Automotive & Road Transport Systems
A community for the growth and exchange of knowledge in engineering and technology
The 13th World Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services of October 2006 organised by ITS was highly successful.
Introduction
The Congress and Exhibition served as an ideal opportunity for world transport executives, transport enthusiasts, academics and innovators to liaise with ITS experts on an international basis.
The high attendance level and popularity of the event can be accredited to the superior quality of work that was exhibited as well as the diverse discussion forums provided.
One can determine that the success of this event is indicative that the ITS World Congress are triumphant in their mission to encourage and enable the exchange of information.
Special Sessions
The Institution of Engineering and Technology hosted two special sessions at the conference and the presentations and debates from these sessions can be viewed on IET.tv by using the hyperlinks below:
UK National Road Pricing
9 October 2006
This session summarised UK policy and plans. It described the Department for Transport funded DIRECTS technology and interoperability trials in Leeds and the resulting Open Minimum Interoperability Specifications (OMIS), the London Congestion Charging scheme with its Western Extension and Transport for London’s technology Trials, and the Transport Innovation Fund set up to finance further trials and implementations within UK Local Authorities.
Moderator
• Dr. John Walker, Technical Consultant, Thales, Services Division, Telecommunications Services, UK
Speakers
• Steve Gooding, Head of Roads Performance and Strategy Directorate, Department for Transport, UK
• Don Mackinnon, Road Pricing Programme Manager, Department for Transport, UK
• Duncan Matheson, Consultant, PA Consulting Group, UK
• Keith Jones, DIRECTS Project Manager, Kellogg, Brown & Root, UK
• Keith McGhee, DIRECTS Operations Manager, Thales, UK
• Jeremy Evans, Head of Traffic Management, Transport for London, UK
• Colin Eastman, Transport Policy Advisor to Coventry City Council and Head of Technology on the West Midlands Transport Innovation Fund Project, UK
Road pricing debate: end-user questions and answers
10 October 2006
Most ITS professionals believe that road pricing is a good idea, but others, including politicians and motorists, are opposed.
The Session was a debate between pro-pricing, con-pricing and "agnostics".
Issues included:
• The pros and cons of road pricing for the ITS specialist, transport economist/planner, freight operator, transport planner, motoring organisation, environmentalist, national and local authorities
• When do we expect to see:
National road pricing in the UK
replacement of fuel duty by distance-based charging
Moderator:
Professor Phil Blythe: Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Speakers:
ITS specialist: Bernard Lamy, Thales Transport Services
Transport Expert: Professor Mike Bell, Imperial College
Freight industry: James Hookham, Chief Executive and Policy Director, Freight Transport Association
Motoring organization: Edmund King, Executive Director, RAC Foundation
Environmentalist: Stephen Joseph, Executive Director, Transport 2000
Local Authority Representative: Caroline Shield, Gateshead Council
IET Awards
The Institution wanted to acknowledge outstanding demonstrations of an ITS concept and presented two awards at the congress – one for the best exhibition demonstration and one for best dynamic demonstration.
The judges were members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology's Automotive and Road Transport Network and were looking not only at standard of presentation but also practical demonstration and communication of an innovative ITS product, feature or service.
Entries were judged on the following criteria:
- overall level of technical innovation
- integration of available technologies in a novel way
- engineering content (Information or Communications Technologies Engineering)
- presentation
- best use of available resources
- quality of construction
- planning
- demonstrates a real-world application
- identified route to deployment
- communicates the ITS application to a wide audience
The awards were presented by Paul Jackson, Head of Professional Operations at the Institution at the Closing Ceremony on Thursday 12 October 2006.
The award for best exhibition demonstration went to Denso for their Driver monitoring system demonstration.
The award for best dynamic demonstration went to MIRA for their Intelligent Speed Adaption system demonstration.
The 14th World Congress will be held in Beijing, China 9-13 October 2007. The theme for this will be "ITS for a Better Life" The Congress will showcase the ITS industry's latest products and technological achievements.
For further details of this event please monitor The ITS UK Homepage.
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