ERTICO eMagazine March 2013

Welcome to the

ERTICO eMagazine In this Issue: My Testfest Quest Discovering the latest and greatest trend in ITS testing

eCall developing in Europe and going International An update on latest emergency call service news

Towards Futurama Developments in Road Transport Automation

March 2013 Contact us: pr@mail.ertico.com

Follow us on twitter: @ERTICO

Editorial contents

Welcome to our March edition

2

Editorial

Dear Readers,

3

My Testfest Quest

5

eCall developing in Europe and going International

Welcome to the first Spring edition of our eMagazine... although to be honest we didn’t see much of it yet!

7

Towards Futurama

11

Interview with Zeljko Jeftic, IRU Projects

The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are solely those of the authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of ERTICO or its Partners.

In this edition we have some fascinating topics. Ian Bearder introduces us the to the ERTICO Tesfest initiative. These testing events are, as explained in the article, run by engineers for engineers with the scope of testing the interoperability of products of different companies to make sure that their services and products will work with third parties products and services. If this sounds too complicated, the article will clarify everything.

Next up, Anouk Van den Bussche gives us an update on the eCall status and the enlargement of the European project behind the pan-European emergency number, HeERO. Indeed the project consortium went up to 83 partners and 15 pilot sites, including Israel, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary and Iceland, that joined the project at their own expenses.

But surprises do not end here; as we find out in the article, eCall and its Russian counterpart ERA-GLONASS are in talks to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This represents a great progress

for the international cooperation on standardisation between Europe and the Russian Federation.

Laura Johnstone takes us to Futurama. No, not the cartoon but the 1939 New York World’s Fair exhibition where Norman Bel Geddes tried to show the world 20 years into the future, predicting automated vehicles driving themselves in cities.

In 2013 drivers still need to pay much attention when driving and automated cars are at their experimentation phase. Nevertheless, as explained in the article, Europe, the USA and Japan, have been putting quite a lot of efforts on automation over the past 20 years. In the article, Laura Johnstone explores some of the most relevant projects and initiatives.

For this month’s interview, Carla Coppola had a chat with Zeljko Jeftic, Head of projects at the newly established IRU Projects. Mr Jeftic explains the new body activities and objectives for the future as well as highlighting the long term benefits of IRU partnership with ERTICO. Lastly, we would like to announce that the registration for the 9th ITS European Congress in Dublin is now open. You can take advantage of the early bird registration now until 29 April.

As always enjoy this edition of the ERTICO eMagazine and don’t forget to register for ITS Dublin 2013!

The Editorial Team pr@mail.ertico.com @ERTICO

3

My Testfest Quest Discovering the latest and greatest trend in ITS testing

by Ian Bearder 14 years ago, when I was a young, bright-eyed Software Engineering student, I remember sitting through endless classes in which wise professors would repeatedly warn us of two fundamental Engineering rules: Never start building anything before you have designed it, and, Never release anything until it has been thoroughly tested.

Of course, thanks to our youthful

So, this month, in an effort to

They are organised by engineers for

ignorance and passion for coding,

understand these curious events and

engineers

my fellow classmates and I regularly

uncover their high-tech secrets, I

ignored these wise words and as

have been on a mini Testfest quest

a result we delivered many failed

(perhaps I should call it a Testquest?).

projects and fancy-looking systems which

were

either

unusable,

irrelevant or complete failures when tested. Stupidly we chose to learn

Here is what I discovered:

Testfests

are,

engineering

at

events.

their They

core, are

organised and designed by leading industry experts, often those who are involved in defining industry

They really are festivals

standards. In fact, the events are

Like other festivals, Testfests are

often organised in collaboration with

community events which are held

standardisation organisations such as

Thankfully, today’s ITS Engineers

around a specific topic, usually

TISA and ETSI.

know better.

an ITS standard, and they occur

the hard way.

In fact, these days they don’t just test

products,

they

hold

week-

long testing festivals, known as ‘Testfests’.

These extraordinary

events bring commercial engineers, designers and testers together to assess the functionality of products in an almost real-world situation before the products are released.

This is

clearly good news for an industry built around technologies that need to communicate reliably.

during a large meeting in a single location.

