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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UTMC ANPR communications protocol aids traffic management
    January 30, 2012
    Telematics Technology's Peter Billington describes the effort to give English local authorities and police forces a UTMC ANPR open communication protocol. The story of the impact of communication protocols on the development and utilisation of intelligent equipment is a familiar one both inside and outside the ITS industry. At the outset, a company pioneering its latest technology invariably develops a proprietary protocol. This enables the company's products to talk to the customer systems which need to a
  • Regional, national managed enforcement for developing nations
    February 3, 2012
    Robot is offering nationwide enforcement services to both developed and developing countries.
  • EETS: still struggling to become reality
    December 4, 2013
    Erich Erker, Norbert Schindler, Peter Tschulik from Siemens Electronic Tolling examine the barriers to EETS deployment. Tolling in Europe was introduced to pay for the construction and operation of individual tunnels, bridges and highways and has evolved in major steps. The original manual tolling systems were highly disruptive to traffic flow and required the creation of large toll plazas, with multiple lanes and toll booths to ensure an acceptable throughput. With the introduction of Dedicated Short Range
  • Setting out the ITS stall at Pittsburgh plenary
    June 2, 2015
    Yesterday’s Opening Plenary saw Google’s Chris Urmson give the keynote address and ITS America announcing the winners of its 2015 Best of ITS Awards.