponte teams for their warm welcome and for sharing their expertise with the Steering Committee.

Two visits, one shared ambition

The Lusoponte visit was part of a broader programme of technical exchanges during this Portuguese Steering Committee. Partners also visited the Grupo Brisa Control Centre, where presentations on operations and innovation, followed by a tour of the control room, offered a complementary perspective on large-scale motorway management.

Together, these two visits illustrated the depth of operational expertise that Portuguese partners bring to MATIS.