Road transport: framework for the deployment of intelligent transport systems and for interfaces with other transport modes

The Commission presents its staff working document on the ex post evaluation of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Directive 2010/40/EU.

As a reminder, the evaluation assesses the implementation of the ITS Directive in all 28 Member States between 2008 and 2017. This covers the period from the adoption of the ITS action plan and the original Commission proposal for the ITS Directive, and includes the 2017 reporting cycle by Member States and the Commission on the deployment of ITS and the implementation of the ITS Directive and its delegated regulations.

This staff working document sets out an extensive evaluation of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of Directive 2010/40/EU.

Relevance

The ITS Directive remains a relevant tool to address the issues of: (i) lack of coordination in ITS deployment across the EU and (ii) slow, risky and not-cost effective ITS deployment, as the use of ITS is increasing but is still not contributing fully to improvement of the road transport system. This is also due to the nature of ITS deployment, which despite improvements still often remains restricted to a limited geographical scope and is not continuous. Thus, there remains a clear need for further action on interoperability, cooperation mechanisms and data sharing to enable seamless, continuous ITS services across the EU.

The scope of the ITS Directive is also still relevant today, with the identified priority areas still covering the relevant topics, services and data.

The delegated acts adopted under the ITS Directive also remain relevant, while some stakeholders consider that the scope of some delegated acts could be extended to increase their relevance, for instance extending eCall to other vehicle types, adding requirements for information on alternative fuels infrastructure, low emission zones and vehicle sharing to support sustainable mobility, and the extension of geographical coverage for some data included in the current specifications. This has been reflected in the updated working programme of the Directive, drawn up in coordination with Member State experts and adopted on 11 December 2018.

Effectiveness

In general, the ITS Directive has had a positive impact on the deployment of ITS across the EU. However, given that the deployment of ITS and the implementation of the delegated regulations are still at an early stage, there is not enough evidence to determine if this already makes a significant contribution to improving the continuity of ITS services across the EU, and in turn to reducing the negative externalities (accidents, congestion, pollution) of road transport. 

The impacts of the ITS Directive cannot be easily discerned from that of numerous other EU, national and local policies that have been put in place that also address the negative externalities of transport.

However, most stakeholders believe that the ITS Directive and its delegated acts have made a positive contribution in this regard, and the benefits have been demonstrated in specific deployments.

Specifications have been adopted as planned for 5 out of 6 priority actions (through delegated regulations), and other relevant standards have also been adopted (e.g. DATEX II for the exchange of data).

National access points have been established in many Member States since the adoption of the delegated regulations, and although implementation is not yet complete, compared to the baseline scenario (where it was envisaged that only some countries would have set up NAPs), the developments represent significant progress in setting up an EU backbone infrastructure for ITS data.

Efficiency

The most significant costs for the EU are related to the funding made available for ITS. This covers deployment funding under CEF as well as research funding under Horizon 2020 and Structural Funds under ESIF. Other significant costs to the EU, although these are two orders of magnitude below deployment and research funding, cover standardisation activities and the costs of preparation and support studies for the delegated acts.

Considering that the benefits of ITS cannot yet be quantified, it is not possible to assess the cost-benefit ratio of the implementation of the ITS Directive. However, stakeholder input did not suggest that the costs associated with the Directive are disproportionally high, and no unexpected costs were highlighted.

The most significant remaining issue is the lack of comparability between Member State reports.

Coherence

In general, the ITS Directive and its delegated acts are internally coherent. A point of attention is the frequency and timing of reporting obligations, which are currently not aligned. Also, in a fast developing field such as ITS, the consistency of terminology used in the different pieces of legislation needs continuous attention.

Another point of attention is whether the ITS Directive will continue to be focused on those services that are mature, sufficiently interoperable and able to create a catalytic effect across Europe.

EU added value

Lastly, the ITS Directive, with the resulting deployment of interoperable ITS services, is considered to have led to EU-wide positive results. The opinion of most stakeholders validate the notion that action at EU level had clear benefits when it came to addressing the key problems and needs identified at the time of the legislation’s adoption.

The EU level is considered the most relevant for providing such a framework. Action at national level would likely not address the key problem of incoherent, inconsistent and fragmented development of ITS across the EU.

Likewise, it does not seem justified to repeal the ITS Directive.