By Tânia Reis | Human Resources Magazine

Autonomous mobility is no longer just a futuristic promise. In Portugal, the Route25 project is transforming research into concrete solutions. The coordinator of one of the Instituto de Telecomunicações research teams involved in the project and Full Professor at the University of Aveiro, Susana Sargento, speaks about the challenges and opportunities this initiative creates for new professional profiles and for talent retention.

Led by a multidisciplinary team, Route25 stands as a milestone in national technological innovation. With real demonstrators already presented and autonomous vehicles under testing, the project integrates 5G communications, distributed intelligence, and augmented reality platforms to create safe and cooperative mobility scenarios.

What is the Route25 project about?

It is an autonomous mobility project whose goal is to mobilise national research and industry around autonomous vehicles, intelligent mobility, and connected cities and roads, prepared for more sustainable mobility.

What objectives were defined, and what results have been achieved so far?

The objectives were very ambitious, as we committed to delivering large-scale autonomous mobility demonstrators in real scenarios and with real vehicles. These demonstrators were developed, and real demonstration scenarios were presented in September 2025. We currently have two autonomous vehicles at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, where we test all the new technologies we are developing.

As examples, in the Aveiro demonstrator, we had autonomous vehicles communicating to coordinate overtaking manoeuvres, safe interaction with pedestrians and cyclists, smart parking solutions, data visualisation platforms with augmented reality, intermodal mobility, and 5G connectivity and distributed computing technologies.

How do you lead a multidisciplinary team integrating specialists from such diverse areas?

Within my team, we have several sub-groups, each focused on a specific area, such as cooperative manoeuvres, 5G and V2X communications, cooperative perception, or data management, each to advance its own domain. However, these groups are interconnected, and the functionalities and requirements of each area and system are very clearly defined, so that integration becomes an efficient process. Communication between people and between teams is key for the group to function as a cohesive unit.

What strategies do you use to maintain motivation and alignment in such an innovative and demanding project?

We always try to show that we are doing research and innovation in areas that do not yet exist at an international level. In addition, we are all on the same level, researching new and challenging solutions that demand a great deal from us as a group.

What role does internal communication play in managing scientific and technological teams? Are there essential practices?

I believe communication and openness are essential: communication within each sub-group and between different groups to define where we want to go and what is expected from each person; and openness so that the work is truly done as a team, allowing everyone to know what their colleagues are developing and understand how to integrate and support each other.

What were the main human and organisational challenges in developing the project?

Within our team at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, the main challenges focused on creating a large, enclosed testing area for autonomous driving, in compliance with the necessary regulations and safety processes required to carry out the demonstrators. A thorough risk analysis was needed to ensure demonstrations could be conducted safely.

I can say that scientific and technological challenges are always the easiest to solve; human and logistical challenges are always the most complex, but once overcome, they yield the best results.

How do you manage the pressure for concrete results when working in applied research with defined deadlines and public funding?

We must always maintain a high level of professionalism and organisation: anticipating all possible problems, preparing teams for challenges, and always allowing extra time for issues that were not initially foreseen.

How do you see the evolution of skills required to work on projects that combine technology, mobility, and connectivity?

Connectivity is central to this project because we can only evolve and achieve maximum safety in autonomous driving when a vehicle has information about everything around it - information that cannot be obtained solely through its own sensors, but also through infrastructure sensors, other vehicles, people, and all elements on or near the road. Only through cooperation among all these actors can the best decisions be made.

This area, combined with mobility, allows us to create communication networks in motion and distribute intelligence across all elements. These domains, integrated with (artificial) intelligence and distributed decision-making, are key competencies for our engineers and researchers.

Which skills were most critical in transforming research into applied solutions within Route25?

As mentioned earlier, logistical and regulatory challenges are often the most difficult to overcome. From a research perspective, the integration of computer vision with cooperative perception, communications, edge computing, and modifications to vehicle control mechanisms, among others, was challenging but progressed very well. We have fantastic teams with exceptional expertise and excellent motivation.

What opportunities has this project created for new professional profiles and for talent retention in Portugal?

In our case, we were able to offer employment contracts to master’s- and PhD-level researchers, providing good working conditions and competitive remuneration within a research environment. Without these highly qualified professionals - and relying solely on research grants - it would be impossible to carry out work of this quality or deliver applied and resilient solutions.

This project involves emerging technologies. How do you manage continuous knowledge updating within the team?

We are constantly learning. Curiosity and information sharing among everyone allow us to stay up to date with the latest developments and scientific publications. We participate in major international conferences in the field, which enables us not only to keep up with the most recent innovations but also to showcase how far we have progressed and present our work internationally. Fortunately, we are internationally recognised for the work we do and for the real-world living labs we have created.

What lessons have you learned from this experience that you would like to share with other scientific team leaders?

Projects can be extremely challenging - not only technologically, but also in terms of real-world implementation and urban deployment, especially when regulation does not yet allow us to move forward. However, our work can be used to drive that development and even to help implement regulatory change. In this way, challenges and difficulties can be seen as opportunities to create bigger change, generate new knowledge, and prepare more motivated and resilient teams.

Original interview (in PT):