March 2013

In this Issue:

Towards FuturamaDevelopments in Road Transport Automation

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

My Testfest QuestDiscovering the latest and greatest trend in ITS testing

ERTICO eMagazineWelcome to the

Contact us:pr@mail.ertico.com

Follow us on twitter:@ERTICO

Editorial

Welcome to our March edition

Dear Readers,

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

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

2

3

5

7

11

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.

contents

Editorial

My Testfest Quest

eCall developing in Europe and going International

Towards Futurama

Interview with Zeljko Jeftic, IRU Projects

Of course, thanks to our youthful

ignorance and passion for coding,

my fellow classmates and I regularly

ignored these wise words and as

a result we delivered many failed

projects and fancy-looking systems

which were either unusable,

irrelevant or complete failures when

tested. Stupidly we chose to learn

the hard way.

Thankfully, today’s ITS Engineers

know better.

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.

So, this month, in an effort to

understand these curious events and

uncover their high-tech secrets, I

have been on a mini Testfest quest

(perhaps I should call it a Testquest?).

Here is what I discovered:

They really are festivals

Like other festivals, Testfests are

community events which are held

around a specific topic, usually

an ITS standard, and they occur

during a large meeting in a single

location. However, unlike other

festivals, ITS Testfests are practical

events. Generally speaking they

do not involve dancing and eating

(although both are allowed) and

they focus almost exclusively on

testing and validation. They are

sensible gatherings, motivated by

solid engineering principles such

as reliability, standardisation and

interoperability.

They are organised by engineers for

engineers

Testfests are, at their core,

engineering events. They are

organised and designed by leading

industry experts, often those who

are involved in defining industry

standards. In fact, the events are

often organised in collaboration with

standardisation organisations such as

TISA and ETSI.

They are not certification sessions

Testfests validate products to ensure

that they work when connected to

and communicating with products

made by other manufacturers. By

connecting systems together in the

same room, engineers can see if

the technology works as they had

expected. If they do not work,

the test data should help them

understand why not and what to do.

Usually, this involves testing a specific

My Testfest QuestDiscovering 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.

3

implementation of a technological

standard, but as mentioned before -

the focus is on interoperability. Does

product X work with product Y?

ITS standards, like other standards,

may have inconsistencies or

ambiguities which manifest

themselves in 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. Understanding

that many of 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, about

improving the interoperability and

quality of systems, not beating your

competitors. He believes that the

energy and excitement on display

during these events comes from the

desire to make things work, and to

make things work well.

I have to admit, his enthusiasm was

infectious, and while I was smart

enough to quit Software Engineering

before I did any serious damage to

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.

First eCall interoperability testing event

How a Testfest works• The event is organised, advertised and booked for specific

dates. Attendees sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

• 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.

Contact Ian Bearderi.bearder@mail.ertico.com

@ERTICO_Ian

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

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

project (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark,

Luxemburg, Spain and Turkey),

bringing the HeERO consortium to

up to 83 partners and 15 pilot sites,

coupled with 6 associate pilot sites

(Israel, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary

and Iceland, joined at their own

expense as well as Russia for the ERA-

GLONASS service) and 16 associated

commercial partners.

The past year was also busy for

HeERO, with an important highlight

in November in Zagreb, Croatia,

where the first HeERO International

Conference was held. Almost 200

participants from Europe and around

the world gathered to hear firsthand

testing results from the pilot sites

and witness live demonstrations of

several eCall units making successful

calls to the Zagreb 112 PSAP. Earlier

that year, attendees at the ITS Wold

Congress in Vienna were also able to

discover exciting live demonstrations

of cross-border inter-operability from

HeERO on the exhibition floor with a

German test vehicle sending an eCall

to the Romanian PSAP in Bucharest.

Further inter-operability tests are

scheduled during the upcoming

ERTICO “TestFest” and the second

test phase of the HeERO project is

starting in April 2013. Also coming

up this year, in late November, is the

next HeERO International Conference

and HeERO Final Event which will

take place in Bucharest, Romania.

While spreading in Europe, eCall

also went international with the

opening of a new test site in Japan.

Launched in the city of Yokosuka in

December 2012, this test site is the

very first test facility opened outside

of Europe. The Yokosuka Telecom

Research Park (YTRP) also hosted an

“eCall Day in Yokosuka” that same

month, in association with ERTICO,

Cinterion (a Gemalto Company) and

Fujitsu Ten Limited for the Japanese

automobile manufacturers and key

players of the automotive electronics

sector to keep up to date on the latest

eCall developments. The technical

and financial challenges at stake are

indeed of main importance for the

sector’s manufacturers and as Marcel

Visser, Vice president of Automotive

at Cinterion said: “By enabling local

testing of eCall technology, Cinterion

and its partners are streamlining

manufacturing and helping global

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.

by Anouk Van den Bussche

5

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

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.

