ITS Connections: Saving time and lives

15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems

Imagine a world where cars talk to each other. A community where a natural disaster or attack does not create chaos, but efficiency in the execution of response and evacuation plans. A person who drives the same route to work, but arrives in half the time. It’s not a dream – it is the reality coming alive this November in New York City at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).
    
Hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), ERTICO-ITS Europe, and ITS Japan, the continuing goal of the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is to promote awareness and deployment of ITS technologies. ITS enables people to make transport choices that save lives, time, and money. With a focus on practical deployment, as well as on education and innovation, the World Congress on ITS enhances our ability to work together to provide users of the world’s transport systems new levels of safety, reliability, convenience, accessibility, and choice.
    
It’s been three years since the World Congress was held in the Unites States and there is no better city to host this event than New York—a global center of commerce and culture with an international reputation as a world-class city. A World Congress in New York, quite simply, is an unforgettable experience. Transport executives and ITS professionals from around the globe will come together at the World Congress & Annual Meeting in New York.

Vital ITS topics
This year’s Congress theme - “ITS Connections: Saving Time. Saving Lives.” highlights the necessity of deploying ITS solutions that save lives, time and money in an age where the pace of life runs faster every day. This theme will be largely discussed throughout the 300 policy and technical sessions, as well as be visible in the large scale exhibition area and live demonstrations. Traffic management, mobility solutions, communication technologies, public facilities and many more vital ITS topics with concrete results will be examined.
    
Combined with ITS America’s 2008 Annual Meeting and Exposition, the 15th World Congress is shaping up to be the largest ITS event in 2008 with more than 10,000 transportation, technology and business professionals experiencing:

• 350,000 square feet of exhibition space – the largest ever for a World Congress
• 800+ industry-leading speakers
• Cutting-edge ITS-specific educational sessions
• Three plenary sessions
• 76 executive & special sessions
• 167 technical & scientific sessions
• 56 annual meeting sessions & forum showcases
• 250 poster presentations in five interactive sessions
• Exclusive technical tours offering a behind the scenes look at innovative ITS solutions
• The largest fully-integrated demonstration showcasing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication technologies and applications including innovative mobility solutions operating on the streets and highways of New York
• New York City and all the unforgettable sights, entertainment and activities
• And, limitless opportunities to connect with an international audience in a world-class city.

Transport executives and ITS professionals from around the globe will come together at the World Congress & Annual Meeting in New York. ITS America’s Annual Meeting is the premier annual event in North America for ITS professionals. With a unique opportunity to experience the Annual Meeting in the backdrop of the World Congress, delegates will experience the depth and breadth of the World Congress alongside the Annual Meeting's educational focus on the challenges and opportunities to fully deploy ITS in the United States. We encourage everyone to join us at this landmark conference and exposition.
    
The conference program for the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems reflects a global spectrum of ITS interests. The outstanding, industry-specific sessions have been carefully developed by leading ITS professionals from around the world. The World Congress and Annual Meeting program will provide valuable information and insights for today’s international and domestic leaders in all modes of the transport industry. Transportation experts will speak on ITS issues and solutions in Plenary, Executive, Special, Technical, Scientific, Interactive, Annual Meeting, Pan-American, and IBEC Sessions. All sessions are structured to encourage audience discussion with panelists and presenters to advance the exchange of knowledge and technology capabilities.
    
One of the biggest highlights of this year’s World Congress is the “VII Technology Demonstrations.” Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication technologies and applications will be highlighted by innovative mobility solutions operating on the streets and highways of New York including a five-block section of 11th Avenue that will be closed to traffic to allow automakers, suppliers and other teams to demonstrate applications such as vehicle-to-vehicle based collision avoidance, signal violation warning, and autonomous vehicle operation. Delegates will be able to watch these demonstrations in a narrated, theater-like environment in front of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

DSRC testbeds
Two Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) equipped testbeds are being developed in and around New York City. These include a 50-mile long freeway testbed on the Long Island Expressway and an arterial testbed in Manhattan with one loop route on the west side of Manhattan. These testbeds will be used to demonstrate applications such as in-vehicle signing, warnings, traveler information, and e-commerce. Specially-equipped high technology buses will be outfitted with VII onboard equipment and video screens that will replicate a driver interface so that large numbers of delegates can experience these applications. The testbeds will be built in compliance with the United States’ national VII architecture and will be left in place after the 15th World Congress to serve as a national VII testbed for future research and development.
    
After delegates experience these testbeds, they can see how the raw data is applied in a 3,200 square foot exhibition designed to showcase the integration of active probe data into the most advanced applications of Transportation Management Center (TMC) systems. This demonstration will illustrate the future of TMCs and how these new cooperative system applications will change the way we do business in the coming decades. Actual raw probe data will be brought into the TMS from the tour busses and other DSRC-equipped vehicles in the New York area and elsewhere, if necessary. This data will be displayed in the VII TMC inside the exhibit hall and World Congress delegates will be shown how vehicle-based sensor data can be used to generate information useful to highway operations. The VII TMC will also demonstrate vehicle-based applications such as the generation of travel time data, signal timing, weather forecasting, and road condition warnings.
    
Also unique about the Congress are the technical tours. New York is a recognized leader in the deployment of ITS technologies and practices and the World Congress’ technical tours enable ITS professionals to experience New York’s most innovative ITS systems.
    
The World Congress will also feature technologies related to: cooperative system network management, probe data, tolling and congestion pricing, parking management, mayday/incident response, corridor management, fleet management, transit and commercial vehicles. And, the organizers have also reserved plenty of time for delegates to explore the 350,000 square foot exhibition filled with the leading suppliers in the deployment of ITS technologies and practices showcasing the latest ITS technologies, applications, and services from the U.S. and around the world.
    
November 16-20, 2008 in New York City, ITS leaders from around the world will come together to view and discuss ITS designs that will help enhance transportation systems worldwide, ideas that will reduce travel time, improve mobility, and ensure the safety of all their cities’ residents. This World Congress will be the most dynamic ITS event of 2008 and will certainly set the standard for the future of ITS. Transport, technology, and business professionals involved with any aspect of Intelligent Transportation Systems, from development and management through delivery, implementation, and operation, should plan to attend the 15th World Congress on ITS.

About the 15th World Congress on ITS
Hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), ERTICO, and ITS Japan, the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from November 16-20, 2008.  The 15th World Congress on ITS will be combined with ITS America’s 2008 Annual Meeting and Exposition, making it the largest ITS event in 2008 and is expected to attract 10,000 transportation, technology and business professionals. Delegates to the 15th World Congress on ITS will have access to more than 200 extraordinary education sessions, exciting technical tours, a 300,000 square foot exhibit hall, live vehicle communications demonstrations operating on the streets and highways of New York, and limitless opportunities to connect with an international audience in a world-class city.

For more information
For more information or to register, visit www.itsworldcongress.org.