They are not certification sessions

However, unlike other

Testfests validate products to ensure

festivals, ITS Testfests are practical

that they work when connected to

events.

they

and communicating with products

do not involve dancing and eating

made by other manufacturers. By

(although both are allowed) and

connecting systems together in the

they focus almost exclusively on

same room, engineers can see if

testing and validation. They are

the technology works as they had

sensible gatherings, motivated by

expected.

solid engineering principles such

the test data should help them

as reliability, standardisation and

understand why not and what to do.

Generally

interoperability.

speaking

If they do not work,

Usually, this involves testing a specific

implementation of a technological standard, but as mentioned before -

How a Testfest works

the focus is on interoperability. Does

• The event is organised, advertised and booked for specific dates. Attendees sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

product X work with product Y? ITS standards, like other standards, may

have

inconsistencies

ambiguities

which

themselves

in

or

manifest

ever-so-slightly

different implementations. If this happens, then ‘testfesting’ is a great way to uncover potential conflicts arising from these inconsistencies; however this is not the same as testing your product against the standard.

Confidentiality and cordiality rule When I interviewed Sébastien Mure, Project Manager at ERTICO, about Testfests he was not just happy, but genuinely enthusiastic about the atmosphere of openness and cooperation he has witnessed at previous Testfests. that

many

of

Understanding attendees

are

commercial rivals, Sébastien stressed the importance of strict adherence to non-disclosure agreements and the climate of trust that this builds.

Testfests

are,

after

all,

• Industry experts define the test scenarios and specifications which will be used • Attendees arrive on day one and setup/calibrate their equipment • Testing begins. Tests are carried out using a ‘Championship’ formula which means each company or group will test their product against all others.

• Each test is carried out in accordance to specific rules and each is marked as OK, Not OK, Not done or Not applicable.

• Depending on the number of tests and the number of participants, each day allows for about 3-4 testing sessions.

• The day ends with a debriefing and discussion in which common problems can be discussed together with industry and standard experts.

• If they wish, participants attend evening social events.

Others retire to their hotels to continue work on their products and services.

• At the end of the festival, attendees receive the results of their own tests and may participate in a final discussion session and debriefing.

• Attendees leave and return to their work and hopefully use their experiences to enhance their products for the benefit of the industry and their end users.

about

improving the interoperability and

desire to make things work, and to

enough to quit Software Engineering

quality of systems, not beating your

make things work well.

before I did any serious damage to

competitors.

He believes that the

energy and excitement on display during these events comes from the

I have to admit, his enthusiasm was infectious, and while I was smart

the reputation of the industry – I am very much looking forward to the upcoming ‘fests’ which are being planned for later this year. The first, a TPEG Testfest, will take place in May (see www.tisa.org for further information) and the second, an eCall Testfest will take place during the summer. See www.heero-pilot. eu. Both events look set to be a huge success and if they are, I think we will see many more Testfest events in the coming years.

Contact Ian Bearder

First eCall interoperability testing event

i.bearder@mail.ertico.com @ERTICO_Ian

5

eCall developing in Europe and going International An update on latest emergency call service news

by Anouk Van den Bussche Designed to reduce emergency response times, the “112” eCall service is a pan-European service that allows vehicles to automatically call for help in the case of a road incident.

The HeERO project, which aims to deploy eCall in Europe, has been developing and spreading significantly recently with the launch of HeERO 2 in Madrid on 14 January 2013.

Six new countries have joined the

discover exciting live demonstrations

Cinterion (a Gemalto Company) and

project (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark,

of cross-border inter-operability from

Fujitsu Ten Limited for the Japanese

Luxemburg,

Turkey),

HeERO on the exhibition floor with a

automobile manufacturers and key

bringing the HeERO consortium to

German test vehicle sending an eCall

players of the automotive electronics

up to 83 partners and 15 pilot sites,

to the Romanian PSAP in Bucharest.

sector to keep up to date on the latest

coupled with 6 associate pilot sites

Further inter-operability tests are

eCall developments. The technical

(Israel, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary

scheduled

upcoming

and financial challenges at stake are

and Iceland, joined at their own

ERTICO “TestFest” and the second

indeed of main importance for the

expense as well as Russia for the ERA-

test phase of the HeERO project is

sector’s manufacturers and as Marcel

GLONASS service) and 16 associated

starting in April 2013. Also coming

Visser, Vice president of Automotive

commercial partners.

