TISA signed a collaboration agreement with five organisations to strengthen the cooperation on the standardised delivery of Safety Related Traffic Information (SRTI) in Europe.

Six European and International organisations in the mobility domain team up to further strengthen cooperation
on the standardised delivery of safety-related traffic information in Europe.

• The new agreement between TISA, DATEX II, CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, Data for Road Safety ecosystem, NAPCORE and C-Roads will lead to improved harmonisation of Message Sets for Safety Related Traffic Information (SRTI), addressing the Delegated Regulation 886/2013 and paving the way for increased safety on European roads.
• The agreement ensures the continuation of an activity initially launched in 2013 between TISA and DATEX II, which has successfully expanded to include cooperation with NAPCORE, CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, Data for Road Safety ecosystem and C-Roads.
• The document provides recommendations on how to properly apply the standards mentioned below for providing data and services on the eight SRTI event categories, as defined by the Delegated Regulation 886/2013, through as many delivery channels as possible

Brussels, 04.04.2024 – Traveller Information Services Association (TISA), a membership association with worldwide scope on proactive implementation of traffic and travel information services and products has entered into a collaboration agreement with NAPCORE, DATEX II, CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, Data for Road Safety ecosystem and C-Roads.

An initial agreement from 2013 resulted in the first proposal for harmonised message sets in TPEG2 (ISO IS/TS 21219), TMC (ISO EN 14819-2) and DATEX II (CET/TS 16157) format, responding to the EU Delegated Regulation 886/2013 (Priority Action c of the European ITS Directive 2020/40/EU). Over the years, as more technologies and standardised delivery channels can distribute SRTI content to users, more organisations have joined the work. This includes the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, providing message sets in the DENM (ETSI EN 302 637-3) format, as well as Data for Road Safety ecosystem, supporting SRTI data sharing from vehicles and mobile apps in Europe. The recent additions of NAPCORE and C-Roads further strengthens and expands the collaboration.

The new collaboration agreement establishes a governance structure to ensure efficient partnership between the undersigning entities with the goal to ensure:

• continuous work progress on the recommendations for interoperability and harmonization between standards;
• confirm commitment of the participating organisations towards shared goals;
• provide regular publication of work updates of the different organisations.

Statement from TISA:

‘More and more ITS standards can now support the delivery of SRTI messages to drivers across Europe in various channels. This collaboration agreement will help move everyone forward in a consistent and harmonized pace’ says TISA Chairwoman Stephanie Leonard (TomTom).

Statement from NAPCORE

“This is a win for road safety in Europe! Joining forces of some of the most relevant organisations in the standardisation, provision and exchange of mobility data in Europe on the important domain of road safety related data will enable the continued, sustainable evolvement of services warning drivers of hazardous road conditions” says Timo Hoffmann, General Secretary of NAPCORE.

Statement from DATEX II

“Ensuring road and traffic safety is a fundamental responsibility for road operators. However, road safety is affected by numerous external and uncontrollable events. These incidents necessitate collective efforts from everyone on the road to detect, share information, and provide warnings. To road operators this collaboration underscores the commitment of all stakeholders in the ITS domain to contribute. Together we aim to fully harness the potential of ITS to enhance road safety and, in doing so, save lives without hesitation. This way we materialize our joint responsibility to create safer roads for travellers and those working on and along our roads. DATEX II, as a formal reference, is unwavering in its dedication to enabling seamless digital services that facilitate cross-platform data exchange, free from semantical and technical barriers.”  Bard de Vries, Chair of the European DATEX II Community.

Statement from CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium

“Today those that make C-ITS happen, from standards, road operators, data exchange to automotive have gathered together to drive road safety in Europe further towards ‘Vision Zero’. This will further increase Europe’s global lead in Road Safety and C-ITS. This cross-sector cooperation is another important step towards our vision – Increasing road safety and traffic efficiency toward the Vision Zero (zero accidents), while reducing the environmental footprint – says Niels Peter Skov Andersen, General Manager, CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium.

