In a public hearing on the ITS Action Plan held in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee Hermann Meyer CEO of ERTICO was invited to give a presentation along with a number of other experts from industry and public administration. In her introduction the Rapporteur on the Action Plan Ms Anne Jensen MEP called on MEPs to support the ITS Action Plan as it would make transport greener safer and more efficient. She stressed the need for common standards and for better cooperation between Member States.
Mr Fotis Karamitsos from the European Commission’s Directorate-General Transport said in his introductory remarks that after spending billions of Euro on research the ITS Action Plan would now help to speed up deployment of ITS solutions. He added that the Commission had limited the Action Plan to a number of concrete and realistic actions.
Hermann Meyer offered the audience an overview of the integration of the vehicle into the transport infrastructure. He explained how cooperative mobility systems work using many concrete examples. “If you’re driving on an icy road in future your car will automatically give this information to other drivers who use the same road” said Hermann Meyer. He stressed that the new systems will optimise traffic flow: “When you’re approaching an intersection the traffic lights will already know that you’re arriving and change to the green light”. On the other hand if a driver approaches a red traffic light without noticing it explained Mr Meyer the car can warn the driver and even intervene to save lives.
In a lively Question & Answer session MEPs raised a number of issues ranging from data protection to concerns regarding reliability of the technology. Hermann Meyer made it clear that “we shouldn’t talk too much about rapid deployment we should talk about high-quality deployment instead. This will ensure that proven ITS solutions get on the road which will really make a difference for efficiency safety and environmentally friendliness of transport.”
The ITS Action Plan will be further discussed and voted in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee at the end of March while the first reading vote in Plenary is scheduled for the 21-24 April Plenary Session.
Read the European Parliament’s official Press Release on the event.
Link to original Article
http://www.ertico.com/ertico-news-hermann-meyer-speaks-at-european-parliament-hearing-on-its/
Original Publication Date: Tue 27 Jul 2010
