Europe's AV Race Has a New Pit Crew

Europe's AV alliance held its first working group sessions in Brussels in February, uniting operators, logistics bodies, and researchers

13 Feb 2026

Europe's push to unify its autonomous vehicle sector crossed a threshold in February 2026, when the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance convened its first working group sessions in Brussels. The two-day workshop, held on 5 and 6 February, brought together four newly launched groups covering software-defined vehicles, automotive hardware, artificial intelligence and data, and autonomous vehicle deployment. After months of formation, the Alliance was finally doing the work.

The sessions drew a broad coalition: operators, logistics bodies, and research institutions, each contributing expertise across what are genuinely complex, cross-border challenges. Among the participants, ERTICO, the pan-European intelligent transport systems body, is engaged in three working groups, contributing to discussions on open-source software ecosystems, trusted data-sharing frameworks, and large-scale cross-border testbed preparation. The European Commission selected the organisation specifically, a signal that the Alliance intends to anchor its decisions in operational and regulatory experience rather than theoretical roadmaps.

Einride, the Swedish autonomous freight technology company, joined on 11 February as the only autonomous freight operator selected for the forum. That distinction matters. The company holds permits for autonomous driving in four EU countries, giving it a ground-level view of what cross-border deployment actually requires. Chief executive Roozbeh Charli said freight forms the backbone of Europe's economy and that Einride's participation would help shape scalable governance frameworks for autonomous freight operations across the continent.

The working groups are now moving toward concrete deliverables and governance decisions, with a virtual steering committee meeting planned for March and an international forum scheduled later in the year. The stakes are clear: Europe's automotive ecosystem remains fragmented across software, chips, and AI development, while global competition intensifies. The Alliance is designed to change that, aligning industrial roadmaps across the full stack from hardware computing architectures to AI model development and real-world AV testing.

With working groups operational and a growing roster spanning both large manufacturers and specialist operators, the Alliance is positioning Europe's AV sector for coordinated scale-up. The question now is whether the deliverables match the ambition.