§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to assist the development of road transport informatics.
The Earl of CaithnessWe are keen to encourage the development of road transport informatics (RTI) which utilise developments in telecommunications and information technology to increase the safety and efficiency of vehicular traffic. Financial and material assistance are provided in a number of ways, both at home and in Europe. At home there are government14WA sponsored to stimulate innovation in UK firms and encourage the exploitation of research RTI. These are additional to local authority activities which include collaboration in the evaluation and development of RTI systems such as public transport management and urban traffic control systems. The Department of Transport commissions research in RTI technology and applications through a number of UK organisations including its executive agency Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), and works widely with the UK research community to ensure that all opportunities to further UK advances in RTI are exploited.
We contribute about 18 per cent. of the total European Community budget for the framework programmes which provide opportunities for collaboration in R&D for organisations throughout the EC. These include the DRIVE programme (Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe), now in its second phase DRIVE II, which is entirely RTI-orientated. DRIVE II has a Community budget of about £90 million for 1991–1994 and aims to validate the results of the first—research—phase by means of pilot projects which emphasise particularly the development of standards to ensure compatibility between systems throughout the European Community and to promote European industry leadership in world RTI markets.
DRIVE II comprises 57 projects in all. Some 60 UK organisations participate in a total of 49 of these projects. Of these there are four projects with major filed trial sites in the UK. DRIVE II projects cover urban and inter-urban traffic management and travel information, public transport and road freight. In all cases the objectives are to improve traffic efficiency and safety to reduce the impact of traffic on the environment. Outside the EC framework the European automotive industry and its suppliers are engaged in another RTI based programme called PROMETHEUS set up under the EUREKA collaborative R&D initiative. UK industry is well represented in PROMETHEUS and has to date received £4.5 million of government funding towards its £l2.6 million budget, through DTI support for innovation.
We recognise the importance of initiatives to ensure the effective dissemination and promotion of R&D results which will lead to the commercial development and implementation of the most suitable RTI system. The Department of Transport is therefore a founder member of ERTICO (the European Road Transport Telematics Implementation Co-ordination Organisation) based in Brussels and comprising a subscription paying membership of private and public sector organisations and the European Commission.