Skip to main content

ITF Corporate Partnership Board projects highlight ways forward

The findings of the first four projects launched by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), the organisation's platform for engaging with the private sector, have been announced. CPB projects are designed to enrich policy discussion with a business perspective. They are launched in areas where CPB member companies identify an emerging issue in transport policy or an innovation challenge to the transport system. Led by ITF, work is carried out in collaborative fashion in working groups consisting of CP
October 29, 2014 Read time: 4 mins
RSSThe findings of the first four projects launched by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), the organisation's platform for engaging with the private sector, have been announced.

CPB projects are designed to enrich policy discussion with a business perspective. They are launched in areas where CPB member companies identify an emerging issue in transport policy or an innovation challenge to the transport system. Led by ITF, work is carried out in collaborative fashion in working groups consisting of CPB member companies, external experts and ITF researchers.

The first round of projects provides input on a range of key policy issues: autonomous driving, urban mobility, mobility data and drivers of logistics performance.

Autonomous driving: This project looked at what issues will have to be considered at a strategic level by authorities as autonomous vehicles arrive on our roads. Many cars sold today are already capable of some level of autonomous operation and prototype cars capable of driving autonomously are being tested on public roads in Europe, Japan and the United States. Deployment of these technologies is expected to accelerate, since autonomous driving promises many benefits including improved safety and reduced congestion. Authorities will have to adapt existing regulations and create new ones in order to ensure the full compatibility of these vehicles with the public's expectations regarding safety, legal responsibility and privacy. Policy insights from this project include the need for regulators to view automated driving as part of much larger technological revolutions in automation and connectivity, the importance of creating the right insurance regimes and taking pro-active measures to minimise legacy risks for first-generation self-driving technology.

Urban mobility: In light of rapid urbanisation, the development of self-driving cars and a "shared economy" based on optimising usage of spare capacity, this project investigated the potential impact of a radical upgrade to today's urban mobility system. On the basis of detailed mobility data for a mid-sized European city, including origin, destination and timing of all trips, a model was developed to test various alternative transport system configurations that would provide the same level of mobility as today. Two different self-driving vehicle concepts were explored this way: "TaxiBots", which can be shared simultaneously by several passengers, and "AutoVots", which sequentially pick up single passengers and drop them off. Policy insights from this simulation include that the impact of shared self-driving fleets can be significant, delivering the same level of mobility as today, with much fewer cars, but that it nonetheless remains necessary to manage freed space efficiently to lock in the benefits.

Mobility data: This project looked at the considerations authorities should have regarding the creation, processing, conditions of use and access to mobility data. The 21st century is awash with data from sensors, vehicles, smartphones, parking systems, inventory tracking systems, ticketing systems, geographic applications, buildings, energy distribution networks and multiple other digital and analogue sources including video streams. There are tremendous upsides from the use and fusion of these data streams to better manage and optimise transport services and improve safety, but there are also associated risks, notably since much of this data is highly personal in nature. Policy insights from the project concludes that transport authorities will need to audit data to ensure it is used in the best way, that new models of data-sharing between public and private actors are needed to leverage benefits and that effective protection of location data will need to be designed into technologies upfront.

Drivers of logistics performance: Understanding and breaking down the elements of trade and logistics performance can help countries improve freight transport efficiency and highlight where international co-operation is helpful to overcome barriers. Using the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) as a benchmarking tool, this case study looked at the logistics performance of Turkey, with a view to identifying factors that have a critical impact on Turkey's competitiveness and to understanding which policies may reduce persistent bottlenecks. Among the policy insights of this case study are the importance of reducing variability of customs and border clearance and the importance of policies that improve the resilience of the transport system to shocks (e.g. political unrest).

"Among the many insights from the first round of CPB projects are real eye-openers", said ITF secretary-general José Viegas at the presentation. "These reports will prove extremely valuable in stimulating policy debate in many countries and in many contexts."

Related Content

  • 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.
  • January 16, 2024
    "AI can help fast-track Net Zero and Vision Zero," says VivaCity
    Artificial intelligence isn't just about self-driving cars - and ‘smart’ doesn't always have to be shiny, new and innovative. Mark Nicholson, CEO at VivaCity, offers a few predictions for 2024...
  • February 2, 2012
    A carbon free and accident free Europe by 2015?
    By 2050, the Europe Commission aims to make transport in Europe carbon- and accident-free. Between now and then, however, a significant technological development and deployment effort is needed. Here, Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, talks about what's being done. In many respects, COOPERS, CVIS and SAFESPOT, set up by the European Commission (EC) to explore the potential of cooperative infrastructure systems, are already legacy projects. Between them, the three devel
  • August 8, 2017
    Considering accessibility costs little and pays dividends for all travellers
    Catering for those with disabilities can be cost-effective and improve services for all travellers, as David Crawford discovers. Clearer understanding of the economic value of accessible transport is essential if we are to speed up the current slow deployment levels, according to the Paris-based International Transport Forum (ITF), which staged a 2016 round table on the ‘Benefits and Costs of Inclusion in Transport’. It wants to see greater availability of data on levels of actual and unmet demand for acces