ERTICO-ITS Europe welcomes Commission Decision on ITS radio frequency to boost smart vehicle communications systems

This will enable vehicles to communicate and interact with each other and with the road infrastructure via one single radio frequency. These so-called Cooperative Systems offer the promise of fewer traffic accidents, lower delays and costs, and reduced fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.

Until now, “intelligent” vehicle systems using ICT for vehicle drivers and other road users have been predominantly autonomous, stand-alone devices. ERTICO believes that intelligent cooperative systems are the next challenge for achieving sustainable mobility for the 21st century. Hermann Meyer, CEO of ERTICO-ITS Europe comments: “We are delighted with this new Decision as it gives a strong message to industry and road operators that the EU is committed to the deployment of these systems for a new generation of applications and services for road safety, traffic management and transport efficiency. ”

The ERTICO-led CVIS (Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems) project has set itself the objective to develop a 'smart' technology platform to allow vehicles and road infrastructure to communicate, and thus to achieve benefits through cooperation. CVIS is a major European research and development initiative, co-funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme, that brings together a total of 63 partners from across Europe, including vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, telecommunication companies, research institutes and universities, as well as both national and local public authorities.

CVIS Project Manager Paul Kompfner of ERTICO comments: “This project aims to help launch a revolution in mobility for travellers and goods, completely re-engineering how drivers, their vehicles, and the goods they carry and the transport infrastructure interact.” Indeed, if successful, CVIS would enable drivers to interact directly with local traffic management systems, and receive recommendations on the best route to their destination, thus helping to reduce road congestion. Information shown on road signs such as speed limits or traffic messages would also be sent wirelessly and displayed inside the vehicle.

As well as the technological challenges, the CVIS project is also tackling key issues for the take-up and large-scale deployment of this interoperable technology by vehicle manufacturers, road operators and the general public.

The recent European Commission Decision to allocate a single radio frequency for vehicle communication systems is a major policy milestone to boost faster deployment across Europe: “By removing the uncertainty about radio spectrum availability for cooperative systems the Commission Decision will spur the development and deployment of a growing number of cooperative mobility applications in the EU by providing one single frequency to the automotive industry and road operators.” says Kompfner.

In the first half of 2009 the CVIS technologies and applications developed over the last two years will move into the testing and validation phase, where they will be trialled at test sites in seven European countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the UK. The CVIS trials will use the newly dedicated ITS frequency band, and will be amongst the first to test the performance of these novel communication technologies.