Skip to main content

ITS industry must 'open up', says Swarco chief

Proprietary tech needs to be made available to others, says Michael Schuch
By Adam Hill November 10, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Swarco's Michael Schuch: 'We need to evolve from traffic management to travel management'

The ITS industry needs to open up if it is to evolve, according to Michael Schuch, COO of Swarco Group.

In a panel discussion on day one of the first Virtual ITS European Congress yesterday, he said that companies would need to relax their grip on some proprietary technologies in order to take advantage of opportunities which will only come through collaboration.

"We need to prepare to open up," he insisted, saying that it was important to embrace the contributions of new players.

For seamless integration along the whole mobility value chain, "the industry needs to make a move towards each other".

"The key is that interoperability and collaboration is happening."

"We need to evolve from traffic management to travel management," he continued.

It would be important in future "to ensure the orchestration of different modes by balancing individual and collective needs".

"Don't look at disruption as a threat but as an opportunity," Schuch concluded.

UTC

Related Content

  • May 21, 2025
    Bringing AI into ITS: Artificial realities
    AI can have a positive transformative effect on transportation safety and efficiency – but if you want creativity you still need a person, says Huawei
  • June 7, 2012
    Transport problems need ''strong action from policymakers”
    Taking advantage of the attendance of the heads of ITS Asia-Pacific, ITS America, Ertico – ITS Europe, and ITS Malaysia as the host nation of the recent 12th ITS Asia-Pacific Forum in Kuala Lumpur in April, ITS International initiated a round table discussion on the big ITS issues confronting the individual regions. For such a diverse collection of advanced and emerging nations spanning the globe, in terms of the advancement of ITS, a common single issue emerges above all others
  • August 8, 2018
    Mobilising data for the future of urban transport
    It's not just gathering the data that's important, says Johan Herrlin - it's making sure that transport organisations share it with one another that will determine travellers' satisfaction. Data is transforming the way we move around cities, from family car journeys to the daily train commute. Gone are the days when travelling from A to B meant remembering your AA map and having to ask for directions at regular intervals. If you were trying to navigate London as a tourist a mere decade ago, it required
  • March 24, 2015
    Taking the long view of ITS
    Caroline Visser believes the ITS industry must present a coherent case for consideration of the technology to become part of transport policy and planning. As ITS advisor and road finance director for the International Road Federation (IRF) in Geneva, Caroline Visser is well placed to evaluate quantifying the benefits of ITS implementation – a topic about which there is little agreement and even less consistency. She is pressing to get some consistency in the evaluation of ITS deployments through the use of