eSafety in discussion at Beijing ITS World Congress

Creation date: 05 November 2007

eSafety gets global emphasis at ITS World Congress in Beijing, 9-13 October 2007.

The international ITS community made mention of eSafety at the 14th ITS World Congress and Exhibition which took place in Beijing, China, 9 - 13 October 2007. eSafety was a common thread woven into many of the sessions and presentations given by high-level speakers and notables of the eSafety initiative.

eSafety received top billing during the 10 October Executive Session on Global Safety. Its purpose was to discuss the similarities and differences in the challenges of road safety faced by the different regions in order to foresee a global plan for ITS deployment. The speakers gave an overview of the challenges, plans and actions of the various regions. Mrs Rosalie Zobel, Director of European Commission DG INFSO, presented the situation in Europe on the basis of the Intelligent Car initiative.

A Special Session on 11 October devoted to the Intelligent Car Initiative presented its achievements and activities, 18 months after its launch. The session was moderated by Juhani Jääskeläinen of the European Commission DG INFSO. It featured a wrap-up of the Intelligent Car event / IP PReVENT demonstration which took place in Versailles, France on 18 September 2007, and also discussed the Commission Communication on the Intelligent Car. The activities of eSafetyAware! were also highlighted, including the ChooseESC! campaign that aims at increasing the penetration of ESC in Europe and around the world.

Other Special Sessions relating to key eSafety topics included:

• Emergency call (eCall) (10 October) - highlighting the status of eCall and emergency services in the three regions of Japan, the US and Europe, and proesenting the progress in Europe in the deployment of E112 and eCall services.  
• Human Machine Interaction (12 October) – discussing the recently published European Statement of Principles (ESoP), among other HMI-related issues such as how people react to different types of alert signs and standards concerning nomadic devices.
• ICT for clean mobility (10 October) – providing insight to to raise the knowledge about what ICT can do to improve energy efficiency.  Its conclusions showed that efforts should be made to consider which ITS technologies and eSafety systems have the best potential for energy efficiency and there should be international encouragement to make the best use of them.
• Active Safety Systems (11 October) - focusing on the different programmes and activities in the area of intersection safety ongoing around the world. 
• Preventive and Active Safety Activities (12 October) – an IP PREVENT-organised session giving a global look at related activities.
• Communications (12 October) - discussing the objectives, applications, technical requirements and development status on wireless communications for vehicle safety, including insight from the COMeSafety initiative 

For more information, please contact info@esafetysupport.org