up this year, in late November, is the

at Cinterion said: “By enabling local

next HeERO International Conference

testing of eCall technology, Cinterion

and HeERO Final Event which will

and its partners are streamlining

take place in Bucharest, Romania.

manufacturing and helping global

Spain

and

The past year was also busy for HeERO, with an important highlight in November in Zagreb, Croatia,

during

the

where the first HeERO International

While spreading in Europe, eCall

Conference was held. Almost 200

also went international with the

participants from Europe and around

opening of a new test site in Japan.

the world gathered to hear firsthand

Launched in the city of Yokosuka in

testing results from the pilot sites

December 2012, this test site is the

and witness live demonstrations of

very first test facility opened outside

several eCall units making successful

of Europe. The Yokosuka Telecom

calls to the Zagreb 112 PSAP. Earlier

Research Park (YTRP) also hosted an

that year, attendees at the ITS Wold

“eCall Day in Yokosuka” that same

Congress in Vienna were also able to

month, in association with ERTICO,

automakers achieve significant time and cost efficiency”. In March 2013, YTRP is participating in “The 4th Automotive

Telecommunication

Technology Tokyo” Expo and aims to be instrumental in helping Japan’s automobile exports by offering its services as a test facility in order to foresee the European legislation trends.

The implementation agenda for eCall confirms the high priority of the deployment projects since all new European vehicles will have to be equipped with the emergency call service starting as early as 2015. 22 of the 27 EU Member States have signed the eCall Memorandum Of Understanding (2 Member States also signed letters of support), and work is ongoing to ensure the support of the remaining Member States, but necessary PSAP upgrades to support the system are in some cases being delayed by decisions at national level.

On a technical level, experts remain confident in resolving the remaining

the GPS signal. Millions of euros have

and Senior Project Manager at ERTICO

been allocated by President Vladimir

points out: “I cannot stress too highly

Putin since 2000 to restore the global

the importance of ensuring that there

satellite navigation system and the

is compatibility between the various

ERA-GLONASS emergency call system

eCall systems which are designed to

launch is scheduled for 2014. In this

operate on single emergency numbers

perspective, the HeERO project and

and are for mass-market deployment

Last but not least in terms of

ERA-GLONASS are planning a joint

as opposed to a paid for service. This

developments,

ERA-

workshop focused on standards during

makes strong commercial sense for

GLONASS, its Russian equivalent, are

the third quarter of 2013. The Russian

all parties involved.”

progressing in their collaboration and

standards have indeed not been

a Memorandum of Understanding is

translated yet and this joint initiative

about to be signed as we speak! The

will most certainly be of high relevance

GLONASS satellite system, developed

to the vehicle manufacturers and

in the 1970s by the Russian Aerospace

advanced electronics suppliers. Andy

Defence Forces, offers full global

Rooke, HeERO Project Coordinator

technical issues and proceeding with standardisation in time for the 112 services’ launch. The EU’s ambition to save several hundred lives yearly thanks to eCall services should thus be fulfilled in a near future.

eCall

and

coverage and is also compatible with

These

international

developments

also have consequences for the wider public. Thanks to the eCall teams active collaboration with Russia and Japan, the eCall service could not only be a lifesaver within the EU but will also allow, for example, a European citizen driving a Japanese car on a rural Russian road to benefit from the harmonised emergency call systems and be rescued in optimal time in case of a serious accident.

Contact Anouk Van den Bussche a.vandenbussche-EXT@mail.ertico.com

eCall Day in Yokosuka

7

Towards Futurama Developments in Road Transport Automation

by Laura Johnstone On the 7 May, the iMobility Forum Working Group on Automation for Road Transport held a workshop dedicated to the subject, with speakers from across the globe presenting the progress made and challenges still to overcome.

Laura Johnstone reports.

