With second session of today, Isabel Wilmink (TNO) concluded this first of two-day event by showing some of the eCoMove findings and the lessons learnt. According to the final results and the cost-benefit analysis of eCoMove, there are no reasons for not implementing the project’s applications and services. Nevertheless, there are few issues that represent a barrier to the full implementation of those applications. Namely legal (privacy, liability, etc.); financial (due to the high costs for some stakeholders); political and cultural (uncertainty about costs and benefits, user acceptance, penetration rates are still unknown); and technical issues (complexity of data and interoperability).
Also the eCoMove architecture is very complex; the core technologies use a lot of data and the processing method of those data is not to be underestimated. Finally, there are many parties involved from different sectors which needed to be coordinated.
To these issues correspond answers and solutions; for instance the number and diversity of organisations and stakeholders involved can sign Memoranda of Understanding. Marketing campaigns and driving training can be a solution for user acceptance, for instance by concretely showing drivers and stakeholders the potential and use of the eCoMove functionalities.
The debate was carried on during a Round Table moderated by Paul Kompfner, Head of SmartMobility at ERTICO and which hosted representatives of public authorities (Gert Blom of the City of Helmond), manufacturers (Mikael Soderman from Volvo), suppliers (Klaas Rozema from Imtech & Traffic Infra), research institutes (Luisa Andreone, Centro Ricerche Fiat), and users (Zeljko Jeftic from IRU Project).
The round table addressed issues related to user compliance, business models, and barriers for deployment, amongst others.
Following Luisa Andreone statement on the already established cooperation between research and innovation teams on cooperative systems, Paul Kompfner asked how the automotive industry can ensure that all necessary stakeholders are involved in the deployment of such services. According to Gert Blom, a lot of activities and initiatives at European level are going towards this direction; the problem is more related to the integration of different application services. Public authorities do not have the capability of investing large amount of money on new technologies. The focus on the benefits of the cooperative services is fundamental in this framework; in order to maximise the promotion and acceptance of cooperative systems a combination of services focusing on safety and energy efficiency issues should be developed.
The importance of including the users, to inform them and to get feedback from them is central in this debate according to Zeljko Jeftic. Whilst for Klaas Rozema, the technology is not the main problem, the next step is in fact to find certain areas where it is possible to use these services and products and work with the cities to get them deployed.
The round table closed this first day. Tomorrow the sessions will focus on the driver needs, the network management and the results.
