The application of information and communication technologies in transport

This paper examines the possibilities that are opened today and for the whole decade from the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in the field of Transport. The various applications are examined, under the following three headings: operation and management of networks (all modes), information and guidance to the users (of the transport systems), operation and management of freight transport systems. For each of these, a concise and critical review is made of the various technologies that exist today in their final stages of development or at the stage of commercial implementation, and their applications. The review refers to various sub-categories of the above main three. The paper proceeds then to examine the prospects for the future with a medium time horizon of 2010. These prospects show that a number of areas of applications have well established technologies and are secured of commercial viability so that we can predict safely their full scale application in the course of this decade. Examples of such areas of applications are: traffic data information collection and dissemination systems, network control and traffic management strategies, vehicle control and driver assistance, systems for (Electronic or other) fee collection. And specifically for freight: freight resource management; terminal and port information and communication systems, freight and vehicle tracking and tracing, and "front" or "back-office" logistics systems. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.