Potential game-changing MoU on tolling and ITS market cooperation for North America

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS Corporaton and Federal Signal Corporation have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding after substantial discussions during the past few months regarding ways in which the two organisations might cooperate and jointly pursue mutual business interests in North America.
February 2, 2012 Read time: 3 mins

81 Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS Corporation and 38 Federal Signal Corporation have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding after substantial discussions during the past few months regarding ways in which the two organisations might cooperate and jointly pursue mutual business interests in North America.

According to the partners, these discussions have identified several promising, potential opportunities for cooperation. In particular, they say they have identified opportunities to provide interoperable equipment for on-board, roadside, back-office and operations including both components and systems. By providing both active and passive tag interoperable solutions the parties believe they can increase the options available to their customers while further promoting the open protocols to which they are both committed. The Memorandum confirms the mutual understandings of both corporations regarding the basis on which the parties intend to continue discussion and pursuit of such opportunities.

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS was formed in February, 2011, following the acquisition of Mark IV IVHS companies by Kapsch TrafficCom at the end of November, 2010, to focus on the Group’s comprehensive portfolio of ITS and electronic toll collection (ETC) solutions for the US, Canadian and Mexican markets.

811 Federal Signal Technologies Group, which includes the 495 Sirit, 2073 VESystems, 37 PIPS Technology, 36 Idris and Federal APD businesses, is also a provider of ITS and ETC systems and related services.
According to a company statement, the substantial discussions that both companies have been involved in during the past few months, have examined ways in which the two organisations might cooperate in connection with the joint development and manufacture of ITS products, and the marketing, sale and delivery of ITS products and services.

"The partnership with FSS should enable us to augment our portfolio of industry leading active tag technology, including 915MHz, and open standard 5.8GHz and 5.9GHz, with open standard 18000 6C (sticker/passive-tag) and build on both company’s multi-protocol reader capability", stated Georg Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom Group. "This will allow our North American customers to offer coast-to-coast interoperability, as well as provide for customers a comprehensive range of end-to-end solutions — from electronic vehicle registration to sophisticated pay-as-you-go and road application models. It is our goal to build on our years of experience and success in South America, Australia, and Europe, and replicate those achievements in all of the North American market."

"The agreement with Kapsch TrafficCom is consistent with our vision of interoperable ITS in the Americas, by providing a clear pathway to access our portfolio of technologies and services to agencies operating large existing ETC networks. We believe we are well-positioned to address the momentum moving the market to interoperable standards for ETC, Electronic Vehicle Registration, and other ITS applications across the hemisphere", stated Dennis Martin, CEO of Federal Signal Corporation.

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