ITS Technical Note

ITS Technical Note

For Developing Countries

Technical
Technical Note
Note 4
4

ITS
ITS Standards
Standards for
for
Developing
Developing Countries
Countries

Toshiyuki Yokota
Richard J. Weiland

July 22, 2004

ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

Acknowledgements
The authors and other people involved in this project would like to thank the members of the Transport
Sector Board and numerous members of the World Bank's Transport Network as well as external ITS
authorities for their helpful contributions to this ITS Technical Note.
The preparation of ITS Technical Note 4 benefited from the dedicated assistance of Richard G. Scurfield,
Anil S. Bhandari, Navaid A. Qureshi and Kavita Sethi. This ITS Technical Note 4 was written by utilizing
information in the Bank's ITS Toolkit and additional expertise on ITS. The authors of ITS Technical Note 4
are Richard J. Weiland and Toshiyuki Yokota. The reviewers of ITS Technical Note 4 are Kan Chen, Ishida
Haruo, James Luk, and Ozaki Haruo.
The project has become a reality thanks to the hard work and professionalism of those who worked on it.
Toshiyuki Yokota
Sr. Transport Specialist
Transport and Urban Development Department
World Bank

ITS Technical Note

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

1 THE NEED FOR STANDARDS

2 TYPES OF STANDARDS

2.1 DE FACTO STANDARDS

2.2 VOLUNTARY CONSENSUS STANDARDS

2.3 INDUSTRY CONSORTIA

2.4 REGULATORY STANDARDS

3 AN OVERVIEW OF IMPORTANT ITS STANDARDS

3.1 DE FACTO ITS STANDARDS

3.2 CONSENSUS ITS STANDARDS

4 APPROACHES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

11

4.1 ADOPTING STANDARDS FROM ELSEWHERE

11

4.2 PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT

12

4.3 PARTICIPATION IN INDUSTRY STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

12

4.4 ROLE OF REGULATORY STANDARDS

12

APPENDIX WHERE TO FIND FURTHER INFORMATION ON SDOS AND STANDARDS

13

ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

Introduction

1 The Need for Standards

The purpose of this ITS Technical Note 4 is to introduce the

subject of ITS standards to decision makers in developing
countries who are planning to introduce ITS as part of their
transportation system. ITS standards, like other standards,
help to make the introduction of technology more systematic
and economic. In some respects, ITS standards present a
greater challenge than many other kinds of standards
because they, like ITS, tend to be interdisciplinary. They
include aspects of transpor tation engineering, civil
engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and
communications technology. This is one reason why a good
understanding of ITS standards is particularly helpful as
part of the process of introducing ITS.

In many respects, the need for ITS standards is the same

as the need for other standards, and this general case will
be examined first. After the general discussion of why
standards are important and beneficial, this section will turn
more specifically to ITS standards.

This Note will point out that, on the whole, developing

countries will find it most convenient and economical to adopt
standards developed and proven elsewhere. However, even
countries with relatively limited resources can participate
in the development of ITS standards if they want, usually in
cooperation with representatives of other countries, either
directly or in international standards forums.
Section 1 of this Note describes the need for standards, both
in general and more specifically to aid the introduction of
ITS in developing countries.
Section 2 describes the three basic types of standards: de
facto, consensus, and regulatory, and briefly discusses how
each type is created. The section provides additional detail
on the process of creating consensus standards both in
industry consortia and in organizations specifically oriented
to standards development.
Section 3 provides a brief overview of impor tant ITS
standards that are already in place, especially those that
may be of interest to developing countries.
Section 4 discusses approaches that developing countries
can pursue, both for identifying and adopting standards that
were created by others and for participating directly in the
process of creating standards of particular interest to the
country.
The Note concludes with an Appendix that provides a list
of prominent standards development organizations, the areas
in which they create standards, and where they can be found
via the Internet.

