Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (above), the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), will open the ITS Forum 2018, a bi-annual European conference on traffic management organized by the EU ITS Platform in cooperation with the European Commission (EC).
Taking place on November 14-15 at the LEF Future Center at the Rijkswaterstaat’s office in Utrecht, the two-day ITS Forum offers a varied program centered around the theme: ‘Traffic management in a changing world’.
At the opening event, van Nieuwenhuizen will be joined by Federica Polce, coordinator of the EU ITS Platform on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Within the European ITS Platform, the continent’s road operators and authorities have teamed up with external stakeholders to foster European harmonization of ITS and deliver prominent results. Twice a year, the partners gather at the ITS Forums to discuss these results with each other, and other key stakeholders.
The November ITS Forum will focus on three sub-themes: Digitization, Multimodality, and Smart Infrastructures, which reflect a number of objectives of the EU ITS Platform.
Digitization and smart infrastructures will lead to more data, from vehicles and from infrastructure, which will be used to make transport safer and more efficient. Digitization will also change the way traffic management centers (TMCs) will operate, such as the use of smart cameras, and using big data, including information gathered from other (private) sources. Digitization will also enable TMCs to provide individualized route advice, most likely in cooperation with private service providers, using roadside beacons (G5) and cellular telecommunication (4G, 5G).
New technologies such as connected, cooperative and automated driving will drastically change the world of traffic management, with traditional ITS being increasingly complemented by C-ITS (Connected ITS) and other new methods, enabling new travel services to emerge, such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
With larger cities and more complex, busier networks, different road authorities will need to collaborate and work with industry (auto makers, ITS developers, content providers) and knowledge partners. These topics will be covered by speakers in a full program, including workshops, plenary and parallel sessions.
High level keynote speakers from all over Europe will contribute to the program, including:
• Herald Ruijters, EC director of investment, innovative and sustainable transport at DG MOVE, who will deliver a keynote on past, present and future perspectives of the European core network;
• Pierpaolo Tona of the EC’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), introducing the ITS Program of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF);
• Isabelle Vandoorne, EC deputy head of unit on sustainable and intelligent transport at DG MOVE, will conduct the closing session and will interview key experts and high-level stakeholders in the field of ITS and mobility (CEDR, IBTTA, FIA, ERF, POLIS).
Rijkswaterstaat officials will also interview Matthew Baldwin, deputy director-general of the EC’s DG MOVE policy unit.
The ITS Forum’s organizers are inviting all public and private stakeholders in traffic management to attend, including:
• Road authorities/public and private motorway operators;
• Urban road operators;
• ITS providers for traffic management and information;
• Traffic information service providers;
• Representatives of the automotive industry;
• Experts in C-ITS development;
• International stakeholder organizations;
• Consultants;
• Researchers.