Last but not least in terms of

developments, eCall and ERA-

GLONASS, its Russian equivalent, are

progressing in their collaboration and

a Memorandum of Understanding is

about to be signed as we speak! The

GLONASS satellite system, developed

in the 1970s by the Russian Aerospace

Defence Forces, offers full global

coverage and is also compatible with

the GPS signal. Millions of euros have

been allocated by President Vladimir

Putin since 2000 to restore the global

satellite navigation system and the

ERA-GLONASS emergency call system

launch is scheduled for 2014. In this

perspective, the HeERO project and

ERA-GLONASS are planning a joint

workshop focused on standards during

the third quarter of 2013. The Russian

standards have indeed not been

translated yet and this joint initiative

will most certainly be of high relevance

to the vehicle manufacturers and

advanced electronics suppliers. Andy

Rooke, HeERO Project Coordinator

and Senior Project Manager at ERTICO

points out: “I cannot stress too highly

the importance of ensuring that there

is compatibility between the various

eCall systems which are designed to

operate on single emergency numbers

and are for mass-market deployment

as opposed to a paid for service. This

makes strong commercial sense for

all parties involved.”

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.

eCall Day in Yokosuka

Contact Anouk Van den Bussche

a.vandenbussche-EXT@mail.ertico.com

Towards FuturamaDevelopments in Road Transport Automation

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.

by Laura Johnstone

Automation and automated vehicles

have long been a source of fascination

since as far back at the 1930s, when

American industrial designer Norman

Bel Geddes first showcased the

General Motors-sponsored Futurama

at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

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

traffic would be greatly accelerated.

Of course, Bel Geddes’ predictions

did not come true (although by 1960

General Motors had developed an

automated highway prototype), and

even today, 70 years on, we are some

way from reaching his safe, efficient,

fast and comfortable automated

utopia.

But the buzz surrounding automation

has continued to amplify, thanks

to technological developments

rendering automated vehicles

entirely feasible, as well as the

publicity surrounding initiatives such

as the DARPA Grand Challenge, the

Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak

and, most notably, the Google Car.

Many vehicle manufacturers and

suppliers are known to be investing in

applications which are set to steadily

increase the level of automation

available to the driver in the coming

years.

Automation will help to solve

several societal challenges - first and

foremost in reducing the number of

road accidents but also in increasing

the efficiency of road networks and

reducing fuel consumption – and

research into the topic is currently

being funded by national and

supranational authorities.

In Europe, the European Commission

has funded a number of projects over

the last 20 years, from Chauffeur

to Cybermove and Cybercars. More

recently, there have been three

projects in particular working on

different aspects of automation:

Citymobil, which focused on achieving

more effective urban transport

through testing and evaluating new

solutions based on advanced city

vehicles, HAVEit, which aimed to

improve traffic safety and efficiency

through the development and

validation of next generation ADAS

as well as defining different degrees

of automation and developing an

appropriate vehicle architecture

suited to highly automated driving,

and SARTRE, which developed vehicle

platoons for public highways.

The follow up to CityMobil launched

last September, with some of its aims

including the definition of common

technical specifications for cybercar

7

manufacturers, the undertaking of

detailed studies on implementing

cybercar systems in 12 cities and

the definition of a European legal

framework for certification of

automated transport systems. The

project includes 45 partners and

will run for just over three years.

In addition, supervised automated

driving also featured as one topic

in the last call for proposals of FP7

under DG CONNECT, cementing

the commitment of the European

Commission to investing in and

developing automation for road

transport.

Japan, meanwhile, is using

cooperative systems to overcome the

unique challenges stemming from its

densely populated, immense urban

areas with the ITS Spot Service,

the world’s first infrastructure

for vehicle 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”).

The Japanese Ministry of Land,

Infrastructure and Tourism has also

established its ‘Autopilot System

Council’ which is working towards the

deployment of automated driving on

highways, from cooperative vehicle

control and adaptive cruise control

towards steering assistance. The

systems envisaged will utilise and

further develop existing technologies,

with the autopilot system estimated

to be put into place in the early

2020s.

