Mar 21, 2024
Advanced transport and information systems are already in use in many places in Europe. However, the implementation of ITS services still presents a fragmented picture. In the "Cross for ITS" (X4ITS) project, project partners from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia are cooperating to harmonise intelligent transport systems (ITS) across borders - for better connectivity along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Central and Eastern Europe.
With the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the European Commission is pursuing the vision of seamless mobility throughout the EU. Its ongoing development also includes the introduction of networked and intelligent transport systems (Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems and Intelligent Transport Systems, or C-ITS and ITS for short). This is because harmonised digital services can help to improve traffic flow and road safety in cross-border mobility.
The Cross for ITS (X4ITS) implementation project aims to harmonise (C-)ITS applications along the TEN-T corridors in Central and Eastern Europe. The closer cross-border cooperation of national stakeholders in the field of digital transport infrastructure and services should help to ensure that digital applications along five corridors of the TEN-T network increasingly interlock seamlessly - across national borders and transport modes.
The implementation project runs from 2023 to 2027 and is funded by the European Commission as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). As project coordinator, AustriaTech is not only responsible for project management and communication, but also for the "Cross-Corridor Cooperation" task, in which a joint exchange with other corridor projects and initiatives like the C-Roads Platform and NAPCORE takes place. The harmonisation and implementation of the C-Roads specifications is also being driven forward by AustriaTech. Part of the project is an upgrade of the Austrian National Access Point (NAP). Recommendations will also be taken into account as part of the collaboration with NAPCORE.
X4ITS aims to achieve following points through cooperation:
With the help of the implementation of innovative (C)-ITS applications in the course of the project, cross-border mobility is to be improved, the availability of data increased and the exchange of data optimised. In contrast to the predecessor project CROCODILE, not only the high-level road network is being considered, but also C-ITS use cases in an urban and multimodal context. Several cities (Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Budapest, Ljubljana) are also involved.
The European ITS landscape is characterised by different national approaches to the implementation of the ITS Directive and different speeds in the implementation of ITS services and C-ITS applications. In Central and Eastern Europe, the fragmented development is also characterised by geographical peculiarities - such as the coexistence of smaller countries with different languages.
European partners are working together in various transnational projects to standardise the development of ITS services across the entire TEN-T network. X4ITS is one of the projects under the umbrella of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). As an implementation project, X4ITS focuses on the standardisation of digital applications along five TEN-T corridors that run through Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, but is in close contact with other European implementation and coordination projects. Part of X4ITS is an extended cooperation with NAPCORE and a harmonised integrated C-ITS implementation based on the C-Roads specification. Increased cooperation with implementation projects in neighbouring corridors such as MERIDIAN and MATIS is also planned.
Further information on X4ITS can be found on the project homepage or on the X4ITS LinkedIn channel.