Statement from Data for Road Safety ecosystem (DFRS)

“This new cooperation enables a holistic and multifaceted way of sharing data for road safety purposes. Vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, road authorities and other public authorities work hand in hand to make our European roads safer, emphasizes Joost Vantomme, Chair of DFRS and CEO of ERTICO-ITS Europe”

Statement from C-Roads

“This collaboration agreement will support all stakeholders in making safety related traffic data accessible via standardised interfaces to be integrated in traditional ITS as well as in emerging C-ITS services. At the end, travellers will be warned about safety issues on their trip via different communication channels in parallel, which raises the awareness of safety critical traffic situations and increases road safety all across Europe” states Martin Böhm, Secretary General of the C-Roads Platform.

The signature of the agreement marks a significant milestone in delivering on the goals of the European Union’s ‚Vision Zero‘ by providing safety related traffic information through as many delivery channels as possible. While road accident fatalities have decreased in the past 10 years, this cooperation on SRTI standards harmonization aims to contribute to further increasing road safety and reducing accidents on European roads.

About Traveller Information Services Association (TISA)

TISA is an international association that leads the development of trusted traffic & travel standards and harmonized services for our members to ensure that travel is safe, efficient, and sustainable for everyone, everywhere. Our vision is a world where traffic and travel information is 100% correct, 100% of the time on all roads. Our members include vehicle manufacturers, navigation service providers, solution providers, user device manufacturers and public sector stakeholders.

It is focused on proactive implementation of traffic and travel information services and products based on existing standards, including primarily RDS-TMC and TPEG technologies. TISA supports the maintenance and development of standardised technologies leading to economic implementation and rapid market acceptance across a wide range of travel information services and products. TISA was established in December 2007 as a non-profit organisation under the Belgian law, taking over the activities from the former TMC forum, the TPEG forum and the German Mobile.Info project.

About NAPCORE

NAPCORE (National Access Point Coordination Organisation for Europe) is an organisation to coordinate and harmonise more than 30 mobility data platforms across Europe. It has become apparent, that the existing National Access Points are quite different in their setup and data access interfaces. Also, the data formats and standards used differ throughout Europe. To work on better alignment, the National Access Point Coordination Organisation for Europe (NAPCORE) project was started. NAPCORE is co-financed by a Programme Support Action under the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility. NAPCORE has been launched as a coordination mechanism to improve interoperability of the National Access Points as a backbone of European mobility data exchange. NAPCORE improves the interoperability of mobility data in Europe with mobility data standard harmonisation and alignment. Also, NAPCORE increases access and expands availability to mobility related data by coordinated data access and better harmonisation of the European NAPs. Furthermore, NAPCORE empowers NAPs and National Bodies by defining and implementing common procedures and strategies, strengthening the position and the role of NAPs, supporting steps towards the creation of pan-European solutions to better facilitate the use of EU-wide data.

About DATEX II

DATEX II is the electronic language used in Europe for the exchange of traffic information and traffic data. The development of DATEX II was initiated in the early 90s because of the need to exchange information between traffic centres of motorway operators. Soon there was the need to open this information to service providers. DATEX 1 was somewhat too limited for this and used outdated technical concepts. Which is why DATEX II was developed in the early years of this millennium. By means of DATEX II, traffic information and traffic management information is distributed in a way that is not dependent on language and presentation format. This means that there is no room for misunderstandings and / or translation errors by the recipient, but the recipient can choose to include spoken text, an image on a map, or to integrate it in a navigation calculation. The increasing scale on which ITS services are being dimensioned, as well as the new digitization requirements arising from self-driving cars, requires increased use of standards and thus also challenges the DATEX II community accordingly.

About Data For Road Safety ecosystem (DFRS)

The mission of the DFRS ecosystem is to improve road safety by maximizing the reach of safety-related traffic information powered by safety data generated by vehicles and road infrastructure operators. Alerts generated by vehicles, along with infrastructure data, are shared using a decentralised data collaboration architecture. DFRS is chaired by ERTICO-ITS Europe and members consist of public authorities/road operators, vehicle manufacturers, automotive suppliers and service providers, complemented by associations and organisations active in these segments.

The ecosystem is the institutional follow-up from the Data Task Force established by European transport ministers alongside the European Commission and the private sector. A multi-party contractual framework is in force for the exchange of safety related traffic information (SRTI) among the participants, and to create the SRTI events mentioned in the delegated Regulation 886/2013.

About CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium (C2C-CC)

The CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium (C2C-CC) aims at assisting towards accident free traffic (vision zero) at the earliest possible date. It further aims at supporting the highest safety level at improved traffic efficiency anywhere, anytime at the lowest cost to the end user and the environment. While working on solutions supporting all driving levels from manual to fully automated it considers specific needs of stakeholders, types of vehicles and users. The C2C-CC contributes to the development and specification of robust and reliable solutions that allow for a continuous and seamless evolution of required functionalities. It enables technologies driven by innovation and competition, thereby fostering concepts of cooperation between the road users and with the road infrastructure. This is based on sharing information, awareness, perception and intentions while focusing on tactical level and considering strategic and planning level as required.

About C-Roads

The C-Roads Platform is a joint initiative of European Member States and road operators deploying C-ITS services all across Europe in order to significantly improve the exchange of information between vehicles and road infrastructure. The C-Roads Platform currently unites 18 European Member States’ driven pilots and deployment initiatives on C-ITS services working jointly on the strategic and coordinated implementation. In order to achieve their aims, different scenarios are cross-site tested and implemented in the course of national technical pilots to achieve transnational interoperability. In this way, C-Roads contributes to European cohesion of C-ITS deployment in the European Union regarding a long-term rollout.

C-Roads forms the basis for harmonised C-ITS deployment and roll-out in Europe, based on common communication profiles. With the intent to ensure the desired spillover effect, from the achievements and lessons learned between the automotive industry and road operators, these communication profile specifications are made accessible to third parties.

 

Press contact:

TISA: Stéphanie Chaufton. s.chaufton@tisa.org

NAPCORE: Sabrina Caiani. sabrina.caiani@sina.it

DATEX-II: Bard de Vries. bard.de.vries@ndw.nu

DFRS: Julia Rodriguez Rayego. j.rayego@mail.ertico.com

C2C-CC: Niels Peter Skov Andersen.  npa@anemonetechnology.com

C-Roads: Nicole Bartl. nicole.bartl@austriatech.at

 

RTTI 5 Star Quality Rating: Second proposal for minimum data quality requirements presented

Another intensive RTTI Data Quality workshop we had in Brussels!

Recap: at the RTTI Data Quality workshop in Amsterdam (November 2023) the RTTI 5 Star Rating was proposed by Service providers TomTom, HERE Technologies, Be-Mobile, Google Maps.
The workshop focused on 3 priority uses cases: 1) Speed Limit 2) Road works 3) Road Closures. During this intensive workshop public & private stakeholders exchanged views, brainstormed and concluded on a first proposal for minimum data quality requirements for the 3 priority uses cases.

The objective of the Brussels workshop was to present TISA’s proposal on how to address the points raised in Amsterdam that needed clarifications and/or improvements. Further action points have been identified and the TISA Task Force will continue to work on these, with the support of NAPCORE. This task force is made of a group of public authorities (Danish Road Directorate, Vlaamse Overheid) and service providers (TomTom, HERE Technologies, Be-Mobile, Google Maps)

As mentioned during the meeting, TISA is also going to run a separate task force open to members and non-TISA members to investigate the technical and practical aspects of performing the quality assessment.

To ensure the appropriate and required level of technical discussion can take  place, we kindly ask that volunteers to the task force have the following profile/skillset:

• Technical profile (data science, quality analyst, data analyst)
• Knowledge of quality assessment methodology
• Experience in quality assessment demonstration

Check out the workshop slides, the draft proposal and the recording of the Brussels workshop.

 

 

 

Successful TISA RTTI Data Quality Workshop in Amsterdam

What an intensive RTTI Data Quality workshop we had in Amsterdam !

The workshop focused on 3 priority use cases: 1) Speed Limit 2) Road works 3) Road Closures:
– Sharing best practices on data quality
– Presenting the RTTI 5 Star Rating as proposed by Service providers TomTom, HERE Technologies, Be-Mobile, Google Maps

Outcome:
– reaching a first proposal for minimum data quality requirements for the 3 priority uses cases !

