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The future of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) 

NOVEMBER 29, 2011 6 COMMENTS 

“In the automotive world the potential for intelligent transport systems is

almost unlimited and eventually technology will help alleviate the major

problems of congestion and safety.”  

Max Mosley, President, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA),

1993-2009 

The world population is growing exponentially and recently hit the 7 billion mark.

By 2050, we will havereached 9.3 billion. Cars have just passed the 1 billion

mark. In a global society, such trends demand that we create solutions to theseproblems. Unfortunately, as once envisaged, the solution is not to build more

roads, as the more roads that we build, the more traffic we invite onto these

roads.

High rates of population growth and increased car ownership will cause, for

instance, more traffic congestion making this problem worse. Traffic delays

represent a huge loss of revenue for business while creating frustration and

stress for road users. These delays also damage the environment and increaseemissions of greenhouse gases. While alternatives to road transport are currently

being looked at by most countries, the use of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS),

could become increasingly more important.

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One of the disadvantages of all this activity is that currently there is no global

standards body controlling the way that these systems are developed. However,

there are European and American bodies that are involved and are driving ITS

forward.One such initiative gathering pace globally is CALM: 

 According to Wikipedia, “CALM enables the following communication modes: 

  Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I): communication initiated by either roadside or

vehicle (e.g. petrol forecourt or toll booth)

  Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V): peer to peer ad-hoc networking amongst fast

moving objects following the idea of MANET‟s/VANET‟s. 

  Infrastructure-to-Infrastructure (I2I): point-to-point connection whereconventional cabling is undesirable (e.g. using lamp posts or street signs to

relay signals).” 

Other situations could be cars (V2I) automatically stopping (In the future), as

ambulances communicate their emergency to traffic lights, cars (V2V) braking

automatically as cars in front brake etc.

Ford has recently developed and demonstrated a Car-to-Car and Car-to-

Infrastructure Communications system for a German Safety Research Project.What are Intelligent Transport Systems? 

According to ETSI, “Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) add information and

communications technology to transport infrastructures and vehicles in an effort

to improve their safety, reliability, efficiency and quality.

ITS services are also designed to optimise transportation times and fuel

consumption thus providing greener and safer transportation. However, the

deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and the provision of corresponding

services are not limited to the road transport sector only, but includes other

domains such as railways, aviation and maritime as well.” 

ETSI adds that, “Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) include telematics and all

types of communications in vehicles, between vehicles (e.g. car-to-car), and

between vehicles and fixed locations (e.g. car-to-infrastructure). However, ITS is

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not restricted to Road Transport – it also includes the use of information and

communication technologies (ICT) for rail, water and air transport, including

navigation systems.

In general, the various types of ITS rely on radio services for communication anduse specialised technologies.

Uses of Traffic Data 

ITS systems are reliant on traffic Data as it is extremely valuable for both  traffic

planning purposes and for live traffic updates. This “Live” information can be

broadcast as real-time traffic updates to users of Satellite Navigation systems,radio listeners, TV viewers and website users. Mobile phone users can receive

this information by SMS message, a dial-in traffic information service or iPhone

type applications, such as iHop2. This information can also be displayed on road

signs such as the illuminated displays often seen on motorways.

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The “Live” data is only valuable for a few minutes as it is constantly replaced.

This data is still valuable however and can be stored in large databases. This

“historical” data can be used by traffic planners to analyse traffic movements over 

a period of time. The ability to compare average journey times and conductstudies using origin / destination analysis is all essential tools for good traffic

planning.

The traditional method of collecting data has been to use a network of static

sensors. There are several different methods such as infra-red cameras and

inductive loops. These methods all have two things in common. Firstly a large

amount of capital expenditure is required to build the network and secondly they

are expensive to maintain.The future of ITS 

Future solutions will warrant moving beyond just collecting data and providing

information for one mode of transport, i.e. road traffic data.

The vision for future ITS: to design true multi modal ITS (Integrates several data

streams from air, land and sea) systems capable of „real time‟ traffic information

(for example, even from car parks and parking meters). This process utilises

maturity modelling and stream computing applications (YouTube) andinformation gathered is disseminated through multiple delivery channels. This

information can also be displayed on road signs such as the illuminated displays

often seen on motorways.

According to a Press release by IBM – “The trend in transportation management

is to use data to predict future traffic conditions and allow agencies to implement

strategies and provide traveller information in anticipation of those future

conditions,” said Christopher Poe, assistant agency director, TTI. 

When it comes to addressing traffic problems today, transportation agencies are

largely reactive, focusing on isolated incidents and single areas of congestion.

Through innovations such as road sensors and predictive analytics,

transportation systems can be made smarter, allowing agencies to be more

proactive in dealing with traffic issues. For example, technologies exist today that

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make it possible to predict traffic conditions anywhere from an hour to 15 minutes

in advance, providing drivers with valuable information on what is going to

happen, rather than what has already happened – even before they get in their

vehicles.Beyond easing traffic congestion, smarter transportation systems can help

reduce accidents, improve emergency response times, lead to cost savings, and

increase community liveability by promoting increased use of public transit. In

addition, intelligent transportation projects have the potential to drive sustainable

economic development through the creation of new jobs, technologies and

businesses.

For example, the city of Stockholm is using IBM‟s streaming analytics technologyto gather real-time information from GPS devices on nearly 1,500 taxi cabs to

provide the city and its residents with real-time information on traffic flow, travel

times and the best commuting options. The service will soon expand to gather

data from delivery trucks, traffic sensors, transit systems, pollutions monitors and

weather information sources. IBM is also assisting the cities of Brisbane, London

and Singapore to address traffic management and congestion challenges.