In the USA, the Department of

Transportation (DoT) is currently

drafting its vehicle automation

programme plan, which aims to

develop a multi-modal research

plan to focus on accelerating public

benefits whilst diminishing public

risk. The draft schedule for this plan

is due to be released in summer of

this year, following collaboration with

a range of external stakeholders.

An important part of this plan is the

identification and categorisation

of the issues and challenges

inherent to automation. Here, the

Transportation Research Board (TRB)

ITS Committee will play an important

role. TRB Committees are made up of

volunteers from government, industry

and academia, who come together to

address shared interests in transport.

Last summer the TRB held a workshop

on automation which brought together

experts from around the world, where

the state of the art of many aspects

of automation were presented and

specially designed breakout sessions

were held to facilitate debate and

discussion. This year’s TRB workshop

will take place in July in California,

and the discussion at this event will

be considered in the final DoT vehicle

automation programme plan, which is

set to be released in September.

It is clear that all three regions

envisage automation as part of the

future of road transport, and whilst

there has been great advancement

in the research and development of

automation applications and services

over the last few decades – so much

so that we can confidently say that

automation technology in itself is

almost ready to be deployed – there

remain several stumbling blocks

before anything resembling Bel

Geddes’ Futurama comes to pass.

So if automation, in its varying

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

in its reliability and is able to accept

handing over control to the vehicle. iMobility Forum Working Group on Automation for Road Transport

workshop

9Furthermore, as we rise through

higher degrees of automation,

how can we be sure that the driver

understands how much attention he

has to pay to his surroundings? And can

the driver handle potential changes

in workloads, for example switching

from underload to excessive overload

in a critical situation?

The CityMobil project included

small-scale studies which examined

situational awareness and driver

reaction to unexpected traffic

situations whilst driving in “normal”,

semi-autonomous and fully

autonomous vehicle simulators, both

in urban environment and in dedicated

eLanes. Vehicle manufacturers are

also working on their own human-

machine interface (HMI) solutions.

However, not enough work has been

carried out at this point to give a

sufficient answer to these questions,

and it is clear that there needs to

be a coordinated, concerted effort

to ensure that the driver’s needs

in terms of safety, efficiency and

comfort are met.

Developing a HMI which takes into

account human factors and meets

driver’s needs, although it requires

some work, is perfectly doable. The

second big issue in road transport

automation, however, is not so easy

to solve. It is an issue which is raised

time and time again, and yet no one

so far has come up with a definitive

answer on how to get round this

obstacle – the legality of automation.

The common starting point for this

discussion is generally the 1968

United Nations Vienna Convention on

Road Traffic, specifically articles 8.1

“every moving vehicle or combination

of vehicles shall have a driver”, 8.5

“every driver shall at all times be

able to control his vehicle or to guide

his animals” and 13.1 ‘every driver

of a vehicle shall in all circumstances

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”.

The Vienna Convention has been

ratified by 70 countries, including most

of Europe but not the US or Japan.

The US is, however, a signatory of the

predecessor to the Vienna Convention

– the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road

Traffic, which also contains some

of the above articles. The terms of

these conventions therefore render

automated driving, at a certain point

where the vehicle has more control

than the driver, not legal.

The Vienna Convention has been

amended on several occasions

over the decades (most recently in

2006) so in theory it is possible to

change it again to allow highly to

fully automated driving. However,

it is often argued that amending

the Vienna Convention to allow

automation in road transport would

be a long process; far longer than

it will take for vehicle automation

technologies to be ready for launch

on the market. Therefore, alternative

solutions should be sought.

You may have noticed above the

rather clunky use of “not legal” as

opposed to “illegal”. This is a subtle

yet important nuance, as there are

some who believe that the Vienna

convention can be interpreted in

a way that allows for automated

driving.

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

automated functions and be ready to

take control when something goes

wrong?

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?

Such are the grey areas put forward

during the Automation Workshop,

summed up with the rather nice

phrase: “it’s not allowed... but it’s

not forbidden!”

In 2011, Nevada famously made

automated driving legal within the

state. The legislation enacted by the

State is a good example of how this

grey area can be exploited; Nevada’s

regulations state that vehicles may

only operate in autonomous mode if

they have a compliance certificate,

which leads to the important phrase

“the autonomous vehicle may be

operated in autonomous mode without

the physical presence of the operator

only if the certificate of compliance

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 the State’s

Department of Motor Vehicles will

only accept licence applications for

testing purposes and state on their

website that autonomous driving is

not available to the general public,

but this is nonetheless a big step

forward for the deployment of

autonomous vehicles, as not only does

the example of Nevada (and Florida

and California, with more States to

follow) show how automated and

driverless vehicles can be deployed

within the existing legal framework,

but these states also provide a huge

testing ground for measuring and

evaluating open issues such as user

acceptance.