Automation and automated vehicles

But the buzz surrounding automation

In Europe, the European Commission

have long been a source of fascination

has continued to amplify, thanks

has funded a number of projects over

since as far back at the 1930s, when

to

the last 20 years, from Chauffeur

American industrial designer Norman

rendering

vehicles

to Cybermove and Cybercars. More

Bel

the

entirely feasible, as well as the

recently, there have been three

General Motors-sponsored Futurama

publicity surrounding initiatives such

projects in particular working on

at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

as the DARPA Grand Challenge, the

different

Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak

Citymobil, which focused on achieving

and, most notably, the Google Car.

more

Many

and

through testing and evaluating new

suppliers are known to be investing in

solutions based on advanced city

applications which are set to steadily

vehicles, HAVEit, which aimed to

increase the level of automation

improve traffic safety and efficiency

available to the driver in the coming

through

years.

validation of next generation ADAS

Geddes

first

showcased

Revellers marvelled at his vision of the year 1960, the most futuristic aspect of which was an automated highway system. Bel Geddes imagined a future where humans, and thus human error, would be eliminated from the driving process, where bottlenecks would be a thing of the past, and where city

technological

developments

automated

vehicle

manufacturers

aspects

effective

the

of

automation:

urban

transport

development

and

as well as defining different degrees

traffic would be greatly accelerated.

Automation

Of course, Bel Geddes’ predictions

several societal challenges - first and

did not come true (although by 1960

foremost in reducing the number of

General Motors had developed an

road accidents but also in increasing

automated highway prototype), and

the efficiency of road networks and

even today, 70 years on, we are some

reducing fuel consumption – and

way from reaching his safe, efficient,

research into the topic is currently

The follow up to CityMobil launched

fast

being

last September, with some of its aims

and

utopia.

comfortable

automated

will

funded

by

help

to

national

supranational authorities.

solve

and

of automation and developing an appropriate

vehicle

architecture

suited to highly automated driving, and SARTRE, which developed vehicle platoons for public highways.

including the definition of common technical specifications for cybercar

manufacturers, the undertaking of

The

Land,

volunteers from government, industry

detailed studies on implementing

Infrastructure and Tourism has also

and academia, who come together to

cybercar systems in 12 cities and

established

System

address shared interests in transport.

the definition of a European legal

Council’ which is working towards the

Last summer the TRB held a workshop

framework

of

deployment of automated driving on

on automation which brought together

automated transport systems. The

highways, from cooperative vehicle

experts from around the world, where

project includes 45 partners and

control and adaptive cruise control

the state of the art of many aspects

will run for just over three years.

towards

The

of automation were presented and

In addition, supervised automated

systems envisaged will utilise and

specially designed breakout sessions

driving also featured as one topic

further develop existing technologies,

were held to facilitate debate and

in the last call for proposals of FP7

with the autopilot system estimated

discussion. This year’s TRB workshop

under

to be put into place in the early

will take place in July in California,

2020s.

and the discussion at this event will

for

DG

certification

CONNECT,

cementing

the commitment of the European Commission

to

investing

developing

automation

in for

and road

transport.

Japan,

Japanese

is

using

its

of

‘Autopilot

steering

assistance.

In the USA, the Department of Transportation drafting

meanwhile,

Ministry

its

(DoT)

is

vehicle

currently

automation

be considered in the final DoT vehicle automation programme plan, which is set to be released in September.

programme plan, which aims to

It is clear that all three regions

cooperative systems to overcome the

develop

research

envisage automation as part of the

unique challenges stemming from its

plan to focus on accelerating public

future of road transport, and whilst

densely populated, immense urban

benefits whilst diminishing public

there has been great advancement

areas with the ITS Spot Service,

risk. The draft schedule for this plan

in the research and development of

the

is due to be released in summer of

automation applications and services

this year, following collaboration with

over the last few decades – so much

a range of external stakeholders.

so that we can confidently say that

for

world’s vehicle

first

infrastructure

cooperative

systems,

which offers drivers dynamic route guidance, driving safety support and supports electronic toll collection.

Furthermore,

cooperative

vehicle

longitudinal control is being used in conjunction with the ITS Spots to reduce traffic congestion in uphill highway areas (the so-called “sag effect”).

a

multi-modal

An important part of this plan is the identification of

the

and

issues

categorisation and

challenges

inherent to automation. Here, the Transportation Research Board (TRB)

automation technology in itself is almost ready to be deployed – there remain

several

before

anything

stumbling

blocks

resembling

Bel

Geddes’ Futurama comes to pass.

