BEST consortium presents broadcaster’s vision on future traffic and travel information services

During its first workshop on 14 March at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik in Munich, the BEST consortium (Broadcasters’ European Solution for Travel information) presented its plans and activities to implement a common public broadcast vision for future traffic and travel information (TTI) services on an international level. Intensive discussions with over 80 representatives of the whole service delivery chain addressed current and future challenges. The public broadcasters involved strive for open, license-free and cooperative solutions and plan to intensify the essential close collaboration with data providers as well as with car- and end-user device manufacturers to enable the future delivery of high-quality services. The BEST founders, originating from the German speaking countries, also announced to welcome additional members, specifically targeting the public broadcasters in Europe, to realise this common vision.

The quality of TTI services is a central theme for BEST. Current TMC-based navigation devices (TMC: Traffic Message Channel) too often present the editorially prepared traffic announcements in an erroneous way. Therefore a key activity is the improvement of the quality of these services. Furthermore, a quality initiative on international level, with support from BEST, shall ensure end-to-end information quality for future TTI services based on TPEG^TM (TPEG^TM: Transport Protocol Experts Group).

During the workshop many speakers emphasised the progress that TPEG^TM specifications have made towards their introduction in the market. TPEG^TM applications are part of a live service in the current digital radio pilot project by Bayerischer Rundfunk in Bavaria, in which traffic events, traffic flow data as well as parking information are being transmitted. Other broadcasters such as Westdeutscher Rundfunk conduct TPEG^TM test transmissions as well.
Technical solutions are readily available and are successfully deployed.

For consumers, TPEG^TM provides maximum flexibility in delivering a wider variety of information compared to current TMC-based services. This new format can give motorists more detailed intelligence about what is happening on the road ahead, with details of traffic speeds, the length of queues and the impact of a delay on overall travel time. TPEG^TM offers pinpoint accuracy, being able to locate events precisely. Additionally, TPEG^TM is designed to
provide many more types of information to the end user including parking information, public transport information, fuel prices and more. This way, future services can truly become multimodal.

The end-user will also benefit from TPEG^TM’s language independency and its possibility to support multiple presentation formats e.g. as text or as presentation on a map in a navigation device. Against the background of digital radio broadcast which is being rolled out in European
countries, insights were shared between broadcasters and other service providers on the challenges to smoothly realise the migration of traffic- and travel services in due time. To the way forward Thomas Kusche, ARD coordinator for Traffic Telematic activities and BEST chairman, stated: “We cannot do this by ourselves, cooperation and a continuous dialogue with all parties involved is essential. We invite all relevant market players to join us in the realisation of this vision. The workshop will give an additional impetus for the implementation of TPEG^TM in the market”.

Download the full Press Release here.