| Intelligent choices |
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The industry has become much more efficient, roads and rail have become faster and more reliable, but, essentiality, the same tools were used in the 1990’s to plan and organise transport as were in use at the end of the World War II. However, in the past 10 years, the changes that herald a revolution in transport have been happening with the start of communications to and from vehicles. ITS started with traffic management systems aimed at maximising network capacity in cities by co-ordinating traffic signals in the 1970s. This same technology was also applied to the motorway network to provide surveillance and variable message signs to give traffic warning of hazards. These systems have developed into significant traffic management networks, which have enabled the very significant increases in road traffic over the past 20 years to be handled on essentially the same network with remarkably small increases in congestion, despite some obvious hot-spots that get a lot of publicity. Compared to 20 years ago, a revolution has already taken place in the amount of information that is available to the transport user, and particularly the road user. For example, logistics planning systems are commonplace today in the freight industry to assist with journey planning. Up-to-date congestion information is available in many forms, including web-based systems, for users to plan their journey. The accuracy of this information and its reliability is set to improve dramatically in the next few years as the Travel Information Highway (TIH), an initiative supported by DfT and the Highways Agency, gets fully underway. This information network will enable the exchange of transport information between all parties without delay. Thus, information providers will no longer need to collect traffic data themselves and search for additional information to fill in the gaps in their knowledge, it will all be available to them on the TIH network.
We are already familiar with Automatic Braking Systems (ABS) in cars that detect a sliding wheel under heavy braking and automatically reduce the braking to prevent skidding. Such systems are now commonplace on vehicles and show how automatic systems can help drivers. Another system that is appearing on top-of-the-range cars is adaptive cruise control, which automatically adjusts the speed of the vehicle to that of the vehicle in front, keeping a safe distance between the vehicles at all speeds. In the near future, we are likely to see systems that can help lane following; reversing aids; and the introduction of adaptive speed monitoring. All these systems have significant safety benefits and ITS is now at the forefront of safety on the road. (A number of these systems were featured in the winter 2002/3 edition of RoadSafe.) The Intelligent Transport Society for the United Kingdom (ITS United Kingdom) is an association formed in 1992 and now with a membership over 130 corporate organisations, from both public and private sectors. The society is devoted to the promotion of ITS within the UK and the promotion of UK technology overseas. Members include central government departments, local government, consultants, universities and system manufacturers in addition to operators of the transport networks and public transport. The organisation is funded from membership subscriptions and is entirely independent of any members. It can therefore bring together all sectors in addition to making representations to government and internationally, where appropriate, on behalf of the whole industry. It operates primarily through a number of interest groups which undertake a full programme of seminars in addition to promotional activities throughout the transport industry. In 1994, in order to draw together work across the world on ITS, a World Congress was initiated, and this has been held annually at various locations around the world since that date (see picture, right). The 10th anniversary Congress is being held this year in Madrid just a few days after I write this article and the next time the event will be in Europe will be in 2006 when the Congress is due to be held in London.
In the road safety field, the e-safety initiative, led by ERTICO, our sister organisation in Europe, seeks to draw together all strands of ITS to develop active safety applications. This work is now a major world-wide feature of ITS and promises to bring very significant safety enhancements to our roads. For example, it is well known that nearly all road accidents are, at least in part, the result of human failures. The development of driver assistance systems will remove much of the routine burden of driving from drivers. Systems such as collision warning systems, speed monitoring and control, cruise control, through all speeds from stop-start to high speed intercity roads, will not eliminate crashes, but will prevent those momentary lapses in concentration turning into a crash. Papers on these systems presented in Madrid show that not merely are the technical issues now well understood, but commercial applications are close to fruition in many instances. The effects on safety should be very significant. Of course, the transport infrastructure has to be paid for, and the introduction of congestion charging in London and Durham has pushed to issue of road charging to the fore. The introduction, or not, of charges is a political issue upon which ITS United Kingdom must properly stay neutral. However, we do recognise that there are now a number of different systems that would enable charges to be reliably and accurately collected from vehicles without the need for expensive and very intrusive toll plazas or the “Big Brother” issues associated with continuous monitoring of vehicle location. Of course, many fleets do already use considerable vehicle location systems to manage their activities, but road pricing can be simply undertaken without the use of contentious measures to monitor the location of vehicles, as the London scheme has demonstrated (see picture, above). Therefore, I do believe that ITS has a very important role to play in the future transport requirements within the UK for all modes of transport. Information is the key to effective, efficient management of the transport assets of the UK and the use of active ITS safety features looks set to reduce road casualties significantly in the next few years. (See picture, top left).
Details of transport to the final destination, via public transport, hire car or taxi, or most important a mixture of different modes, would be available during the journey to make door-to-door journeys to unfamiliar destinations much easier. Optimal route choices will also be available and, if the car is selected for all or part of the journey, then significant driver assistance with route guidance to the final destination, including walking from the car park to the door, will be the norm. All this will take the stress and danger out of routine journeys and enable real choices to be made for journeys, not simply taking the route that was used last time because that is all the user knows. ITS is the key to much of this. It is not “Star Wars” technology. The systems are already tried and tested in most instances. Vision for the future is certainly needed, for experience shows that if we do not know where we are going, it is highly unlikely we will get there. To misquote an advertising slogan: “the future is bright, the future is ITS.” |
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