The Commission presented a report on the implementation of Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport.
The ITS Directive aims at accelerating the coordinated deployment and use across Europe of intelligent transport systems in road transport (and interfaces with other modes). It identifies a list of six priority actions and is based on a two-step approach:
- the Commission is empowered first to adopt, through delegated acts, the necessary specifications to ensure compatibility, interoperability and continuity for the deployment and operational use of ITS;
- at the latest 12 months after the adoption of the necessary specifications for a priority action, the Commission is to present a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council on the deployment of that priority action.
To that end, the Commission adopted a working programme covering the period 2011-15 which sets the estimated due dates for the adoption of the specifications related to the six priority actions.
Adopted specifications: so far, the ITS Directive has been an efficient tool for the rapid adoption of common specifications for the following priority actions:
- the harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall (Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013);
- data and procedures for the provision, where possible, of road safety related minimum universal traffic information free of charge to users (Delegated Regulation (EU) No 886/2013);
- the provision of information services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles (Delegated Regulation (EU) No 885/2013).
The work on the specifications for the remaining two priority actions (EU-wide real-time traffic information and EU-wide multimodal travel information services) will be dealt with before the end of the working programme in 2015.
Regarding reservation services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles, no further action in the near future is needed.
Priorities and perspectives: taking into account the emergence of new long-term trends also mentioned in the Commission Staff Working Document on the progress report and review of the ITS Action Plan (e.g. use of crowd-sourcing for transport data) and the possible necessity to set up new priorities beyond the six currently defined priority actions and four priority areas, it seems necessary as a first step to prioritise the remaining actions to be addressed in the current scope of the ITS Directive and ITS Action Plan.
In a second phase, it will be necessary to reflect on, and start preparing work for a possible revision of the ITS Directive and of the supporting ITS Action Plan, taking into account the constant technical evolution of ITS and building also on the conclusions of the Commission Staff Working Document on the progress report and review of the ITS Action Plan.