Standards are agreements, within industries, and between

governments and industries, to build products and conduct
practices in particular well-defined ways. The result of good
standardization is to open markets, encourage competition,
and ensure quality. Good standards do not limit technical
creativity or progress. Instead, they focus on ways to help
to stimulate continuing development, but without causing
premature obsolescence. This will be discussed further
below.
More specifically, good standards will:
Help to make product behavior consistent and expectable
Improve the interfaces between parts of complex systems
Enable users to expect at least minimum product
performance
Help public agencies and other organizations to cooperate
and interact successfully
Offer buyers a greater choice of suppliers, at lower risk
and lower cost, and the prospect of faster and more reliable
system development
Offer manufacturers and vendors easier entry to markets,
economies of scale, and lower product liability risks
Offer governments a better ability to achieve social goals
uniformly and fairly.
Product Behavior
Standards can help prescribe consistent ways that products
should behave under a variety of circumstances, so that
users understand how to make them work and also easily
understand product responses. Consistency in standards
can be as simple as agreeing on what a stop sign or no-leftturn sign should look like, or on the order that various gear
choices appear in an automatic transmission. Standards
help assure that discs and tapes from many sources all work
consistently in audio systems from many manufacturers,
that controls in all makes and models of automobiles operate
consistently, and that everyone understands that a red traffic
signal light means stop and a green light means go.
Interfaces
One of the most valuable things that standards do is to
facilitate connecting components into complex systems by
standardizing the interfaces between parts of the system.
In the Information Technology (IT) world, Plug and Play
has become an important selling point and an enabler of
the widespread deployment of IT. Plug and Play means that
devices can be connected to a computer using standard
cables and plugs and, once connected, the device will work
properly with minimal need for intervention from the user.
For example, many different kinds of printers can be attached
to a computer using the same interface, and be automatically
recognized and used by the computer. In traffic control

ITS Technical Note

systems, a current trend is to work for plug and play in traffic

control devices. This would allow, for example, traffic signals
from different manufacturers to be easily and interchangeably
connected to the same traffic controller and to behave as
expected.
Performance
Many standards prescribe how well a product or system must
perform, insuring that users get at least a minimum level of
quality when they acquire a product or system. In
automobiles, for example, there are standards for how rapidly
the brakes must be able to stop the vehicle, and how far
ahead headlamps must illuminate the road. One of the
attractive aspects of performance standards is that they
generally do not specify how the performance is to be
achieved. Drum brakes or disc brakes (or some new braking
technology) are all acceptable, provided they stop the car
in the prescribed time and distance. Lights can be
incandescent or fluorescent or halogen (or some new lighting
technology), as long as they provide enough illumination.
Performance standards encourage manufacturers to find
better and less expensive ways to accomplish the stated
goal.
Cooperation and Interaction
In this information age, there is a great need for different
agencies and other organizations to cooperate, by sharing
information and working together. Doing so successfully
often requires the development of standards for data models
and communications. This facilitates information sharing
and helps to ensure that information has the same meaning
to all participants.
A very important area of ITS standardization deals with data
dictionaries and message sets. These standards assign
agreed-upon meanings to items of data and consistently
define the format and content of messages used to convey
the data. Other standards may be organizational. For
example, agencies that want to work with one another may
have to agree on a common type of radio communication
and rules that facilitate cooperation and prevent interference
with one another.

Benefits for Vendors

Standards also provide benefits to the manufacturers and
suppliers of the products to which the standards apply. This
is not surprising, since most standards are developed by
these companies to advance their collective interests.
Standards make it easier to enter a market by predefining
important features of products. In addition, standards will
generally be developed only for products for which there
is already a demonstrated demand, lowering the risk of
market entry. By reducing some amount of product variation,
standards also help manufacturers realize economies of
scale. Finally, because standardized products are built to
specifications which an industry has carefully considered
and agreed upon, they are less likely to fail or perform
incorrectly. Even if such a product does fail, adherence to
standards is a good demonstration by a company that it has
not been negligent in its design and manufacturing practices.
Benefits for Governments
Governments and public agencies share in the benefits that
are available to all buyers of standardized products. In
addition, however, governments can use standards to help
achieve social goals in a fair and equitable manner. For
example, everyone may agree that reducing automobile
exhaust emissions is a good idea. However, reducing
emissions is generally not cost free, and few consumers will
voluntarily buy a lower-emissions automobile if it costs more
than unmodified automobiles. If consumer wont buy a
feature, automobile manufacturers will probably not offer
it. No one wants to be first. To achieve lower emissions and
the better air quality that will result, governments have
imposed emissions standards that all new automobiles have
to adhere to. Although the cost of the automobile may be
somewhat greater, this increase is moderated by economies
of scale, since all new automobiles must meet the standard.
In addition, since everyone is treated equally, it is easier
for consumers to accept the change, and overall social
benefits result.

Benefits for Buyers

When products are standardized, they will generally be
available from more than one supplier. This has a number
of benefits for the people and organizations that acquire
these products. First, having multiple suppliers to choose
from lowers the risk of a product becoming unavailable or
impossible to maintainable if a single supplier goes out of
business. This is especially important for critical products
or products which are relatively expensive. Second, multiple
suppliers will be in competition with one another, which
frequently results in better products at lower prices. Finally,
since the basic specifications of standardized products are
known in advance, the use of these products can lead to
more rapid system specification and implementation.

ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

Case Study: ETC and DSRC Standards Around the World

Standards for electronic toll collection (ETC) and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC, used to communicate
between vehicles and ETC systems) provide interesting examples of success and failure in the creation and use of
standards in the developed world. Electronic toll collection, in general, has been one of the most widely adopted
and economically successful applications of ITS in both developed and developing countries. One reason for its
attractiveness and success, of course, is that it helps to generate revenue by eliminating delays at toll barriers and
by generally reducing congestion on toll roads and bridges. It can also help reduce labor costs (more important in
developed countries) and make collection more reliable (important in all countries).
However, if a country or region has many different toll systems, it may be inconvenient or expensive for drivers (both
of private automobiles and of commercial vehicles) to sign up for each system, acquire multiple transponders, and
maintain several accounts. Therefore, these users, particularly commercial users, have pushed for standardization
across toll systems. In addition, some toll authorities have recognized the potential efficiencies of joining with other
toll authorities for the joint operation of processing centers and other administrative operations. This has tended to
work best in compact countries like Japan and in well-defined regions of larger countries (e.g., the northeastern
U.S. which is densely populated and heavily traveled). There has been very little success in standardizing the technology
for ETC and DSRC in larger areas.
The U.S. tried unsuccessfully for over 10 years to standardize DSRC transponder and communication protocol
technology at 915 MHz. Eventually, several years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation mandated a transponder
technology standard, but aimed at helping trucks electronically present their credentials and safety information at
state and national borders, not at standardizing toll collection. To date, no company has been willing to manufacture
transponders to this standard. A new effort is underway to standardize DSRC at 5.9 GHz, with a primary focus on
vehicle safety applications, not toll collection. This effort has already taken far longer than expected, but its participants
continue to express optimism that a standard will result.
Europe has been similarly unsuccessful in standardizing ETC technology, despite long and arduous efforts at the
European Standards Committee (CEN). An EU Directive requiring this standardization intensified efforts, but did not
result in a pan-European standard.
The lesson, for developing countries who aim for nationally standardized ETC, is to focus first on the institutional
and administrative aspects of ETC, and the systems needed for a collective operation. Once these can be harmonized,
selecting a common technology for ETC communications is relatively easy.
The same story appears at ISO/TC204, where efforts to standardize DSRC for ETC were ultimately unsuccessful,
due not only to differences between world regions, but also to the lack of agreement within world regions on the
content of these standards. The focus at ISO/TC204 has now shifted to general approaches for vehicle-infrastructure
communications with a focus on promoting vehicle safety applications. DSRC in the 5.8-5.9 GHz band is making
significant progress, in conjunction with IEEE 802.11 (Wireless LANs), as one of the communications technologies
covered by the effort to develop Communications Air interface for Long and Medium range (CALM). Other CALM
technologies include infrared, 2.5G and 3G cellular, and millimeter wave (~63 GHz).
Japan is really the only major developed country which has successfully standardized DSRC for ETC. As mentioned
above, it has the advantage of a relatively small and densely populated geography, and a government resolve not
to go forward with ETC except in a uniform national manner.
Successes in standardizing toll collection then, have mainly resulted from regulatory standards (as in Japan) and
from toll authority-driven de facto standards (as in the U.S.). One reason that the toll authority perspective is so
important is that ETC does not become interoperable simply by having technical compatibility. Two toll systems
which use identical technology will only be interoperable if they can arrive at administrative agreements, to recognize
the toll tags issued by the other system and to appropriately distribute revenues collected on the others behalf.
This is obviously simpler in countries like Japan in which there are relatively few toll operating authorities. (This
contrasts, for example, with the 13 different toll operating authorities in the metropolitan New York City area, which
nonetheless joined together to form the EZ-Pass coalition, which has now attracted other authorities to join from as
far away as the central U.S.).
The lesson, for developing countries who aim for nationally standardized ETC, is to focus first on the institutional
and administrative aspects of ETC, and the systems needed for a collective operation. Once these can be harmonized,
selecting a common technology for ETC communications is relatively easy.

ITS Technical Note

2 Types of Standards
This section introduces four different kinds of standards
de facto standards, voluntary consensus standards, industry
consortia standards, and regulatory standards each of
which is developed differently and each of which has
somewhat different effects.

