Organised by DG Connect and co-hosted by DGs Research and Innovation, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Mobility and Transport, four back-to-back plenary sessions brought together almost 200 participants, showing strong interest from European original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers, technology providers, research organisations, associations and public authorities in shaping the future of connected and autonomous vehicles in Europe.
ECAVA was first announced in the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector and formally started its operations on 28 October 2025 with an ECAVA Pre-Steering Committee meeting chaired by Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen.
From strategic ambition to concrete collaboration
ECAVA aims to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and digital sovereignty by coordinating and accelerating technological developments and investments in software-defined, AI-powered, connected and autonomous vehicle technologies in line with the Alliance’s Terms of Reference.
Following the closure of the first ECAVA application round on 30 November 2025, 32 organisations became members of the alliance and 52 participants. By mid-January, organisations nominated subject-matter experts to the working groups, and an ECAVA Steering Committee of 17 participants was established to oversee the Alliance’s work.
Four working groups were launched with strong industry momentum
- Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), focused on expanding and steering technical governance on SDV core stacks
- Artificial Intelligence and data, focusing on data pooling and sharing frameworks, collaborative AI model development, and exploring the scope for collaboration on a European autonomous driving stack
- Automotive hardware, reinforcing cooperation on computing platforms and chiplets, in coordination with the Semiconductors Alliance.
- Autonomous vehicle deployment, facilitating the deployment of autonomous driving technologies on European roads, including through the Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities initiative and large-scale cross-border testbeds.
Next steps and first roadmaps
The discussions focused on priorities for joint action, regulatory and standardisation needs, and alignment with key EU initiatives including the Apply AI Strategy, the Data Union Strategy, AI Factories and the InvestAI facility, the review of the Chips Act, the Automotive Memorandum of Understanding among Member Sates for a new strategic research and innovation agenda, and the EU Type-approval framework for driving automation.
Each Working Group will now consolidate the outcomes of the meetings into a draft roadmap by the end of February, followed by a short presentation to the ECAVA Steering Committee. These roadmaps will serve as the basis to launch concrete collaborative activities.
Read more information about the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA).