Skip to main content

EC promotes ''against lock-in'' approach on ITS standards

According to the European Commission (EC), open standards for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) would save the public sector €1 billion a year US$1.5 billion a year, citing Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) as one of the standards being developed in the transport domain. Launched in 1997, the UTMC programme was the UK Department for Transport (DfT) main initiative for the development of a more open approach to ITS in urban areas. UTMC systems are designed to allow the different application
August 2, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
According to the 1690 European Commission (EC), open standards for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) would save the public sector €1 billion a year US$1.5 billion a year, citing 3549 Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) as one of the standards being developed in the transport domain.

Launched in 1997, the UTMC programme was the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) main initiative for the development of a more open approach to ITS in urban areas.  UTMC systems are designed to allow the different applications used within modern traffic management systems to communicate and share information with each other. Thereby a more robust and intelligent system can be used to meet current and future management requirements.

At the end of June 2013, the EC released a new policy to help public authorities avoid dependence on a single ICT supplier, together with a Guide for the procurement of standards-based ICT — Elements of Good Practice, which lists UTMC in the sources of information appendix.

The EC states that following the recommendations in this new "against lock-in" approach could save the EU's public sector more than US$1.5 billion a year. For example, open tendering procedures can attract increased numbers of bidders with better value bids (doubling the number of bidders typically lowers contract size by 9 per cent).

The full story and a copy of the guide, aimed at officials responsible for planning and purchasing ICT systems and services for public authorities, can be found on the EC %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal webpage http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-standards false http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/open-standards false false%>.

Related Content

  • Associations News from around the world
    December 4, 2012
    The world’s ITS Associations participated in the ITS World Congress in Vienna, including: New Zealand, which stressed the need for future proof ITS solutions; the Netherlands; Australia called for greater ITS content in road safety strategy; ITS South Africa discussed new strategic opportunities in the country; ITS Nigeria took advantage of the World Congress to stage its global launch; UK ITS professionals were congratulated on their achievements during the Olympic Games by ITS UK; ITS Canada co-hosted a w
  • Vehicle and Road Automation website launched
    February 18, 2014
    In order to promote the exchange of information and research on vehicle and road automation activities in Europe and beyond, the Vehicle and Road Automation (VRA) project has launched its website, together with other online tools to promote and expand the VRA community: The VRA wiki, www.vra-net.eu/wiki, is a user-edited shared resource for road vehicle automation activities around the world, containing details on around forty projects, with an abstract, contact point, website, sponsor, budget/funding an
  • Compass first newsletter available
    February 21, 2013
    The synergy between two European transportation projects, the optimised CO-Modal PASSenger transport for reducing carbon emissions (Compass) and Optimising Passenger Transport Information to Materialise Insights for Sustainable Mobility (Optimism) has prompted the release of a joint newsletter to report their activities and findings. Both projects share common objectives. Through the scientific analysis of social behaviour, mobility patterns and business models they propose a set of strategies, recommendat
  • Sensoris platform releases vehicle-to-cloud data standard
    July 12, 2018
    A new vehicle-to-cloud data standard has been released to cover connected and automated driving. Available on Sensoris' platform - co-ordinated by ERTICO – ITS Europe and initiated by Here Technologies - it aims to close the loop between the vehicle’s sensors, map and connected services. Sensoris represents a group of vehicle manufacturers, telecommunications, location, content and service providers and navigation systems suppliers whose new specification is intended to be used across the automotive indu