2.1 De Facto Standards

De facto standards are standards that are imposed on an
industry by a small number of market leaders (typically one
or two).
A classic instance of a de facto standard is the personal
computer. In the early days of personal computers, a large
number of manufacturers each developed their own designs
and technologies. The ways they worked were often quite
different from one another and it was difficult to transfer
programs or peripheral devices (like printers) from one
computer to another. As a result, many businesses and
consumers were reluctant to invest in this technology. This
changed drastically when IBM announced a standard
personal computer using Intel microchips and a Microsoft
disk operating system (DOS). In addition, IBM made this
standard PC architecture available to the marketplace and
encouraged other companies to manufacture PCs according
to this standard. The result was a highly active and
competitive market for these PCs. Even though IBM is itself
no longer the largest manufacturer of PCs, it probably sells
more units than if it had never created the standard.
At this point in history, Microsoft is the dominant market
leader in PC software. It has been able to impose standards
for software and peripheral devices, particularly their
interfaces to users and to the PC itself, generally making
interacting with PCs more uniform.

which was developed by Philips and Sony. This standard

includes the physical form of the disc and the format of the
information encoded onto it.
The advantage of de facto standards is that they can be
produced and imposed fairly quickly. They encourage some
kinds of competition (e.g., among manufacturers of printers
or video monitors for computers, among manufacturers of
CD players for sound systems) and discourage other kinds
(e.g., among word processing and spreadsheet software
vendors).

2.2 Voluntary Consensus Standards

By far the largest number of technology standards are those
developed using a voluntary collaborative process, typically
through a recognized standards development organization
(SDO). SDOs are often part of professional societies, like
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Other kinds of associations can also have a standards
development component. For example, in the U.S., the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) is a major developer of standards related
to the construction of roads, tunnels, bridges, and traffic
control systems. AASHTOs members are state departments
of transportation, and AASHTO does many things besides
s t a n d a rd s d e v e l o p m e n t , i n c l u d i n g t h e s u p p o r t o f
transpor tation research and the development of
transportation policy.
Some SDOs were created purely for the purpose of
developing standards. These include the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Inter national
Telecommunications Union (ITU), and their European
counterparts (see Table 1).

Another de facto standard is the audio compact disc (CD),

Standardization Area

International Organization

European Regional Organization

Spectrum and Broadcast Rules

International Telecommuni-cations

European Telecommunications

Union (ITU)

Standards Institute (ETSI)

Comit Europen de Normalisation

Electronics

International Electrotechnical

Electrotechnique

Commission (IEC)

(European Committee for

Electrotechnical Standardization
Committee CENELEC)

All other

International Organization for

Comit Europen de Normalisation

Standardization (ISO)

(European Committee for

Standardization CEN)

Table 1 International and Regional Standards Organizations

ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

Country

National Standards Organization

Brazil

Associao Brasileira de Normas Tcnicas (ABNT)

China

Standardization Administration of China (SAC)

France

Association Franaise de Normalization (AFNOR)

Germany

Deutsches Institut fr Normung (DIN)

Ghana

Ghana Standards Board (GSB)

Japan

Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC)

Korea

Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS)

Malaysia

Department of Standards Malaysia (DSM)

Mexico

Direccin General de Normas (DGN)

Romania

Asociatia de Standardizare din Romnia (ASRO)

South Africa

South African Bureau of Standards (SABS)

Thailand

Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI)

United Kingdom

British Standards Institute (BSI)

United States

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

Table 2 Selected Countries and Their National Standards Organizations

In addition, most countries, both developed or developing,

have a national organization that oversees the development
or adoption of standards.
The organizations are also the official members (national
member bodies) of ISO and IEC.
Development of Voluntary Consensus Standards
While standards are developed at these SDOs, the standards
are developed by volunteers with interests in the subject
matter of the standard. In practice, these volunteers are
typically sponsored by their employers to help advance their
technology (or other vested interests). However, officially,
each volunteer participates as an individual, or in the case
of international standards development, as the representative
of his or her countrys position. The voluntary consensus
standards development process is characterized by:
Openness Any interested party must be allowed to
participate and express views.
Due Process Standards are developed according to
clearly stated rules and through a series of well-defined
stages from initial drafts through final publication. This
typically includes multiple levels of review and approval.
Consensus Decisions of the development group are
arrived at by consensus. This means that all views are
listened to, that objections are addressed, and that general
(although not unanimous) agreement is required to approve
a standard.
In almost all cases, consensus standards, once approved
and published, have a specific lifespan, typically on the order
of five years. By the end of this lifespan, the standard must
be re-approved, sometimes with modifications. If this does
not occur, the SDO withdraws the standard at the end of its
lifespan, and it has no further force.

