The fast-paced development of intelligent transport solutions doesn’t halt at the border to Russia. While it started up its activities comparatively late, Russia is now on full speed to implement ITS solutions nation-wide. One of the first big achievements was reducing congestion in its capital Moscow through the introduction of new ITS technologies (e.g. sensors, road safety cameras) and the modernisation of existing systems. Plans by the government to introduce connected cars and deploy V2X communication are part of the concept towards more road safety and less accidents. On the path to development, Russia is building its first smart road, which will be launched this year.
Russia is becoming an important player in the transport field and an active Partner in ERTICO. It is vital to have a successful cooperation across borders and Tatarstan’s Ministry of Informatization and Communication is exchanging experiences, best practices and knowledge with the rest of Europe. For this reason, a delegation of ERTICO Partners participated in the 5th ITS Forum organised by the ministry to discuss the future of ITS deployment. The event took place in Kazan on 27 – 28 February 2018.
An Executive ERTICO session on Connected and Automated Driving, moderated by ERTICO’s CEO Jacob Bangsgaard, brought together ERTICO Partners from across sectors as well as Russian representatives. The discussion focused on legislation issues, safety, education, future development, and cooperation. ERTICO Partners ASFINAG, IRU, SWARCO and Volvo Group exchanged their views with Russian counterparts from the “KAMAZ” Group and “NAMI”, the State Scientific Centre of the Russian Federation.
The ITS Forum – Kazan attracted more than 2,700 developers and consumers of intelligent transport systems from the Russian Federation, Belarus, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Romania and Mongolia. Among the participants were the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministers and governmental authorities, leading scientists, researchers, car manufacturers, and business companies oriented to ITS related topics.
A highlight of this year’s ITS Forum was the presentation of situational centres as a new tool of governmental management that covers scientific, technical, economic and social interests. The situational centre of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan was shown to the participants of the Forum during one of the technical tours.
ERTICO CEO Jacob Bangsgaard together with Rustam Minnikhanov (President of the Republic of Tatarstan), Vladimir Shvetsov (Head of Federal department of traffic police) and Roman Shaykhutdinov (Deputy Prime Minister, Ministry of Informatization and Communication) visiting the exhibition area.
Development in robotics were shown at the technical tours.
The ITS Forum – Kazan put their focus of future work within the field for smart mobility (for the Russian Federation and beyond) on national ITS strategy, ITS infrastructure, evaluation system of ITS effectiveness, governmental ITS regulation system, technical committees for standardisation, ITS education, ITS commercialisation, and autonomous mobility and environment.
A resolution was adopted by all participants and it included the following priorities: development of V2X, development of connected mobility, development of intelligent systems for road and air mobility safety, and designing information models of transport environment based on situational centres. The results of these initiatives will be discussed at the next ITS Forum – Kazan in 2020.
Here are some highlights from ERTICO Partners who participated to the event:
“The conference was very well organised. I was very satisfied with the content which reflected the most up-to-date ITS topics. In my impression, the Russian automobile industry is very much future-oriented and their focus is clearly on road-safety. This, of course, is very positive from a road operator’s point view. I also enjoyed the great hospitality of the host.”
Klaus Schierhackl, CEO, ASFINAG
“The conference held a high academic level and it is impressive the amount of support the ITS area has from the government in Tatarstan. It was well organized with good respect for the schedule. Also, the effort they are putting in both education and research in the area of science and technology is impressive.”
Anders Bonander, Senior Product Planner, Volvo Group
“The trip to Kazan was a very interesting experience. It was a good opportunity for IRU to present I_HeERO an EU project focusing on eCall implementation for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) and establish links with Moscow University and the Ministry of Tatarstan to cooperate on cross border technical feasibility of eCall. The panel provided a good moment for discussion with local stakeholders and the visit to Innopolis, a brand new technical university, revealed the different technical approach that a large country like Russia is taking on autonomous driving based mainly on detailed mapping of the environment. Finally, for IRU the discussion with the Ministry of Tatarstan provided the opportunity to start exploring cooperation on intermodal trade. So all in all a very positive visit and I also enjoyed the time with the other ERTICO Partners.”
Monica Giannini, Senior Manager, IRU
The ERTICO delegation together with Kirill Semenikhin (Director of Innopolis University) and Rifkat Minnikhanov (Director of “Road safety” state company) and their teams
Author: Ministry of Informatization & Communication, Republic of Tatarstan
Photo credit: Ministry of Informatization & Communication, Republic of Tatarstan
