ITS America to lead ISO ITS standards committee

560 ITS America will once again lead administration of the US Technical Advisory Group for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and serve as International Secretariat for the International Organization for Standardization’s ITS Technical Committee. ITS America takes over from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which had administered the groups since 2006.

The technical committee, formally known in the industry as Technical Committee 204 (2042 ISO/TC204) is the main body responsible for international ITS standardization, which includes setting standards for information, communications and control systems related to surface transportation, including traveller information, traffic management, transit, commercial transportation, emergency services and commercial services in the ITS field. Excluded from this scope are in-vehicle devices and information which are covered by a separate subcommittee.

The role of the US Technical Advisory Group, which includes government and industry representatives, is to provide guidance, develop and approve US contributions, and provide US technical experts to the work of ISO/TC204.

“Absent global standards, many ITS technologies are limited to local markets due to interoperability issues. The committee’s work is critically important to ensure wider market penetration, lower costs, and to advance the transportation technology industry,” said Scott Belcher, president and CEO of ITS America. “We look forward to helping shape standardisation in this fast-growing, dynamic field.”

Since its creation in 1992, ISO/TC204 has published nearly 120 standards and with 125 currently under development, ISO/TC204 plays a leading role addressing the commercial needs of the ITS industry, including standards addressing the overall ITS architecture, ITS database technologies, public transport/emergency management, traveller information systems, freight and commercial vehicles, toll collection, wide area communications, and cooperative systems. ISO/TC204’s broad and ambitious work programme makes it one of ISO’s top 10 committees in terms of active projects.

In addition, the committee maintains liaisons with other international standardisation bodies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), the International Telecommunications Union (2233 ITU), the European Committee for Standardization (1701 CEN), and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).