Clever technology is not enough: ITS must solve customers’ problems, warn experts

ITS professionals must ensure they are responding to customer needs and not simply being blinded by the possibilities of technology, warn ITS experts. This was among the main messages from ITS (UK)’s 2018 summit this week. “Don’t deploy technology for technology’s sake – that’s just having a toy,” said Kirk Steudle, former boss of Michigan Department of Transportation, in his keynote speech at the event in Bristol, UK. “Just because the technology is clever, it doesn’t mean it’s any use,” warned ITS (
November 28, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
ITS professionals must ensure they are responding to customer needs and not simply being blinded by the possibilities of technology, warn ITS experts.


This was among the main messages from ITS (UK)’s 2018 summit this week. “Don’t deploy technology for technology’s sake – that’s just having a toy,” said Kirk Steudle, former boss of 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation, in his keynote speech at the event in Bristol, UK.

“Just because the technology is clever, it doesn’t mean it’s any use,” warned ITS (UK) president Steve Norris. He urged delegates to think: “What are the challenges we are actually solving?”

The former UK transport minister also suggested that some form of road user charging in the UK was inevitable to raise revenue as the government’s tax-take from fuel duty continues to decline, in large part due to more fuel-efficient cars.

“Receipts from fuel duty are falling off a cliff,” he said. “It’s pretty illogical that the last great free public utility should be the roads.”

• A full report of the ITS (UK) 2018 summit will appear in ITS International, January/February 2019

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Dutch strike public/private balance to introduce C-ITS services
    November 15, 2017
    Connected-ITS applications are due to appear on a nation-wide scale this summer, through the Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership – if all goes to plan. Jon Masters reports. The Netherlands’ Talking Traffic Partnership (TTP) looks almost too good to be true: an artificial market set up and supported by national, regional and local government to accelerate deployment of Connected ITS (C-ITS) applications. If it does have any serious flaws, these are going to become apparent quite soon, because the first
    Read More
  • ITS Australia says it's good to share
    June 9, 2022
    Mobility 2022 on 15-16 June in Sydney will concentrate on micromobility and active travel
    Read More
  • Authorities look to MaaS for new solutions and cost savings
    July 18, 2017
    The structure of society and the way in which our cities work will be completely transformed by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Finland’s minister of transport and communications Anne Berner, told ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference 2017 in London. In her keynote address, Berner told a packed audience of more than 200 ITS professionals that MaaS has the potential to help governments around the world meet their big city targets such as the rate of employment, the environment, the efficient use of
    Read More
  • How ITS can help world out of lockdown
    June 2, 2020
    Ticketing, reallocation of street space, transport’s place in urban ecosystems – it's all up for grabs as we emerge from pandemic
    Read More

Highlighted Content