Hi-tech cars to beat jams in Europe's busiest cities

It looks like a satellite navigation system commonplace in most of the cars being driven on streets and motorways across Europe. Even the cars themselves look fairly ordinary. But these nondescript cars are expected to revolutionize they way we travel. They're kitted out with antennae and receiving boxes aimed at helping car makers and transport officials throughout the EU transform the way we get from one destination to another. Information is constantly exchanged via mobile signals. One car, for example, isn't just directed to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, It automatically pays the parking fee and tells the driver precisely which bay to stop in. All this isn't just attempting to make things more convenient for the driver. Its task is to regulate traffics flows and cut congestion which costs business millions of dollars each year. Already the scheme is costing EU governments and vehicle manufacturers US$56.6 million. This is how it's expected to work: In the future, all vehicles including cars, vans, lorries and coaches and buses will communicate with traffic lights, parking spaces and tolling stations. The aim is to have a ceaseless exchange of information via the internet provided by a multitude of carriers, including cellular, mobile Wi-Fi, infra-red and short-range microwave channels. Various applications will be sold to drivers through the Cooperative Mobility App-store. They will be able to download these 'apps' onto their individual systems in the same way as they are purchased from Smartphones. EU governments want the trials concluded and the system up and running by 2013. Delivering this goal is the task of a partnership of manufacturers, transport officials and technical experts called the Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems (CVIS). Engineers all over Europe have already started to pilot schemes. CVIS claims it will herald the start of a brave new world where road transport will be radically transformed by what it calls "the always-connected traveller." CVIS's Paul Kompfner says, "We are creating the raw materials, the building blocks for a future world where your car, trucks, buses, anything that moves, even pedestrians can be connected with other moving vehicles, entities or with the infrastructure." Consider London, not only among the largest, but also one of the most congested cities in Europe. According to the Mayor of London's office, the extra time needed to cross the city, gasoline and other associated expenses costs businesses in the British capital some US$3 billion per year. CVIS expects traffic in London will increase by at least 50 per cent in the next 15 years—an added pressure on roads already filled to capacity. It's not just a only a British problem. There are over 250 million cars in the European Union, and the number is growing all the time. One of the countries taking part in the trial of the connected traveller is Italy. In Turin, for example, researchers at the traffic management centre monitor and control traffic flows. They and colleagues at similar operations rooms throughout the EU will soon be able to confirm where we go, where we work, where we shop, what we do for entertainment, even, if it's in the EU, where we prefer to go on holiday. Dan Strong, editor of Auto Trader, warns that this accountability could mean a huge loss of privacy because it could be tempting for some governments to use it to enforce laws. Strong says the system could be used to issue parking and other fines. "There is quite a dark side to this technology, tracking cars at that level is really significant. What's more if the government in the UK (for example) wanted to introduce road tolling, this would be the perfect way of doing it," Strong says. He adds that "you could track how far a car has gone, what journey it's made and what the impact of that journey might be. Was it in a city? Was it on a country road? Where? You know, every question, every detail about the driver's individual journey and therefore our private lives can be revealed." There is no doubting congestion needs to be tackled. Transport for London, the official body charged with keeping the capital on the move, says parking is so difficult that some companies pay out up to a million pounds each year after being served with penalty notices. CVIS says its engineers are careful to ensure the anonymity of the general public. Lawyers such as London-based David Martin-Clark are already examining privacy issues. According to Martin-Clark, "There are a number of techniques which have been evolved, or are evolving. They are called PETs, Privacy Enhancing Techniques. Things like encryption, anonymization, or pseudonymization (giving an alternative identity)." Seven million people live in London—Europe's biggest, most densely populated metropolis—and they all have to use the same transport infrastructure as companies like CocaCola who have to shift tons of freight each day. With CVIS, these companies can easily pre-book loading bays before their drivers leave the depot. If a non-CVIS vehicle approaches the loading bay and it arrives within ten minutes of a CVIS booking, an infrared unit will detect it and traffic wardens are alerted via text messages. CocaCola's transport coordinator Nick Mitchell says "the main advantage of the system we have trialed is that the loading bay is empty when we get there. We can deliver to customer without the fear of blocking the road, parking tickets, things like that." Dan Strong says altogether the CVIS scheme will be able to offer drivers real benefits, but he adds a note of caution. He says traffic always appears to increase to fill any new road that's built, so efficiency might just mean more traffic and even more congestion on the roads.—AP