Amongst the many initiatives announced on Wednesday 30 November (see other article), the European Commission discreetly presented an initiative with an emphasis on the future to help prepare the expansion of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) by 2019.
One Commission source explained, “I’m on the motorway and for one reason or another I have to brake sharply. You’re behind me but too far away to notice. At the same moment, you receive a text and you’re looking at it on your mobile phone. A serious accident is bound to happen”. In an effort to illustrate the potential of these future services in the field of road safety, the same source added, “Now, imagine that you are receiving a warning from my car, ‘alert, I am in front of you, braking very sharply’….and you brake slowly, the accident is avoided”.
Therefore, the initiative outlined by EUROPE earlier in the week (see EUROPE 11677), defines two kinds of services: the so-called ‘Day 1’ services that are expected to be up and running by 2019 and which focus on crucial points relating to safety; - and the services known as ‘Day 1,5’, which will gradually be developed afterwards, such as pinpointing recharge stations for electric vehicles.
We were informed that, above all, this is about a strategy focusing on the short and medium-term and technologies that already exist. The introduction of these services requires standardisation work to be undertaken involving the “languages” of communication, also known as “hybrid communication”, which design direct exchanges between vehicles, between vehicles and infrastructure and also at a higher and more indirect level (through a cellular network) to guarantee the interoperability of services throughout European territory because one of the major challenges in this strategy is to avoid fragmentation in the European market and define common priorities that guarantee continuity and availability of C-ITS services throughout the EU.
The strategy is therefore looking at how to make communication secure and ensure respect for private data protection, introduce a safe legal framework, particularly for public and private investors and ensure international cooperation in this domain. On the latter point, it should be pointed out that international cooperation already exists with Australia, Japan, Singapore, the US and within the G-7.
The strategy is an integral part of the recommendations contained within the Amsterdam Declaration (see EUROPE 11532, 11533) and results from the broad consultation facilitated by the C-ITS platform that began in November 2014 the results of which were presented last January (see EUROPE 11474).
A new platform, C-Roads, in which 12 member states (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) participated was launched in October. This platform will form the extension of the C-ITS platform and seeks to facilitate the exchange of good practices while guaranteeing “learning by doing” between member states by promoting a “bottom-up approach”.
It should be also pointed out that the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) helps finance experiences in real conditions currently being carried out in 13 member states (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia and the United Kingdom). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)