B y i t s n a t u re , t h e v o l u n t a r y c o n s e n s u s s t a n d a rd s
development process is a relatively slow one, since large
numbers of potentially conflicting vested interests need to
be harmonized In addition, since the participants are usually
volunteers, they often have other important responsibilities.
Participating in standards development is a part-time (and
therefore protracted) activity. SDOs are always looking for
ways to speed up their processes, especially in areas like
IT and ITS where the technology evolves rapidly. Even so,
it often takes two years, often more, to develop a voluntary
consensus standard. The other side of this issue, however,
is that voluntary consensus standards, once approved, tend
to be robust, well accepted, and of great value.
The Use and Force of Voluntary Standards
The quality of voluntary consensus standards is important,
since these standards are also voluntary in the sense that
companies and agencies not generally obliged to adopt
them. They are free to adopt or ignore SDO-developed
standards as they see fit, mainly on the basis of their own
commercial or political interests. Good standards tend to
be broadly adopted, since they help to open markets and
promote commerce, and they provide some legal protections
to the manufacturers that adopt them.
Some countries (mainly in Europe) have regulations that,
in certain circumstances, mandate the use of otherwise
voluntary standards (mainly from ISO and IEC) and require
that an international standard on a subject must take
precedence over national or regional standards on the same
subject.
The World Trade Organization adopted an Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), which includes a code
of good practice regarding national and international
standards.The objective of this code is to minimize

ITS Technical Note

impediments to trade that could arise from differences in

regulations and technical standards from one country to
another. Nearly 150 SDOs and government agencies from
developed and developing countries around the world have
subscribed to this code of good practice.
The code encourages SDOs to give equal treatment to
products and technologies from other countries and not to
develop standards which cause unnecessary barriers to
international trade. The code encourages SDOs to base
national standards on existing international standards
wherever possible and to participate in the development
of these international standards. The code encourages the
development of per for mance-based standards and
discourages the development of standards that are based
on particular designs or specifications. Signatories to the
code are expected to report to WTO every six months on
the standards they have approved and are developing.
In practice, the code has been regarded more as advisory
than compulsory, and it does permit exceptions to its
provisions in a variety of special cases. Nonetheless, the
TBT Agreement and the code have been very helpful in
encouraging the harmonization of standards and in reducing
the proliferation of unlike standards on similar subjects.

2.3 Industry Consortia

Consensus standards are also developed in a manner that
mixes the traditional voluntary consensus process of SDOs
with the de facto standards process. These standards are
developed by industry consortia. These consortia are
sometimes existing industry associations, but more often
industry alliances that are formed for the purpose of
advancing a particular technology.
Technology whose standardization is currently being
addressed by industry consortia include: Bluetooth (for
wireless interconnection of electronics and computer
components), the ITS Databus (IDB, an in-vehicle network
for channeling data to and from ITS devices in the
automobile), and much of the Internet through the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF).
The number of organizations involved in standards
development by consortium is usually much larger than the
number involved in setting de facto standards. However,
the process is typically not open to all interested parties;
often participation is limited to manufacturers of the subject
technology. The primary advantage of consortium-developed
standards is that the process is generally must faster than
the voluntary consensus process, and a critical mass of
manufacturers (the members of the consortium) are already
i n p l a c e t o a d o p t a n d p ro m o t e t h e s t a n d a rd . T h e
disadvantage is that the standards are somewhat less likely
to be automatically accepted by the marketplace and, in
some cases, competing consortia develop competing
standards on the same subject, setting back overall
standardization. This kind of competition rarely occurs in
the voluntary consensus process.

2.4 Regulatory Standards

Regulatory standards are standards imposed by government
agencies with the force of law. Some regulatory standards
simply mandate the use of standards that were developed
by other processes (e.g., voluntary consensus standards).
In other cases, government agencies create the standards
as well as require them.
Generally, the appropriate role for regulatory standards is
to help ensure health and safety and to achieve social goals.
For example, government-imposed automotive standards
address subjects like brake safety and performance, the
availability and use of seatbelts and airbags, restrictions
on emissions, required crashworthiness, etc.
In the U.S., some states and cities have created regulations
that limit the use of cellular telephones while driving an
automobile. This illustrates one of the problems with
regulatory standards, namely that they may be adopted in
various forms by different jurisdictions. Some automotive
regulations differ from one state to another (sometimes one
city to another) in the U.S., and often from one country to
another (for example in Europe). As a result, regulations
relating to driving can change during the course of a single
automobile trip, as the vehicle moves into different
jurisdictions. Japan has been able to maintain consistency
in automobile regulations by insisting that most regulations
be on a national level and by virtue of being an island nation.
The process for creating regulatory standards varies widely
from one country to another. The processes may include
opportunities for comments and suggestions from industry
and the public before taking effect. In some countries, a clear
scientific or social basis for the regulation must be stated
before a regulation can be put into effect, making it more
difficult for regulations to be purely political.
Regulatory standards that specify performance requirements
(e.g., braking distances, acceptable emissions levels) can
be controversial, since they frequently increase costs for
particular stakeholders (e.g., vehicle manufacturers and
purchasers). In these cases, careful political strategizing
must be done to balance the social benefits against the
commercial costs. However, performance standards are
far less controversial than regulatory standards that prescribe
the use of particular technology or technological approaches.
Regulatory standards of this kind may provide advantages
to some manufacturers at the expense of others and may
result in protracted legal battles before being resolved.
Once adopted, regulatory standards are mandatory and have
the force of law. The sanctions for failing to follow a regulation
are generally specified as part of the regulation. These can
vary, depending on the situation and who is affected by the
regulation. Manufacturers may be subject to fines. Lower
level jurisdictions (e.g., states in the U.S.) may be denied
funds. In the extreme (for example, for ignoring safety
regulations and thereby causing deaths and injuries), criminal
sanctions may be imposed.

ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

3 An Overview of Important ITS Standards

This section introduces a number of ITS standards of various
kinds that have been important to the development and
introduction of ITS around the world. This introduction is not
intended to be a comprehensive catalog of ITS standards.
Rather it serves to highlight standards of particular interest.

3.1 De Facto ITS Standards

At this time, there are really no de facto ITS standards in
broad use. This reflects the fact that ITS is a relatively new
industry, and industry participants are not yet particularly
powerful. Microsoft is now trying to enter into partnerships
with selected vehicle manufacturers to build its influence
in a more measured way.
There have been some attempts to create de facto ITS
standards. For example, Microsoft attempted to make its
Windows-CE operating system a de facto standard as the
platform for user-oriented electronics in vehicles. However,
Microsoft does not have the influence in the automotive world
that it has in the PC world, and this attempt was
unsuccessful, partly because of strong resistance from the
vehicle manufacturers.

General Motors has had some success in getting other

vehicle manufacturers to adopt its OnStar telematics system
in the U.S. and Europe, but this is not really a standard as
much as a relatively successful product/service combination.
NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas, the two principal developers of
digital roadmap databases outside of Japan have each
attempted to create a de facto standard for the CD-ROM
and DVD-ROM format of the map databases that are used
in in-vehicle navigation systems. However, so far the industry
has not broadly adopted either for mat, and vehicle
manufacturer-specific proprietary formats continue to
predominate. These two companies are now working together
on a common approach for integrating real-time traffic
information with the map data used in in-vehicle navigation
products. This effort may produce de facto standards in this
area in the fairly near future.

3.2 Consensus ITS Standards

North America
The U.S. has produced a number of important ITS standards,
often with collaboration from Canada. These include:

Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) Data Dictionary

Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) Message Set
Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) Data Dictionary (TMDD)
Commercial Vehicle Electronic Credentials
Commercial Vehicle Safety and Credentials Information Exchange
Commercial Vehicle Electronic Safety Reporting
High Speed FM Subcarrier Waveform Standard
Information Service Provider - Vehicle Location Referencing Standard
Message Sets for Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), Electronic Toll and Traffic Management
(ETTM) and Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO)
On-Board Land Vehicle Mayday Reporting Interface
Standard for Common Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers
Standard for Data Dictionaries for Intelligent Transportation Systems
Standard Message Set Template for ITS
Standard Specification on DSRC Data Link Layer
Standard Specification on DSRC Physical Layer
Standard Specification on DSRC at 5.89 GHz
Standards for ATIS Message Sets Delivered Over Bandwidth Restricted Media
Table 3 ITS Critical Standards in the U.S.

ITS Technical Note

Data dictionaries and message sets for communicating

traveler infor mation (SAE J2353 and J2354), traffic
management (ITE/AASHTO), dedicated shor t range
communications (IEEE 1455), and incident management
information (IEEE 1512). In addition, standards were
developed to help prescribe the form and content of
standards for data dictionaries (IEEE 1489) and message
sets (IEEE 1488) aimed at particular applications. The
o b j e c t i v e o f t h e s e m e t a - s t a n d a rd i s t o p ro m o t e
consistency and interoperability of the separate applicationoriented standards.
l In-vehicle networks for ITS, notably the ITS Databus, IDB
(SAE J2366)
A family of standards called NTCIP (National Transportation
Communications for ITS Protocols) for the control of traffic
control devices (traffic signals, VMS, etc.) and to allow traffic
management centers to communicate with one another and
with other kinds of centers (e.g., emergency management
centers).
These standards are being developed cooperatively by
AASHTO, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE),
and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association
(NEMA) with support from U.S. DOT.
U.S. DOT has helped to support the development of ITS
standards where they were important to introducing ITS into
the infrastructure and to promote public safety. In 1999, ITS
America prepared a study that identified 17 particularly
critical ITS standards, most of which have now been
developed or are under development in various SDOs and
industrial consortia. See Table 3.
Europe
The principal source of ITS standards in Europe is CENS
technical committee on Road Transport and Traffic Telematics
(TC278), which frequently works cooperatively and directly
with ISOs technical committee on Intelligent Transport
Systems (TC204).
The highest profile CEN standards that are not being pursued
jointly with ISO address dedicated shor t-range
communications (DSRC), covering the physical, media
access control, and application layers of the Open Systems
Interconnection stack. These standards have only recently
been approved after many years of work and controversy.
There was a strong attempt to pursue these standards in
ISO, but regional differences and vested interests prevented
this from being successful.
Equally important are a series of CEN TC278 standards for
electronic fee collection (EFC) that make use of DSRC. Of
particular current interest are standards for adapting EFC
Standards for road use charging via GPS and cellular.
CEN TC278 DATEX standards to support communications
among traffic management centers and other centers are
in the approval process, including a data dictionary (prEN
13106) and data model. These standards have been
accepted in other parts of the world including the U.S.

