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

  • February 20, 2019
    CES 2019 says hello to the future
    The launch of the latest gadgets has made the Consumer Electronics Show into tech heaven for geeks worldwide – but there is a serious ITS component, too. Ben Spencer braves the bright lights of Las Vegas to find out more The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the showcase for some of the world’s most iconic gadgets – from VCRs to the Commodore 64, and from the camcorder to the launch of HDTV. This has made CES a mecca for tech heads all over the world since it began in the 1960s, but these days it
  • May 16, 2012
    ITS for Urban Mobility forum report
    A joint initiative of Ertico – ITS Europe, the European Commission and Eurocities, a Forum on ITS for Urban Mobility was held in Brussels yesterday to discuss and provide feedback on the draft guidelines for the deployment of ITS in urban areas, developed by DG Move’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility. As Nicolas White reports, the guidelines discussed focused on three crucial aspects of urban ITS: multimodal information services, smart ticketing and traffic management & urban logistics.
  • June 1, 2016
    Xerox’s mobility app offers Mobility as a Service
    Andrew Bardin Williams looks at a new mobility app in Los Angeles and Denver that brings Mobility as a Service one step closer. Commuting today doesn’t have to require a single modal route. You can take Uber to the nearest light-rail station or a bus to the commuter line. Then on the other end of your trip, you can book a bikeshare the rest of the way to your office. For many who live in major metropolitan areas around the US this is a distinct reality as new ways to move from Point A to Point B continue to
  • August 23, 2016
    Asecap debates the future of tolling
    Colin Sowman reports form Asecap’s Study & Information Days event in Madrid. At Asecap’s (the Association of European Toll Road Operators) recent Study and Information Days event there was no doubt about the subject at the top of the agenda: the European Union Directive 23/2014/EU. This will introduce fundamental changes to the concession model under which Asecap members operate more than 50,000km of tolled highways and, in response, it has compiled a report entitled Proposal for a Sustainable Concession Mo