Unveiled the P-CAR Center for the automotive-space ecosystem in Abruzzo
L’Aquila February 27, 2026
On February 27, P-CAR was presented at the Abruzzo Technology Park in L’Aquila. This new laboratory, dedicated to validating connected and autonomous driving technologies, aims to transform the region into a European Hub for connected and autonomous mobility. The presentation took place as part of the conference “THE INNOVATIVE ECOSYSTEM OF THE ABRUZZO REGION FOR CONNECTED, AUTONOMOUS, AND SAFER DRIVING,” promoted by Radiolabs, the University of L’Aquila, and the Automotive Innovation Pole. Over 80 experts, institutions, Italian and European space agencies, universities, and large companies engaged in the development of autonomous driving technologies attended the event.
The central theme of the event is Radiolabs’ P-CAR laboratory, supported by ASI through ESA’s NAVISP 3 program, which introduces a high-fidelity simulation system to validate satellite-based guidance systems. Universities, industry, and institutions shared the importance of P-CAR for an ecosystem that strengthens L’Aquila’s role in the new space-automotive industry.
Geo-localization, telecommunications, and cybersecurity are the enabling technologies for autonomous vehicle driving, to improving safety, transport efficiency, and industry competitiveness. The work being done in Abruzzo is consistent with Europe’s strategy. In particular with the Vision-Zero plan, which aims to halve the number of road deaths by 2030 and reach zero-death by 2050, and the Automotive Industry Action Plan, which calls for large-scale transnational canters for autonomous driving trials.
Satellite technologies are becoming increasingly essential to achieving these goals, stated Francesco Rispoli, Director General of Radiolabs, and the P-CAR Center is among the first strategic infrastructures able to support car manufacturers in integrating new technologies. This initiative – the result of the Innovation Agreement signed with MiMIT Ministry of Industry and Made in Italy in 2018 with the contribution of the Abruzzo Region- was developed thanks to the commitment of the Italian Space Agency through the European Space Agency’s NAVISP-3 program.
The future of the automobile lies in Abruzzo, said Tiziana Magnacca, Councilor for Productive Activities, Industry, and Trade, speaking at the conference. She believes that tomorrow’s mobility will be connected, autonomous, sustainable, and above all safer. Abruzzo has chosen not to be a follower of innovation, but to lead its evolution. The Abruzzo Region, the councillor commented, through the innovation agreement signed with the MiMIT, has launched the first European ecosystem in the region based on technological synergies between the space and automotive sectors. She reiterated that the collaboration with the Italian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the university system, and the Abruzzo Automotive Pole demonstrates Abruzzo’s ability to operate within a long and integrated supply chain, aligned with major European strategies. The Region will also support, in conjunction with MIMIT, ASI, and ESA, new projects aimed at consolidating the laboratory by strengthening its activities and making it an increasingly important point of reference at the European level.
The central theme of the conference was the P-CAR project, a strategic infrastructure of national importance that Radiolabs is developing in its laboratories in L’Aquila. The project promotes satellite technologies, which are becoming more and more important for the autonomous driving, strengthening L’Aquila’s role in the new supply chain born from the space-automotive convergence.
Mauro Cardone, Head of Satellite Navigation at ASI, emphasized the importance of P-CAR as a central element of the national plan for connected and autonomous driving, highlighting the synergy between P-CAR and ASI’s strategy to promote autonomous driving in Italy in coordination with the relevant ministries, Italian research centers of excellence, and the European Space Agency. He also emphasized how the evolution of European satellite navigation systems and the introduction of new low-orbit constellations will improve the accuracy, reliability, and resilience of geo-localization systems, further contributing to the autonomous mobility of the future.
Raphael Lucas Rodriguez and Stefano Binda of ESA, presented the NAVISP program, conceived to support the European satellite navigation industry and which has so far contributed to the creation of over 500 highly specialized jobs. NAVISP is engaged to autonomous driving with several projects, including P-CAR, which rely on GNSS and V2X to improve transport safety and efficiency.
Francesco Valentini, Program Manager at Radiolabs, explained P-CAR’s capabilities as an independent and interconnected laboratory capable of reproducing, with its technological platforms, databases, and regulatory-compliant data processing, the behaviour of geo-localization systems in operational environments, reducing the need for field testing. P-CAR is therefore a tool made available to industry for both the design phase and for the validation and certification phases prior to the approval and deployment of autonomous vehicles.
The unique feature of the P-CAR technology platform, explained Alessandro Neri, President of Radiolabs, is its rigorous assessment of the integrity of signals from sensors and telecommunications networks, correlating them with vehicle dynamics, the operating environment, and to potential malfunctions or induced disturbances, mandatory features for ensuring safety and resilience. With P-CAR, it is possible to proactively assess and mitigate potential risks, especially those caused by rare events, which are difficult, if not impossible, to find out with field tests alone, but which nevertheless impact safety. Radiolabs’ experience in the railway sector, gained over a decade of collaboration with Hitachi Rail and RFI, added Neri, allows us to address the issues at the heart of autonomous driving with a solid foundation, leveraging synergies with the railway sector.
