Thoughts from InterTraffic 2026: The Kerbside is the Key, and the Data Must Come First

I had the opportunity to attend InterTraffic Amsterdam, and have been reflecting on the key insights I took away.

Walking through the 12 halls of the RAI, surrounded by 30,000 professionals and some of the most sophisticated mobility technology I have ever seen, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement.

We saw LiDAR-powered sensors capable of tracking dozens of vehicles simultaneously, autonomous delivery robots that look like they’ve rolled off a film set, and living digital twins of entire city networks — real-time, responsive, and genuinely impressive.

But as I moved between sessions, from Kerbside Management to Urban Logistics, from the Parking Stage in Hall 12 to the late-evening OMF Open Mobility Mixer at The Traveller, one thought kept recurring:

The Innovation Paradox

InterTraffic showcases 21st century ambition, but there is a clear paradox. We are building next generation mobility on legal infrastructure still rooted in the 20th century.

I spent time in Hall 12 at the Parking Stage, where dynamic kerbside flex was a key theme. The idea is simple and powerful. A single bay serving different uses throughout the day. The vision is strong and the technology already exists.

But the reality is harder. In the UK, you cannot just change a bay digitally. Every restriction, marking, price change, or closure is governed by a Traffic Regulation Order. And in most places, those TROs still sit as PDFs, disconnected from the systems that need them most.

Why the TRO is the Operating System of the Street

During a session on traffic and parking integration, the focus was reducing search traffic and the miles spent circling. The default answer: real-time occupancy. But that’s not enough.

To guide drivers or AVs, data must be legally authoritative. “Empty” is meaningless if a TRO restricts the space. You’re not guiding:  you’re sending someone into a fine.

At AppyWay, we see the TRO as the street’s operating system. Everything else runs on top as applications. And in most cities, that system isn’t just outdated, it’s offline and not digitised.

What InterTraffic Taught Me About the Global Opportunity

One of the most energising moments of the week came not from a product demo but from a conversation at the OMF Open Mobility Mixer on Tuesday evening. The Open Mobility Foundation, of which AppyWay is a proud partner, hosted the event alongside the POLIS Network, EIT Urban Mobility, the City of Amsterdam, and NTM.

The OMF’s presence at InterTraffic this year was significant. Their team ran a dedicated workshop Building Civic Innovation Capacity & Emerging City Mobility Data Use Cases exploring how open data standards like MDS (Mobility Data Specification) and CDS (Curb Data Specification) are being used on the ground to manage public space and improve multimodal hubs. They also sat down directly with the City of Amsterdam to explore using MDS 2.1 for crash and incident data with a direct focus on improving pedestrian and cyclist safety.

What struck me was the contrast between the OMF’s approach and the general tone of the expo floor. On the stands: impressive hardware, bold claims. In the OMF workshop: cities, practitioners, and standards bodies asking how we govern all of this — how we ensure interoperability, data rights, and that the rules of the kerb are machine-readable, not just human-readable.

That is the space AppyWay and the OMF are working in together. And the global appetite for it from Bergen to Barcelona to Bristol is enormous.

What AppyWay Is Building, and Why It Matters Now

Our mission is straightforward to describe and genuinely hard to execute: move the TRO from a dusty PDF in a council filing cabinet to a live, map-based, machine-readable API. But the implications of doing this well are enormous.

For local authorities: D-TRO compliance becomes a workflow, not a burden. Our platform guides officers through creating legally valid digital TROs from day one, replacing a process that currently takes weeks of manual drafting and public consultation coordination.

For smart city technology providers: AppyWay’s API means your sensors, your EVs, your routing algorithms, and your enforcement cameras can be grounded in legal truth — not just physical observation. The two must work together.

For cities adopting open standards: As OMF members and advocates of MDS and CDS adoption in Europe, we see AppyWay’s data layer as complementary to — and in many cases the prerequisite for — the implementation of these global specifications in a UK context.

For drivers and businesses: Better data means fewer fines, faster deliveries, less search traffic, and fairer enforcement. The kerbside becomes a resource that works for everyone.

My Closing Thoughts from Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city that genuinely understands space management perhaps better than anywhere else in Europe. Cycling infrastructure, multi-modal street design, and progressive urban policy are baked into its DNA. But even here, as the OMF conversations made clear, the discussion is rapidly shifting from what we can build to how we govern it.

I am leaving InterTraffic more energised than ever about AppyWay’s role in what comes next. We are not just making parking easier or enforcement smarter. We are building the legal infrastructure that allows all of that shiny InterTraffic technology to actually function in the real world, legally, safely, and at scale.

And as partners of the Open Mobility Foundation, we know we are not building this alone.