Intelligent transport

The use of new technologies in the transport sector and integration of technology in society at large is becoming more and more important

During the 1990s we saw the establishment of infrastructure-based systems like the nationwide road weather monitoring and information system. Information services like RDS-TMC and real time traveller information systems followed around year 2000. Basically, systems and services put in place by authorities and operated by authorities.
    
Over the past year, the EU Commission together with the member states developed its ITS Action Plan. It aims to establish a framework to accelerate and coordinate the development and use to support a more efficient, environmentally friendly, reliable and safe movement of passengers and goods in the European Union.

Benefitting society
Today’s technology makes it possible to make new services, increase transportation security and reduce the negative environmental impacts. The work has made it very clear that it requires coordination between transport modes to achieve operational synergies and integration between different modes of transport for the benefit of the free movement of persons, goods, and flows.
    
ITS – Intelligent Transport Systems and services – is an excellent tool to integrate the different modes and fast and favourable environmental conditions streamline our transport system.
    
We expect the years ahead to bring new possibilities and open new markets. New platforms like PDAs with high speed communication capacity in combination with the exiting prospects of the Galileo system, will open up for new services and systems. And costs will go down; communication will be cheaper, and so will hard- and software for public use.
    
This will open up the market for new actors, providing new services and we can already see systems and services put on the market for ‘anti-authority’ purpose. Warning systems for speed cameras, navigation systems that gives re-routing recommendations in case of police controls etc.
    
In fact, what we can see ahead is a boom of ITS, which is not labelled as ITS. And this is also an important observation for the years to come. efforts to label systems and services as this is or that is not ITS, brings little value.

ITS in Sweden
ITS Sweden is the national ITS organisation in Sweden. It aims to develop, support and coordinates the development of ITS in Sweden.

ITS Sweden:

• supports education with the aim to raise awareness of ITS in the country
• promotes increased knowledge of ITS opportunities of laymen and experts 
• pushes for technological and industrial development in the area and support the Swedish development of ITS in an international market as the target. This is achieved by establishing MoUs with relevant markets
• participates in international cooperation projects 
• provides forum for consultation and cooperation between various stakeholders in ITS in Sweden and provide a venue for stakeholders for examples the national forum for ITS Action Plan and EFC
• encourages the introduction process of ITS through various information campaigns and conferences 
• works for rapid deployment of services in the ITS area. 
• supports and coordinates the implementation of conferences and seminars and international exhibitions in the ITS field.

Looking ahead
ITS development and deployment has not followed a straight line from the beginning. Different periods have seen different driving forces.
    
A key observation for the future, is that public efforts at first hand shall focus on activities aiming at ‘opening up’ information infrastructures and enabling ITS. Harmonisation (including standardisation) of interfaces and key information resources, development of systems architectures and models for cooperation (e.g. MoUs) between organisations are examples of such focus areas.
    
We believe that, given the right conditions, ITS will be an even more prominent part of the Swedish IT development than what we have seen so far.