ERTICO News: Join ERTICO and its Partners in New York!

Date: 14 November 2008

More than 900 delegates from Europe will attend the Congress, and 161 papers from 52 ERTICO Partners will be presented, the vast majority of which are technical papers (107 from 38 Partners). 800 exhibitors are expected for an exhibition space of 350.000 sq ft., of which more than 13.000 sq. ft. will be used by the 30 ERTICO Partners and ITS National Associations represented onsite.

Monica Sundström, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ERTICO - ITS Europe, will welcome the high-level European delegation during the Opening Ceremony on Sunday 16 November. She will also speak in the Safety Plenary Session on Wednesday 19 November. ERTICO CEO Hermann Meyer will be on the panel of the Executive Session on ‘ITS Vision 2030’, on Thursday 20 November. In addition, recognised ITS leaders from Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas will consider the nature and state of ITS in 2030.

The Special Sessions will kick off on Monday 17 November with a panel on ‘Customer Expectations for Public Transport Information Services: Can We Deliver?’  Gary Bridgeman, Project Manager at ERTICO, will be on the panel, which will explore current market research being conducted by public transport agencies, the resulting innovations being implemented throughout the world, and the role of an “information strategy” in developing and deploying these innovations. Also on Monday, a session organised by James Burgess on behalf of the Traveller Information Services Association (TISA), will look into ‘Consistent Traffic and Traveller Information - Applications and Services Across Technologies’. This session will explore the challenges faced by the members of the traffic and travel information supply chain as they work with evolving infrastructure, technologies, and user needs.

On Tuesday 18 November, the Special Sessions will turn to the safety theme. During the session on ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of Active Safety Systems’ Maxime Flament, Head of Sector - Safety at ERTICO will discuss with fellow panelists the need for Field Operational Tests (FOTs), innovations in designing and conducting FOTs, alternative testing and evaluation methods, and the merits of international cooperation to coordinate FOT activities to better use limited resources. A session on Cooperative Systems will follow, looking into the ‘Progress of Cooperative Systems in Different Regions’. Paul Kompfner, Head of Sector -  Efficiency and Environment at ERTICO, will discuss with representatives from different regions, their experiences and the issues faced when seeking real-world deployment.

Later the same day, a session organised and moderated by Yanying Li, Project Manager at ERTICO, will explore ‘Satellite Communication at the Service of ITS’. This session will discuss integrating satellite communication with its applications in terms of economy, coverage, quality of services, etc., to understand which are the most promising ITS applications, and to identify drivers and barriers to satcom integration. Turning to the ‘Freight Transport Agenda’, a session organised by Zeljko Jeftic, Project Manager at ERTICO, will explore international freight transport and how ITS is being used to improve its overall efficiency.

A session on ‘Environmental Traffic management’ will take a closer look at the many ideas and approaches to address the challenge of air pollution in cities, also on Tuesday 18 November. Paul Kompfner  will discuss with his fellow panelists possible approaches, their effectiveness and efficiency, as well as how to overcome potential implementation hurdles.

On Wednesday 19 November, ERTICO’s Maxime Flament will participate in a panel on ‘Status Report on Field Operational Test Programmes’. This session will provide an overview on the current status of FOT work worldwide and address programme strategies, the structure and conduct of the tests, and the expected results.

Later the same day, Vincent Blervaque, Director Development & Deployment at ERTICO, will sit  on a panel looking at ‘Standardizing Map Data Delivery to Driver Assistance Systems: Status and Challenges Ahead’. In this special session, leading international participants in these standardization efforts will discuss their involvement, current progress, and the challenges that lie ahead. Paul Kompfner will organise and moderate a session on ‘Opportunities for International Cooperation on Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems’ on Thursday, 20 November. This interactive round-table session will bring together a panel of leaders from global cooperative system programs, who will identify and debate the needs, opportunities, and priority actions for international cooperation and convergence.

ERTICO staff also moderate a number of Technical Sessions, covering a wide range of subjects from a technical perspective, such as speed management and enforcement, freight transport, ITS architecture – National plant management, eco-driving, ITS communications, route guidance and navigation, and public transport technology, to name but a few.

Please visit the ERTICO stand No. 1046!