A massive amount of data is already produced by
the transport system and the trend is set to continue at an increasing pace.
Optimal use of the available data is indispensable in order to advance towards
an intelligent transport system that reduces congestion, environmental impact
and increases safety.
On the
basic level, the challenge lies in ensuring that e.g. manufacturers, operators,
or authorities can properly take advantage of the data produced for the
improvement of their operations and services. Access to, reuse and storage of
data is not only important for private companies active in the transport
industry (business-to-business or B2B), but also for the public sector
(business-to-government or B2G) for a more evidence-based decision making and a
better public service delivery, such as transport safety or reduction of
pollution from all transport modes.
It is of key importance to develop a clear understanding of
the areas where data exchange and digitalisation are required for improved
system effectiveness. In these areas, data to be used in transport models need to
be defined and harmonised.
On a
more advanced level, in order to provide connectivity across the various
components of the multimodal transport system, enable innovation and emergence of
new business models, we need solutions for safe and secure collection, storage
and sharing of transport data (both operational and research) across various
actors and different transport modes.
Cloud based solutions could provide a high level
of integration and accessibility of transportation data across the system and
be used for variety of purposes, including research, development and
innovation. However a number of challenges will have to be tackled before a
successful wide scale implementation of cloud solutions for transport can take
place, such as data privacy and security, standardisation and competitiveness
issues, data interoperability and accessibility, governance, etc.