Kudos to all participants for their proactivity and open-minded nature

Huge thanks to our moderators: Thomas Mark de Laine (Danish Road Directorate), Dominique Sterckx (Flanders MOW), Teun Hendriks (TISA), Matthias Unbehaun (TISA)

As well as our Chairwoman Stephanie Leonard for energizing this very interesting workshop.
We are grateful to Annet van Veenendaal (NDW) and

Vincent Lau (City of Amsterdam) for hosting this event in the beautiful Public Library of Amsterdam

We could not have done it without the cooperation of NAPCORE

Check ouf the workshop slides and the draft proposal

• TISA RTTI Data Quality Workshop_ALL SLIDES
• Draft Proposal Minimum Quality RTTI Requirements__Speed Limits – Road Works – Road Closures

TISA Members take a birds-eye view of traffic information at Vlaams Verkeerscentrum

From 12-13 September, TISA and its members gained a bird’s eye view of Flanders roads and their safety management on a visit to Vlaams Verkeerscentrum (Flanders Road Traffic Centre)  in  Antwerp, Belgium. Peter Bruyninckx, Spokesman, offered a tour of the centre, revealing the close collaboration that takes place between the Centre and the Federal Police as well the innovative technology used to monitor the roads, highways, and tunnels across Flanders.

During the Committee meetings, a variety of topics came under discussion that included updates from TISA’s newly created Task Force focusing on discussing cross-border data sharing and related licensing topics. Members discussed the potential use of  TPEG technology for cycling as well as other modes of active mobility. Peter Lubrich of the Department for Connected Mobility at the Federal Highway Research Institute in Germany (BASt) offered valuable insights and outlined progress on the creation of NAPCORE‘s new Data Dictionary and the introduction of its quality framework. Finally, TISA members discussed the way forward and planning for closer collaboration with SENSORIS that includes a forthcoming workshop on exploiting synergies between both standards. SENSORIS (Sensor Interface Specification) is a member platform that offers a global standardised interface to upload information from in-vehicle sensors to a dedicate cloud.

Thanks to Dominique Sterckx of Vlaams Verkeerscentrum for organising.

The international transport technology event of the year: ITS Australia’s Global Summit 2023

This summer, TISA attended ITS Australia’s ITS Global Summit 2023, which took place at Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre from 28-31 August 2023. ‘What an eventful week for TISA in Melbourne’ said Stephanie Chaufton, TISA Coordinator, who moderated two well-attended sessions: Standardisation Requirements for active mobility and Emergency Alerts & Warnings for Drivers, Automated Vehicles.

‘Developing standards is a good and essential step for active mobility’, said Paul D Yacoumis, State Government Victoria, Department for Transport and Planning one of the speakers for TISA’s session on  Standardisation requirements for Active Mobility. With increasingly polluted cities, the importance of alternatives to cars in the form of active mobility is growing, yet this brings new challenges, such as managing the coexistence of bike and car traffic, developing new infrastructure, and ensuring information is available for cyclists. The challenge is not to create an ‘ultimate one-size-fits-all’ solution for standards, but to ensure interoperability and alignment.  Other contributions included a presentation from the Cycling Industries Europe as well as from GEWI AG, presented by Danny Woolard.

There were also very good discussions in the session on Emergency Alerts and Warnings for drivers. ‘TPEG2-EAW is a huge step in the right direction to disseminate relevant information during emergency events and can prepare those in disaster areas for what’s coming.’ said Daniel Kelly of HERE Technologies. 2023 has seen scorching temperatures, wildfires as well as floodings across many countries in the world, more recently in Lahaina, Hawaii and Libya, leading to tragic circumstances.  With global warming, intense changes in weather patterns can facilitate situations that can have a catastrophic impact on human life. Providing clear early warnings via in navigation systems to both residents and tourists is vital for saving lives, which is exactly where TPEG2-EAW comes in and can make a significance difference.

Other speakers included Danny Woolard of GEWI AG, Eliot Christian of Alert-hub-org, Rob Finney of  Intelematics  and Melissa Perkins of Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads.  To the question ‘what are the next steps?’  Danny Woolard proposed an official MoU between the different stakeholders.

TISA would like to thank GEWI for offering the possibility of sharing a stand at the ITS Global Summit in Melbourne.