Road transport advisory council presents vision for 2020
The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) has published its vision of how road transport should look in 2020. 'Vision 2020 and Challenges' represents a consensus on issues such as competitiveness and the protection of the environment, which are often regarded as incompatible. ERTRAC has brought together representatives from all road transport stakeholders in order to define the research activities that are required in order to bring about a road transport sector characterised by more efficient energy use, security of energy supply, better air quality and a better environment, enhanced safety and security and improved mobility. The paper states that in order to harness the full potential of the political initiative to increase research spending to three per cent of GDP by 2010 for all road transport users, a new form of cooperation must be found. 'To be effective, an appropriate coordination framework is required to align public and private resources in support of the necessary research and development activities,' ERTRAC adds. The advisory council's vision for 2020, as well as the challenges it identifies, are divided into four categories: mobility of people and transport of goods; safety and security; environment, energy and resources; design and production systems. Forecasts for 2010 predict an increase of 26 per cent in terms of vehicle kilometres and 24 per cent for passenger kilometres for the EU-15 compared to 1998. For freight transport, the increase is expected to be even higher at 38 per cent. With this in mind, ERTRAC's vision for road transport under the sub-heading 'enhanced mobility, optimised and efficient seamless system' includes ideas of increased interoperability: 'Traffic is smoother, road networks are efficiently utilised and connected, fully interoperable across Europe and allow seamless connections of road transport with other transport modes,' states the paper. ERTRAC also foresees further integration of land-use and transport planning in order to eliminate unnecessary demand for transport and parking, and the provision of real time traffic and road data. In order to increase safety, ERTRAC envisages an infrastructure that minimises road user mistakes as well as the consequences of driver errors. Integrated vehicle safety systems will also help to prevent accidents and mitigate their effects by greatly improving the driver's control of a vehicle. Intelligent roads and vehicle systems, meanwhile, will interact with the driver, providing guidance and danger warnings. In order to create a 'cleaner, quieter and more energy efficient road transport system', ERTRAC anticipates a reduction of emissions, the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels, less traffic congestion, a reduction in noise and the increased use of recycling by vehicle manufacturers. The vision for systems, products and services includes the recommendation that enabling technologies such as lightweight materials, electronic systems, information and communication technologies and nanotechnologies are employed in order to help industry meet engineering goals at an acceptable cost while at the same time strengthening competitiveness. The 'Vision 2020 and Challenges' document will be followed by a 'strategic research agenda', and will serve as a reference for the definition of future research priorities.