The European Commission recently announced the European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), focusing on smart cars.
This next step combines the goals of the digital single market and clean transport. Different sectors of the industry such as internet service providers, car manufacturers and communication services would have to take actions until 2019, which is the date for wide-scale commercial deployment of C-ITS.
Addressing issues of security and data protection would entail costs for business. Such costs would be even greater considering legal and infrastructural disparities between Member States. Worth keeping an eye on the expected technical standardization, which will be a fierce battle for securing competitive position on the market. On the institutional side, the discussed creation of EU Road Transport Agency will facilitate equality between manufacturers of automotive products. However, support by the European Parliament will not be enough. Strong engagement of the industry to convince the Council is necessary to make the case for such Agency.