The term Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) refers to efforts to collect, store and provide real-time traffic information to maximize the utilisation efficiency, provide convenient safe transport, and reduce energy by applying advanced electronics, information and telecommunication technologies into roads, automobiles and goods.
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can significantly contribute to a cleaner, safer and more efficient transport system. Consequently, ITS have become the focus of several policy and legislative initiatives in Europe. Furthermore, the European Commission has requested the European Standards Organizations to develop and adopt European standards in support of this legal framework in order to accelerate the deployment of these innovative transport technologies.
Some key ITS topics
Electronic fee collection: Road user charging in transport is used across Europe for raising revenue, dealing with congestion and internalising transport costs. Concerns over the sustainability of road transport, including congestion, pollution and carbon dioxide issues put even more emphasis on fair road pricing schemes in Europe. Standards have an important role to play in providing appropriate technical tools for easier and more robust systems, from the perspective of stakeholders across Europe.
Public transport: Using ITS technologies, Public transport can be made faster, more efficient and more passenger friendly. For a passenger, standardization in this field supports the access to multimodal timetable, the purchase of a single ticket for a multimodal trip, the access to real-time information, …
Road Safety: When vehicles crash, every minute counts. The faster those injured receive medical attention the better. The consequential disruption to traffic can be minimised and normality swiftly restored. ITS standardization significantly helps increasing the safety of users of road transport systems with, for instance, the 112-eCall system in the vehicle which automatically contacts the 112 emergency services.
Cooperative ITS: Adequate cooperation between vehicles and their surrounding environment is a key enabler of various ITS services and field on its own called C-ITS. C-ITS focuses on the exchange of information between vehicles of any categories the roadside and urban infrastructure, control and services centres in the cloud and other road users.
Mobility Integration: As cities and urban environments expand, new technologies create opportunities to provide integrated mobility. Journeys can become multimodal, pollution can be better managed, and the comfort, speed and safety of urban journeys improved. New transport systems, from protected cycleways to ride hailing taxi and bus services, and, in the near future, automated vehicles will provide significant potential for society as a whole. Standards play an important role in enabling the deployment of integrated urban mobility services.
CEN/TC 278 'Intelligent Transport systems' is from far the leading ITS standardization body in Europe. Constituted of over 300 participating experts from 33 countries, the group support the ITS sector with a portfolio of about 200 active CEN deliverables. Various comprehensive documentation is available on the CEN/TC 278 'Intelligent transport systems' dedicated website: https://www.itsstandards.eu/
Transmodel is the CEN European reference data model for public transport information. Due to its strategic importance, Transmodel benefits for its dedicated website: http://www.transmodel-cen.eu/
In the same context, for NeTEx specific information, please consult http://netex-cen.eu/
For more information contact Kursley ALAIRY.
