Evolution and Future Trends

Abstract The development over recent few decades of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) has changed dramatically the transportation sector and the way it operates. This chapter highlights some major outcomes of cooperative research, mainly in Europe, which have been the basis for future systems and services and their way to full deployment. Three topics are looked at in more detail: in‐car safety and fuel efficiency, navigation systems, and traffic management. In‐car safety and recently energy efficiency systems have fundamentally changed the design and operation of vehicles, the “connected car” will provide over its communication channels access to a whole range of services. Positioning technologies made it possible to develop navigation systems providing high quality route guidance to drivers. Dynamic traffic information across transport modes is the key service in keeping and brings another level of services using brought route guidance the map and traffic information into the car and continue to do. Traffic management, traditionally the responsibility of the road operator, is changing rapidly its scope network management within a mode and across modes in becoming possible making best use of telematics.