Liikanen calls for strategy and vision to exploit results of EU transport research
EU Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen has called for European strategy and vision to better exploit the results of EU funded research projects focusing on intelligent vehicles. Speaking in London on 27 September at the FIA foundation/ERTICO conference on 'e-mobility - towards intelligent transport', Mr Liikanen highlighted the role that EU funded research projects have played in the development of leading edge technologies, but said that to see the full benefit of these results, these new systems must be more visible in the marketplace. 'It is clear that a European strategy and vision is required to better exploit the market opportunities and the economic potential of intelligent vehicles and mobile services while achieving at the same time safer mobility for Europe,' said the Commissioner. He added that to realise the benefits of EU funded project results, the new systems have to be widely deployed in the marketplace. 'Unfortunately in most cases there is still a large gap between technology development and its deployment at a reasonable cost and in sufficient quantity, as well as a certain lack of awareness of consumers,' he said. Mr Liikanen called for a coordinated effort by the public and private sectors to increase the public's understanding and acceptance of safety systems, and at the same time to increase demand. 'eMobility [...] will continue to pave the way towards cleaner, greener and safer automobiles, more efficient transport systems and for higher quality transport services,' claimed Mr Liikanen. The development of telematics services has already led to new technology for navigation, fleet management, and remote diagnostics. 'More and more of these services will be personalised and based on location information,' said Mr Liikanen. A central aspect of future research is likely to be intelligent integrated safety systems, said the Commissioner. Such systems will take into account not just the driver and the vehicle, but also the environment around the vehicle. Cooperative systems will enable essential safety information to be exchanged between vehicles and the infrastructure. Other safety systems will automatically summon assistance by making an emergency call. An innovative package including both active and passive safety measures is also high on the agenda for the vehicle manufacturing industry. Mr Liikanen referred to a recent commitment by the industry in Europe to introduce a range of measures leading to a high level of pedestrian protection. 'Technology may not have developed sufficiently that we can guarantee that pedestrians will not be struck by cars, but industry is working on it,' he said. Mr Liikanen also recently made moves to establish an eSafety forum. 'The purpose of this forum would be to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent integrated safety systems by contributing to the elaboration and implementation of a European eSafety action plan, by building user awareness and by promoting the development of open platforms, open system architecture and standard software, communications, service and human-machine interfaces,' said Mr Liikanen in London.