Discussing the Revised RTTI Delegated Regulation

On 1st February 2023 NAPCORE hosted a successful workshop on the Revised RTTI Delegation Regulation, in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry and NAPCORE Advisory Board members, TISA, TomTom, TM 2.0, POLIS, and CEDR, that attracted over 160 participants. The workshop informed participants on the implications of the revised RTTI Delegated Regulation for both road authorities as well as private service providers. It provided an up-to-date overview, from the perspective of road authorities, of the challenges ahead and shortcomings of the navigation services available today. If you missed the webinar, you can download the presentation and the recording here.

Service providers will organize a follow up workshop in Berlin at the end of April to continue the discussion on the revised regulation. If you would like to join, you can state your preference via this link

On the same topic, TISA is greatly looking forward to the workshop organised by TM 2.0 on Fine Tuning TM 2.0 Cooperation Levels between Public Authorities and Service Providers in Relation to the Revised RTTI Delegated Regulation. The workshop will take place on Wednesday 22 February 2023 from 10:00 to 12:00 (CET) in Brussels at the ERTICO- ITS Europe office (Blue Tower Louise, Avenue Louise 326) and is open to all upon registration through this link. During the workshop, participants will discuss and update the current levels of cooperation that are defined under the TM 2.0 concept of interactive traffic management.

Complex and evolving standards in mobility

The landscape of mobility standards, codes of practice, regulations is complex and evolving driven by multiple stakeholders as well as different influences, environments, and regulatory frameworks. So said Jon Harrod Booth, when he came to speak at TISA’s Committee meeting in Brussels about the mobility standards that power forward data information particularly across cities.

With a background in ITS, connected vehicles, and R&D in US, UK and Europe –  Mr Harrod Booth’s focus at TISA was Urban Vehicle Access Regulations (or UVAR) a form of traffic management that regulates access in specific urban locations according to vehicle type, occupancy, emissions category as well as the role UVAR plays in the further development of DATEX II – the standard for the exchange of traffic related data and improving traffic information delivery.

Mr Harrod Booth outlined to members the challenges of dealing with traffic access restrictions in a city, the extent to which it can be modelled and how accurately it can be communicated as well as the challenges of having standardised data vocabulary in place across Europe. He also said that it has been a long-term ambition for the European Commission to include mobility and digital information into the ‘Single Digital Gateaway – My Europe’ portal. This single digital gateway facilitates online access to information, administrative procedures, and assistance services that EU citizens and businesses may need in another EU country. This, he says ‘is important because overall it includes the objective of making it easier for citizens and businesses to move within the EU and could offer the possibility of including mobility data information’.

He noted that many cities were already participating in providing their own digital traffic information using DATEX II for their cities, however that results from the UVAR Box project offer a real opportunity to accelerate the digitisation of traffic information using DATEX II.

EINRIDE- changing road freight for good

Zeljko Jeftic of Einride presented an overview of this innovative truck and freight company at TISA’s Committee Meeting in December.  The road freight industry accounts for 7 percent of global CO2 emissions, consuming over 5 million barrels of oil per year. Einride was started in Sweden in 2016, based on the conviction that the new era of electrification delivered opportunities to create a more sustainable version of freight transport, using Autonomous Electric Transport (AET), and an intelligent mobility platform.

Equipped with this strong intention of revolutionising the truck industry, the challenge for Einride is to convince and commit the larger truck manufacturers in the longer term to the use of self-driving trucks without drivers but in the medium term to co-ordinate and supply electric trucks to larger companies such as manufacturers IKEA, LIDL, AB BEV. ‘However, the take-up has been amazing; companies are keen to ensure that the way they deliver their products is sustainable. This has led to commitment all round from manufacturers and companies. In the longer-term they also show their willingness to sign-up to automation if we can make sure it works,’ said Zeljko Jeftic. With this perspective, Einride is working with the EU on a European Level 4 project on the automation of freight from Rotterdam to Oslo. ‘We work closely with local companies in the regions we work with to install the infrastructure and use locally sourced drivers. Eventually these drivers will be trained to control the automated trucks we build and use.’

Future collaboration and TISA’s role in the resulting automated eco-system to provide an effective way of information exchange was discussed at the meeting.

Eco-counter- counting solutions for pedestrians and bikes

Vincent Dieulesaint of Eco-counter presented to TISA in Brussels at the December Committee meeting. Specialised in pedestrian and bicycle counting solutions, Eco-Counter offers a complete range of products from sensors to data analysis software. With a reach of 40 billion people across 55 countries, the company has a large footprint and has become a worldwide market leader.

Mr Dieulesaint said ‘Eco-counter works in some of the most advanced cities across the world active in transportation policy, particularly focused on developing the multi-modal aspect of smarter mobility.’ The technology works through the detection of human heat, and the company offers a range of solutions that fit into a variety of environments such as cycling infrastructure and parking as well as working with other mobility platforms hosting multiple datasets. ‘There are challenges however such as multiple standards and formats (CSV, XML, TXT) and it is imperative to have interoperability and a common way of exchanging data’. Working closely with their customers they aim to create open standards that can allow easy integration.

Following up on a question from TISA member on what the data was used for, Mr Dieulesaint said that the information provided essential information on city pathways and their use, but thus far there was no use to feed back to users i.e. cyclists themselves. TISA members wondered about the potential for TISA to provide that vital link of feeding back information to users in future projects.

TISA a key driver in the 18th Open Auto Drive Forum

TISA presented at the 18^th Open Auto Drive Forum (OADF) that took place on-line on 22 November 2022. The OADF intends to give all stakeholders involved in automated driving the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences on standardisation matters. At the event, Executive Director of TISA Matthias Unbehaun gave an update of the organisation’s latest activities including on the role that TPEG2 EAW plays in emergency situations, TPEG DRR and future developments towards TPEG3.

Whilst presenting, Matthias Unbehaun pointed out that  ‘TISA contributes to closing gaps in the ODD and creating a seamless automated driving experience by delivering standards for the provision of highly dynamic traffic information for AD vehicles. This type of information focuses on non-standard or unexpected situations for AD vehicles and it also increases the look-ahead beyond the range of the on-board sensors. ‘ He also concluded that TISA had made good progress working on its toolchain to become the ‘workbench for TPEG3 for AD’. A quick survey made by TISA and taken at the event, revealed that the current working assumption to use protocol buffers for serialization needed to be revisited and other serialization schemes to be considered for further benchmarking.

Also, in attendance were the other OADF member organisations, including ADASIS, NDS, SENSORIS, SIP-adus, TISA and TN-ITS as well as ASAM.  Thought leaders such as Aria Etemad from Volkswagen outlined the challenges of introducing higher automation, Steffen Kuhn from Elektrobit presented recommendations on map reliability in the upcoming ISO TS 5083 and Trond Hovland from ITS Norway talked about standardizing HD maps for the next generation of mobility.

In 2015, the OADF was set up to create an ecosystem for automated driving and coordinate standardization matters within this ecosystem. Major progress has already been made in establishing and updating a commonly accepted ecosystem architecture that identifies the building blocks needed for autonomous driving and its main interfaces, as well as the understanding of functional safety issues involved in using HD maps.