There is also considerable interest in current CEN TC278

work on electronic vehicle registration as part of automatic
vehicle identification, and in after-theft systems for the
tracking and recovery of stolen vehicles.
Europe also regards as important a series of CEN TC278
standards for traveler and traffic information (TTI) messages
and standards for automatic vehicle and equipment
identification for which CEN has the lead in joint work at ISO
(see discussion on International below).
CEN TC278 includes an active working group on public
transport, including development of a reference data model
(prEN 12896) and standard message sets related to the
WORLDFIP and CAN in-vehicle networks (prENV 13149),
with emphasis on vehicle scheduling and control.
Japan
Japan is an active participant in international standards
groups like ISO, but does not have a large-scale domestic
voluntary consensus standards program. The standards that
are developed tend to be developed by industry agreement
or through industry-government cooperation, primary for
use within Japan.
Japan has been very successful in establishing a nationally
uniform ETC system and has established the Organization
for Road System Enhancement (ORSE) to promote ETC
throughout Japan. Another success is providing widespread
and widely-used traffic information through the Vehicle
Information and Communications Systems (VICS) program.
Similarly, there is a map database format (Kiwi) widely used
in Japan for in-vehicle navigation, but which has not proven
to be applicable in North America and Europe, where street
addressing conventions are different.
International
ISO/TC204 is the principal focus of ITS standards in the
international standards community. Notable standards
published by TC204 include:
Reference model architecture (ISO 14813)
Automatic vehicle and equipment identification for
inter modal goods transpor t (ISO 14815/14816, ISO
17262/17263)
Requirements for a central ITS Data Registry and Data
Dictionaries (ISO 14817)
Traveler and Traffic Information (TTI) Messages via Traffic
Message Coding (ISO 14819)
Geographic Data File (GDF) specification (ISO 14825) for
the exchange of spatial information
Electronic Fee Collection (EFC) (ISO 14904, ISO 17573)
In-vehicle navigation systems communications message
set requirements (ISO 15075)
Performance requirements for adaptive cruise control
systems (ISO 15622), forward collision warning systems
(ISO 15623), and traffic impediment (obstacle) warning
systems (ISO 15624)
P ro t o c o l i n f o r m a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t f o r w i d e a re a
communications (ISO 15662)

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ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

A large number of other standards are being pursued at

present, with particular activity in the areas of updating the
ITS reference architecture, map database technology,
electronic fee collection, intermodal freight management,
public transport, traffic management, and wide area
communications.
ITU maintains a Working Party (WP8A) on the subject of ITS
and periodically considers recommendations in the area.
Attempts have been made, so far without success, to
establish a global radio band for dedicated short-range
communications in the 5.8-5.9GHz band. ITU also plans to
recommend an update to cellular rules to allow automatic
crash notification (ACN) messages to be sent from vehicles
without requiring the cellular phone to register, and at very
high power to help ensure that the message gets through.

4 Approaches for Developing Countries

The value of having relevant standards in place is
unquestioned. However, it is probably not feasible or
economic probably not even desirable for developing
countries to establish their own independent program for
developing voluntary consensus standards. The WTOs
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Technology provides
strong encouragement to countries not to independently
develop standards that have already (or are already being)
developed elsewhere, unless such standards are unsuitable
for domestic use. If a needed standard does not yet exist,
the encouragement is to work with others to develop it. Many
developed countries, particularly in Europe, are forgoing
national programs of consensus standards development in
favor of participation in regional (e.g., CEN) or international
(e.g., ISO) development activities.
There are a number of avenues through which private
industry and public agencies in developing countries can
help to ensure that appropriate standards are available and
in place in their countries, both for ITS and for many other
areas of interest. These include:
Adopting national and/or international standards developed
by others
Participating in international standards development
Participating in relevant industry-oriented SDOs and
consortia
All of these approaches (but especially the first one) will
benefit from the existence of a national organization in a
developing country that coordinates the adoption and use
of standards. Usually, the logical candidate is the
organization that serves as the countrys national member
body at ISO. In addition, an ITS-oriented industry association
or ITS promotion organization in a developing country can
serve as a valuable advisor to the national standards
organization in the area of ITS standards.

