New ITU database to assist the harmonization of intelligent transport standards

ITU has established a new standards database to assist the harmonization of standards for intelligent transport systems (ITS). ITS standards developed by ITU are the first to enter the database. Standards developed by other bodies will follow, providing a reference to all standards supporting connected vehicles and automated driving.

ITS shows great potential to improve road safety and reduce traffic congestion. International standards provide guidance on when and how to integrate new technologies into transportation systems and the associated formulation of strategies to support the interoperability of ITS solutions.

Standards bodies active in the ITS field coordinate their work on the neutral platform offered by the Collaboration on ITS Communication Standards (CITS). This coordination supports coherence and compatibility among ITS standards, an objective growing in importance as the deployment of ITS solutions accelerates worldwide.

The “who’s who” of ITS standardization

International standards for ITS are developed by standards bodies including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International).

CITS meets twice or three times each year to ensure that dialogue among relevant standards bodies maintains strong momentum.

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The March 2019 meeting of CITS – held in conjunction with the Future Networked Car Symposium within the Geneva International Motor Show – hosted representatives of bodies including ISO (TC204 and TC22), IEEE (VTS Standards and IEEE 802.11 TGbd), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), SAE International, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF), the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), Japan’s Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC), and China’s Telematics Industry Application Alliance (TIAA).

• To learn more about CITS, visit the CITS homepage.
• Request a free ITU account to sign-up for the CITS mailing list.
• Experts interested in participating in CITS work are invited to contact tsbcits@itu.int.

Learn more about the status and future of connected vehicles and automated driving from the wrap-up video of the Future Networked Car Symposium 2019.

How ITU supports automotive innovation

ITU provides common technical platforms to assist the automotive industry in achieving its ambitions in information and communication technology (ICT).

ITU continues to welcome new members from the automotive industry intent on influencing this work, such as Volkswagen Group, Hyundai, China’s TIAA, Bosch, BlackBerry, Tata Communications and Mitsubishi Electric.

The ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) allocated spectrum in the 79 GHz frequency band to the operation of automotive radar. Studies in preparation for WRC-19 are now addressing the harmonization of spectrum for ITS in the mobile service.

ITU specifications provide for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, dedicated short-range communications, millimeter wave vehicle collision avoidance radars, and sensor technologies for the monitoring and identifying of objects near vehicles.

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ITU standards also define the requirements of vehicle gateway platforms, tests to assess the performance of mobile phones in the vehicle hands-free environment, and speech communication requirements for vehicle emergency calls.

The automotive industry is also significantly invested in ITU’s international standardization of IMT-2020/5G systems, with 5G expected to deliver high-precision communications services tailored to the needs of the automotive industry.

Cybersecurity is another key aspect of this work. Modern vehicles rely on 100 to 150 million lines of code, highlighting the importance of new ITU standards to ensure the security of Over-the-Air software updates to connected vehicles.

ITU continues to see key results emerging from its collaboration with the UNECE Transport Division, the body responsible for global vehicle regulations, which now looks to ITU for technical standards in support of vehicle regulations. The new global regulation on vehicle emergency calls, “Automatic Emergency Call Systems”, makes reference to an ITU standard for voice-quality performance.

Contribute to ITU’s work on intelligent transport

Work-in-progress ITU standards for ITS can be found here…

A new ITU Focus Group is studying the latest developments in vehicular multimedia, a study that benefits from a strong history of ITU work to limit driver distraction. The group’s third meeting in Geneva, 18-19 March 2019, progressed a report on vehicular multimedia use cases and their technical requirements and accelerated work to describe the necessary supporting architectures. Learn more about the aims of the Focus Group in an ITU interview with the group’s Vice-Chair, Gaëlle Martin-Cocher, Standards Director at BlackBerry.

ITU standardization expert groups active in the ITS field include:

• ITU-T Study Group 12 (Performance, QoS and QoE)
• ITU-T Study Group 16 (Multimedia)
• ITU-T Study Group 17 (Security)
• ITU-T Study Group 20 (IoT and smart cities)
• ITU-R Working Party 5A (Land mobile service)

Watch this playlist for all ITU interviews conducted at the Geneva International Motor Show.