In Europe there are also some

provisions being put into place which

rely on creative interpretations of the

Vienna convention; for example the

idea that automated vehicles could

be classified as trains, where the

vehicle’s trajectory can be considered

as a virtual (rail)track. Specific

tests have also been permitted on

public roads; for example, last year

the SARTRE project successfully

drove a platoon of vehicles down a

motorway just outside Barcelona,

in the midst of normal traffic. The

CityMobil project also demonstrated

small, fully automated vehicles

inside the pedestrianised city centre

of La Rochelle in France. Although

such initiatives are very positive,

no European region or country has

yet provided carte blanche for the

testing of automated vehicles as we

see in the US.

Almost 60 years after Bel Geddes’

predicted we would be zipping along

automated highways, his vision is

edging towards realisation. The

technical barriers preventing us

from driving more safely, cleanly and

efficiently with the aid of automation

applications and technologies have

either been overcome or are very

close to being overcome. However, it

is clear that non-technical barriers,

particularly those outlined above,

will continue to slow down the

implementation of automation until a

concerted, common effort is made to

resolve them.

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

the IRU and its members can focus on

the strategically important work.

Can you tell us more about

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 train-

the-trainer modules, the project

ensures that the best eco-driving

training practices are implemented

in a harmonised way across Europe.

The IRU and its IRU Academy

Accredited Training Institutes (in this

case UNTRR, CESMAD and HSF) are

implementing this training initiative

in Czech Republic, Romania and

Poland. The long term target is to

offer this training even after the end

of the project lifetime.

Another important project is MOBiNET,

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

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

operators and their customers.

The third project to highlight also

has a clear target of continuing

with service operation after the

project end-date. Compass4D, sees

seven European cities implementing

cooperative services for increased

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

Interview with: Zeljko Jeftic, Head of Projects IRU Projects

In January 2013, the

International Road Transport

Union (IRU) recently decided to

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.

IRU Projects is a Belgian entity,

established to support the IRU and

its members in participating in

European Commission co-financed

activities. Many of IRU members

have been hesitant in participating

in EC co-financed activities due

to the amount and complexity of

administration as well as lack of

knowledge about opportunities for

cooperation. IRU Projects is a service

to all these members in making the

administrative burden lighter so that

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

11

business models which will enable all

stakeholders to commit to running

the piloted services even in the

future, as an integral part of their

traffic management operations.

What do you think the main

benefits of cooperating with

other European stakeholders

through European projects are?

The main benefit for us is to be able

to work together on the development

of technologies and policies. By

influencing both of these at an early

stage, it is easier to ensure that they

are aligned with the real-life, end-

user needs. As the latest example

on how an EC supported project has

contributed to policy development,

we should mention the TRACE

(Transport Regulators Align Control

Enforcement) project, to which

the IRU contributed. The project

description is available in all EU

languages on the EUROPA website,

and presents the TRACE project

team’s views on the application

and implementation of a number

of provisions of Regulation (EC)

No 561/2006 establishing rules on

driving times, breaks and rest periods

of professional drivers.

Another positive example is the

ECOeffect - ECOeffect is a high-quality 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.

European projects mentioned in the interview

FREILOT project piloting energy

efficiency services for heavy goods

vehicles. One of the piloted services

was implemented to provide a certain

level of priority for approaching

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

fleet operators) and commercialised

their new intersections equipment

for communication with trucks. This

is the first commercial product on

the market in this ground-breaking

field, aimed at real customers (road

operators in this case). At the same

time, Helmond is the first city in

Europe which has adopted these

new technologies and services to

be an integral part of their traffic

management solution. Even after the

end of the project, fleet operators

continue to benefit from the ongoing

operation of this new technology,

saving them 14% on fuel consumption

along the equipped route.

What are you hoping to achieve

in the next coming 3 to 5 years?

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.

13

ERTICO Partnership events

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 2014 2015

World Congress2013 2014

2016

Melbourne

19 April 2013 ERTICO Supervisory Board Meeting

Brussels (BE)

21-24 May 2013 2nd TPEG Testfest

Munich (DE)

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 Belgiumt +32 (0)2 400 07 00f +32 (0)2 400 07 01pr@mail.ertico.com www.ertico.com