Friday, June 19th, 2026
ALICE highlights the publication of the ERTRAC Long Distance Freight Transport Roadmap, which sets out the research and innovation priorities needed to move Europe towards a more sustainable, connected, automated and resilient freight transport system.
The roadmap provides a strategic perspective for the coming years, supporting the transition to zero-emission and digitalised logistics, while ensuring that the European freight sector remains competitive. Importantly, it goes beyond a purely technological view and focuses on how innovation can be deployed in real-world operations, by adopting the ecosystem approach.
A key message of the roadmap is that transforming road freight transport requires looking at the entire ecosystem, not just trucks or individual technologies. The document considers the full value chain and stakeholders, including energy production and distribution, infrastructure, logistics operations, and the needs of customers.
This system approach is essential to deliver both efficiency and sustainability. Improving vehicle technology alone is not enough if, for example, charging infrastructure is missing or logistics processes remain inefficient. The roadmap therefore promotes a coordinated development of all elements that influence freight transport.
In practice, this means aligning four focus areas at the same time:
By addressing these elements together, the roadmap aims to improve energy and resource efficiency, road safety, and integration with infrastructure, while also strengthening the resilience of freight transport systems.
One of the strongest messages in the roadmap is that cost remains the main obstacle to the large-scale adoption of zero-emission freight solutions.
While new technologies are advancing quickly, they will only be adopted if they are economically viable for operators. This includes not only the purchase price of vehicles, but also operating costs, infrastructure availability, and overall business case.
The roadmap stresses that innovation must be:
For this reason, it calls for future European research and innovation programmes, including FP10, to place stronger emphasis on the economic dimension of innovation. Without addressing cost and market conditions, many solutions risk remaining at pilot stage rather than being deployed at scale.
The roadmap also highlights the need to close the gap between research, innovation and real-world deployment. Many solutions already exist or are being tested, but scaling them up remains a challenge.
Key areas where further progress is needed include digitalisation, automation, clean energy and logistics efficiency. Technologies such as AI, connected systems and data sharing can improve planning and operations, while zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure are essential to reduce environmental impact.
At the same time, the roadmap emphasises that systemic coordination is critical. Progress depends on the alignment of multiple actors, including industry, policymakers, infrastructure providers and logistics operators. If one part of the system lags behind, the overall transition slows down.
Ultimately, the roadmap underlines that achieving a competitive and sustainable freight transport system will require not only technological innovation, but also the right framework conditions to ensure that solutions can be deployed, scaled and integrated into everyday logistics operations.
📄 Download the full roadmap: https://www.ertrac.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ERTRAC-Long-Distance-Freight-Transport-roadmap-2026.pdf