IRU’s participation in the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting has been combined with a number of further transportation events and meetings in Washington DC.
IRU representatives met with regional members, including American Trucking Associations (ATA), the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), and potential member, United Motorcoach Association (UMA) to discuss innovation and opportunities for cooperation.
Following ATA’s presentation at TRB on autonomous vehicles (together with Uber Freight), IRU met ATA to review various data products, sharing information on IRU innovation work and discussed the potential to promote reciprocal exchanges between the US and Europe. Discussions with ATRI, part of the American Trucking Associations Federation, focused on sharing research and innovation best practices with transport operators and other stakeholders worldwide.
During a meeting with UMA, IRU discussed the development of the Busrate.com service, which is directly supporting bus and coach operations. IRU described efforts related to innovation work on digitising documentation, urban transport challenges and opportunities. Potential participation in IRU Commission on Services to Road Transport Operators, bringing together commercial companies and national transport associations, was also discussed. IRU will be participating at UMA’s national meeting in late February and UMA is set to become a member of IRU in 2017.