ITS Committee will play an important

So if automation, in its varying

role. TRB Committees are made up of

degrees, is technically feasible, why aren’t we all spending our daily commute reading, checking emails or watching films behind the wheel?

At the iMobility Forum Automation workshop, two issues were raised repeatedly

–

human

factors/user

acceptance and legal issues.

Regarding human factors and user acceptance, there are currently many unanswered questions that remain, particularly regarding whether the driver will understand the new system and be able to work with it, whether he trusts the new system, believes iMobility Forum Working Group on Automation for Road Transport workshop

in its reliability and is able to accept handing over control to the vehicle.

9

Furthermore, as we rise through

discussion is generally the 1968

You may have noticed above the

higher

automation,

United Nations Vienna Convention on

rather clunky use of “not legal” as

how can we be sure that the driver

Road Traffic, specifically articles 8.1

opposed to “illegal”. This is a subtle

understands how much attention he

“every moving vehicle or combination

yet important nuance, as there are

has to pay to his surroundings? And can

of vehicles shall have a driver”, 8.5

some who believe that the Vienna

the driver handle potential changes

“every driver shall at all times be

convention can be interpreted in

in workloads, for example switching

able to control his vehicle or to guide

a way that allows for automated

from underload to excessive overload

his animals” and 13.1 ‘every driver

driving.

in a critical situation?

of a vehicle shall in all circumstances

The

degrees

CityMobil

of

project

included

small-scale studies which examined situational reaction

awareness to

and

unexpected

driver traffic

situations whilst driving in “normal”, semi-autonomous

and

have his vehicle under control so as to be able to exercise due and proper care and to be at all times in a position to perform all manoeuvres required of him”.

Firstly, what constitutes “control”?

Does this mean that the driver must be in control in the sense of physically driving and controlling the vehicles’ functions, or could we interpret that to mean the driver must monitor the

fully

The Vienna Convention has been

automated functions and be ready to

autonomous vehicle simulators, both

ratified by 70 countries, including most

take control when something goes

in urban environment and in dedicated

of Europe but not the US or Japan.

wrong?

eLanes. Vehicle manufacturers are

The US is, however, a signatory of the

also working on their own human-

predecessor to the Vienna Convention

machine interface (HMI) solutions.

– the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road

However, not enough work has been

Traffic, which also contains some

carried out at this point to give a

of the above articles. The terms of

sufficient answer to these questions,

these conventions therefore render

and it is clear that there needs to

automated driving, at a certain point

be a coordinated, concerted effort

where the vehicle has more control

Such are the grey areas put forward

to ensure that the driver’s needs

than the driver, not legal.

during the Automation Workshop,

in terms of safety, efficiency and comfort are met.

The Vienna Convention has been amended

on

several

occasions

Secondly, “the driver must be in control of the vehicle”, but does that mean he must be inside the vehicle?

Could the driver in fact be outside, keeping control remotely or from a control centre?

summed up with the rather nice phrase: “it’s not allowed... but it’s not forbidden!”

Developing a HMI which takes into

over the decades (most recently in

account human factors and meets

2006) so in theory it is possible to

In 2011, Nevada famously made

driver’s needs, although it requires

change it again to allow highly to

automated driving legal within the

some work, is perfectly doable. The

fully automated driving. However,

state. The legislation enacted by the

second big issue in road transport

it is often argued that amending

State is a good example of how this

automation, however, is not so easy

the Vienna Convention to allow

grey area can be exploited; Nevada’s

to solve. It is an issue which is raised

automation in road transport would

regulations state that vehicles may

time and time again, and yet no one

be a long process; far longer than

only operate in autonomous mode if

so far has come up with a definitive

it will take for vehicle automation

they have a compliance certificate,

answer on how to get round this

technologies to be ready for launch

which leads to the important phrase

obstacle – the legality of automation.

on the market. Therefore, alternative

“the autonomous vehicle may be

solutions should be sought.

operated in autonomous mode without

The common starting point for this

the physical presence of the operator

only if the certificate of compliance

acceptance.

see in the US.