P-CAR will reduce the time and costs for designing and manufacturing new technologies for autonomous vehicles, thanks to its scientific expertise and a highly specialized laboratory unique in Europe. Specifically, P-CAR allows to guarantee high-precision, high-integrity geo-localization and secure communications between vehicles and the control center through a standards-compliant validation and certification process. Thus, contributing to the competitiveness of the space and automotive industries and to enhancing the expertise resulting from the space-automotive ecosystem established in Abruzzo.
Raffaele Trivillino, director of the Abruzzo Automotive Innovation Pole and one of the founders of the Innovation Agreement, emphasized the importance of the automotive production chain in Abruzzo and the Region’s Smart Specialization Strategy, which includes space and automotive as pillars of its industrial plan.
The collaboration between Radiolabs and the University of L’Aquila through the Ex-EMERGE Center is particularly significant for its scientific content and specialized training in a sector that requires new professional skills, as stated by Fortunato Santucci of the University of L’Aquila and co-founder of ExEMERGE. This Center involves over 20 senior members of the University and 35 resources in addition to the 8 Radiolabs researchers who have received the engineering degree and the PhD from his university.
INTECS and Polo Automotive Abruzzo are also contributing to the development of P-CAR, which recently passed the ESA Critical Design Review, a preliminary step towards finalizing the Center and also to identifying further applications as autonomous trams, smart roads, and, potentially, autonomous docking of large ships. All of these applications require pre-validation of geo-localization and telecommunications systems for safety purposes.
Mauro Cardone, head of the Satellite Navigation sector at ASI, emphasized the importance of P-CAR as a central element of the national plan for connected and autonomous driving, highlighting the synergy between this project and ASI’s strategy to promote autonomous driving in Italy in coordination with the relevant ministries, Italian research centers of excellence, and the European Space Agency.
During the afternoon round table discussion, which involved representatives from industry, research, and institutions with Stellantis-CRF, Hitachi Rail, ANAS, the Polytechnic University of Milan, ASI, and the newly established Abruzzo Aerospace District, it emerged that the development of autonomous mobility requires strong coordination between vehicles, road infrastructure, and communication systems.
Filippo Visintainer of Stellantis highlighted the role of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication technologies as a complement to onboard sensors, emphasizing how connectivity can improve environmental perception and support the functionalities of autonomous driving systems in complex scenarios, also from the point of view of computational load.
From the railway sector, Gianluca Mandò of Hitachi Rail emphasized that the technologies developed at P CAR are also relevant to the railway sector, where system certification is essential to ensure social acceptance of autonomous solutions. Tools and methodologies like those of the P CAR center contribute to increasing the safety and efficiency of transport systems, which are also key elements for rail autonomous driving.
Luigi Carrarini of ANAS presented the road infrastructure perspectives, illustrating the national Smart Road program, with over 400 km already operational and the goal of achieving approximately 700 km of smart infrastructure in the coming years. Connected driving technologies, he explained, represent a fundamental tool for reducing road fatalities, which still cause thousands of deaths each year.
From the research world, Sergio Savaresi of the Polytechnic University of Milan presented ongoing experiments on autonomous urban mobility and new models of shared mobility, emphasizing the importance of transforming research findings into industrial applications and concrete services for citizens.
The Round Table was closed by Domenico D’Andrea, who introduced the Abruzzo Aerospace District (DAAB), established in 2025 to strengthen the regional aerospace industry. The district brings together approximately 60 companies, universities, and research centers with the goal of transforming Abruzzo into a national and international Hub for technological innovation in the aerospace sector.
At the conclusion of the presentations and discussion, Abruzzo’s growing role has emerged for having established an innovation ecosystem in the field of smart mobility and space technologies applied to transportation. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen collaboration between research, industry, and institutions to develop new mobility solutions for the future and seize new opportunities. As Cardone reiterated, public institutions such as the Ministry of Industry and Made in Italy, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the regional governments, particularly Abruzzo, and the Italian Space Agency are laying the foundations for a competitive national ecosystem.
On the sidelines of the conference, some demonstrations were carried out in the laboratories, where the tests conducted on the AEBS – Automatic Emergency Braking System and ISA – Intelligent Speed Adaptation functions were illustrated.
Through Hardware-in-the-Loop simulations, it was demonstrated how the AEBS system is able to manage critical vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian collision scenarios, ensuring legally compliant deceleration even in adverse environmental conditions or with reduced visibility.
Regarding the ISA system, the demonstrations highlighted how the combined use of cameras, digital maps and GNSS signals allows for extremely robust and precise speed regulation, overcoming the limitations of systems based on optical vision alone and ensuring full compliance with European safety criteria.
Annex:
Brochure http://pcar
Agenda https://www.radiolabs.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Agenda_eng.pdf
Press review https://www.radiolabs.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/RASSEGNA-STAMPA-P-CAR-27.02.26.pdf