In Europe there are also some

Almost 60 years after Bel Geddes’

provisions being put into place which

predicted we would be zipping along

rely on creative interpretations of the

automated highways, his vision is

Vienna convention; for example the

edging towards realisation.

idea that automated vehicles could

technical

State’s

be classified as trains, where the

from driving more safely, cleanly and

Department of Motor Vehicles will

vehicle’s trajectory can be considered

efficiently with the aid of automation

only accept licence applications for

as

Specific

applications and technologies have

testing purposes and state on their

tests have also been permitted on

either been overcome or are very

website that autonomous driving is

public roads; for example, last year

close to being overcome. However, it

not available to the general public,

the

successfully

is clear that non-technical barriers,

but this is nonetheless a big step

drove a platoon of vehicles down a

particularly those outlined above,

forward

of

motorway just outside Barcelona,

will continue to slow down the

autonomous vehicles, as not only does

in the midst of normal traffic. The

implementation of automation until a

the example of Nevada (and Florida

CityMobil project also demonstrated

concerted, common effort is made to

and California, with more States to

small,

resolve them.

follow) show how automated and

inside the pedestrianised city centre

driverless vehicles can be deployed

of La Rochelle in France. Although

within the existing legal framework,

such initiatives are very positive,

but these states also provide a huge

no European region or country has

testing ground for measuring and

yet provided carte blanche for the

evaluating open issues such as user

testing of automated vehicles as we

certifies that the autonomous vehicle is capable of being operated in that manner”. So, with some cautionary previsions, driverless vehicles are legal in Nevada.

For

the

moment

for

the

the

deployment

a

virtual

SARTRE

fully

(rail)track.

project

automated

vehicles

barriers

preventing

The us

1960 has long been and gone; let’s hope that by 2060 society as a whole can look back at many happy years of automated driving.

Contact Laura Johnstone l.johnstone@mail.ertico.com

11

Interview with: Zeljko Jeftic, Head of Projects IRU Projects In

January

2013,

the

International Road Transport

the IRU and its members can focus on the strategically important work.

Union (IRU) recently decided to

Can you tell us more about

establish IRU Projects. Can you explain why and what are the core activities of the new entity?

The IRU is the global voice of bus, coach, taxi and truck operators worldwide, from large fleets to individual

owner-operators.

Its

mission is to facilitate and ensure the sustainable development of the road transport industry in order to drive economic growth and prosperity via the sustainable mobility of people and goods by road worldwide. The IRU was established in 1948 and is a global industry federation of national Member Associations and Associate Members in 74 countries on the 5 continents.

the European projects you are currently focusing on?

We are involved in a number of important activities. ECOeffect is a

project

developing

eco-driving

courses for professional drivers as well as a training module for eco-driving trainers themselves. In this sense the project is directly supporting the IRU policy on professional training as provided by the IRU Academy, as well as on Greening Road Transport and IRU’s 30-by-30 resolution - a voluntary IRU-led commitment of the road transport industry to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2007 levels. By providing trainthe-trainer

modules,

the

project

IRU Projects is a Belgian entity,

ensures that the best eco-driving

established to support the IRU and

training practices are implemented

its

in a harmonised way across Europe.

members

European

in

participating

Commission

in

co-financed

The

IRU

and

its

IRU

Academy

We aim to make the voice of commercial fleet operators more prominent in European Commission co-financed projects and to continue providing solutions to the real-life problems bus, coach, taxi and truck fleet operators are facing every day will continue even after the end of the project’s duration. For that, we need to go beyond research thinking by involving tens or hundreds of “trial users” and integrate real added-value services into the platform, which will be operating with tens of thousands of users or more. Overall we can see that far too many technologies have been developed in EC projects with far too little involvement from fleet

activities. Many of IRU members

Accredited Training Institutes (in this

have been hesitant in participating

case UNTRR, CESMAD and HSF) are

operators and their customers.

in EC co-financed activities due

implementing this training initiative

The third project to highlight also

to the amount and complexity of

in Czech Republic, Romania and

has a clear target of continuing

administration as well as lack of

Poland. The long term target is to

with service operation after the

knowledge about opportunities for

offer this training even after the end

project end-date. Compass4D, sees

cooperation. IRU Projects is a service

of the project lifetime.

seven European cities implementing

Another important project is MOBiNET,

cooperative services for increased

to all these members in making the administrative burden lighter so that

aimed at developing a Europe wide service

platform.

Through

this

project, we try to demonstrate the benefits of enabling numerous service providers to connect with each other.

However we do not want to see this as yet another R&D activity but, rather, as a business driven platform which

energy efficiency and road safety. As in MOBiNET, our goal in this project is to evaluate the real life benefits of the services with a large number of fleet operators. At the same time we will investigate all wide-scale deployment opportunities, barriers and solutions and establish robust

providing solutions to the real-life problems bus, coach, taxi and truck fleet operators are facing every day.

European projects mentioned in the interview

business models which will enable all

FREILOT

stakeholders to commit to running

efficiency services for heavy goods

the piloted services even in the

vehicles. One of the piloted services

future, as an integral part of their

was implemented to provide a certain

traffic management operations.

level of priority for approaching

What do you think the main benefits of cooperating with other

European

stakeholders

through European projects are?

project

piloting

energy

trucks at signalised intersections.

The outcomes of the project were very positive. The key technology supplier, PEEK, proved the benefits to stakeholders (city authorities and

The main benefit for us is to be able

fleet operators) and commercialised

to work together on the development

their new intersections equipment

of technologies and policies. By

for communication with trucks. This

influencing both of these at an early

is the first commercial product on

stage, it is easier to ensure that they

the market in this ground-breaking

are aligned with the real-life, end-

field, aimed at real customers (road

user needs. As the latest example

operators in this case). At the same

on how an EC supported project has

time, Helmond is the first city in

contributed to policy development,

Europe which has adopted these

we

TRACE

new technologies and services to

(Transport Regulators Align Control

be an integral part of their traffic

Enforcement)

which

management solution. Even after the

The project

end of the project, fleet operators

description is available in all EU

continue to benefit from the ongoing

languages on the EUROPA website,

operation of this new technology,

and presents the TRACE project

saving them 14% on fuel consumption

team’s views on the application

along the equipped route.

should

mention project,

the IRU contributed.

the to

and implementation of a number of provisions of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 establishing rules on

What are you hoping to achieve in the next coming 3 to 5 years?

driving times, breaks and rest periods

We aim to make the voice of

of professional drivers.

commercial fleet operators more

Another positive example is the

prominent in European Commission co-financed projects and to continue

ECOeffect - ECOeffect is a highquality eco-driving training programme combining the latest technology, advanced training techniques and safety behaviour specifically designed for the road transport sector.

MOBiNET - MOBiNET will develop an ‘Internet of mobility’ and simplify the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe. MOBiNET project hopes to capitalise on the widespread growth in mobile communications and cloud-based computing to deliver a new generation of travel services to European citizens.

Compass4D - Compass4D will deploy concrete and sustainable Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems in 7 European cities aiming to enhance road safety, reduce CO2 emissions and improve traffic flows.

TRACE - TRACE project supported the devopment of a European harmonised training format for enforcers controlling the respect of the Drivers’ Hours’ Rules’ Regulation.

FREILOT - The FREILOT project aimed at increasing energy efficiency of urban freight through deployment of ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) services.

13

ERTICO Partnership events

19 April 2013

ERTICO Supervisory Board Meeting

Brussels (BE) 21-24 May 2013

2nd TPEG Testfest

Munich (DE)

Other dates for your Diary!

Dublin, Ireland, 4-7 June 2013, 9th European ITS Congress, www.itsineurope.com Tokyo, Japan, 14-18 October 2013, 20th ITS World Congress, www.itsworldcongress.jp Helsinki, Finland, 16-19 June 2014, 10th European ITS Congress Detroit, USA, 7-11 September 2014, 21st ITS World Congress Bordeaux, France, 5-9 October 2015, 22nd ITS World Congress

2013

2013

2014

2014

2015

World Congress

2016

Melbourne

ERTICO is recruiting!

We are currently seeking to recruit a full-time (m/f) • Communications Manager • Partnership Services Officer For more information on our current vacancies and to apply for a job, please visit the ERTICO job page on the website.

For further information, please contact us: Avenue Louise 326, B-1050 Brussels Belgium t +32 (0)2 400 07 00 f +32 (0)2 400 07 01 pr@mail.ertico.com www.ertico.com