4.1 Adopting Standards from Elsewhere

Standards have been getting developed for ITS for nearly
15 years. In other areas of commerce and technology that
relate to ITS, standards have been getting developed for
far longer. As a result, for many parts of ITS, standards have
already been developed, used, and refined. These standards
are readily available for use by developing countries. Major
SDOs publish catalogs of their standards, and copies of the
standards are available for purchase in both hardcopy and
electronic form. This includes industry-oriented SDOs like
SAE and IEEE, and more broadly based SDOs like CEN and
ISO. Like the standards, the catalogs are typically available
both in print and online.
The biggest challenge is that there are often a great many
standards on particular aspects of industry and technology.
It is fairly rare for there to be multiple standards on exactly
the same subject (although this happens occasionally), but
it may be difficult to find exactly which standard or standards
suit the particular need of a developing country, its industry,

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ITS Technical Note

and its people. This is an area in which the national standards

organization and the industr y advisor y body can be
extremely helpful, to:
Clearly define the need that the developing country has
for a standard.
Explore the available existing standards and evaluate how
well they meet this need.
Select standards for adoption that are both a good fit to
the domestic need and a good fit to other standards that
are already in place in the country.
Publicize to interested parties in the country that the
standard has been adopted for national use.
Provide assistance in including the standard both in
procurement requirements and in product and system
specifications to meet these requirements.

4.2 Participation in International Standards

Development
Most developing countries are already members of
international SDOs like ISO and IEC through their national
member bodies. As a result, they are already well-positioned
to participate in the development of international standards
at any of a variety of levels. (Only European countries are
eligible for membership and participation in CEN, CENELEC,
and ETSI.)
Any member country can, if it wishes, become a full voting
member (Participating Member or P-member) of an ISO or
IEC technical committee (TC). Countries can also choose
to be Observing Members (O-members). O-members can
attend meetings, but cannot vote. O-members also receive
the full collection of information about the TCs activities so
that they can stay informed on TC progress and activities.
If human and financial resources permit, developing
countries can send delegates and subject matter experts
to TC meetings and to meetings of their subcommittees and
working groups.
In most cases, the plenary meetings of TCs focus on
administrative and cooperation issues, information sharing
about the general subject matter of the TC, and the approval
of work items (new standards proposals) and drafts to be
balloted. It is helpful to attend TC meetings, but not
mandatory. On important issues, like the formal approval
of draft inter national standards, votes are taken by
correspondence, and all P-members can vote whether or
not they attend plenary meetings.
Actual standards development is done by subcommittees
and working groups, which typically meet more often than
the TC as a whole. P-members can send experts to these
meetings. However, countries are regarded as fully
participating in the development of a standard even if they
are only able to review and comment on drafts and eventually
participate in the voting. This level of participation is a
valuable contribution to the development of a standard, and
it also helps to ensure that a countrys particular requirements
are included in the standard as it is developed. A country
can choose a level of participation or observation for each

separate standards development initiative.

4.3 Participation in Industry Standards

Development Initiatives
Developing countries have a similar opportunity to participate
in the work of industry-oriented SDOs like SAE and IEEE and
in industry consortia. The main impediment is that full
participation requires attendance at meetings in various
places around the world, which may be too costly for
representatives of developing countries. In addition, industry
consortia are not open to everyone; however, companies
in the relevant industry are generally welcome to participate.
Membership in these consortia is often available at a number
of different levels of participation and cost. If a standard
is important to the domestic industry (or even a particular
company) in a developing countr y, membership and
attendance may be a worthwhile expense.
In any case, most SDOs and industry consortia welcome
input from any interested person or country. In addition, some
SDOs (e.g., IEEE) establish balloting groups to comment
and vote on new standards. These groups are separate from
the committees that actually write the standards. The work
of members of the balloting group is performed entirely by
email.

4.4 Role of regulatory standards

The governments of developing countries, like all
governments, are responsible for maintaining public health
and safety and working to achieve agreed-on society
objectives. In some cases, fulfilling this responsibility includes
the development and imposition of regulatory standards.
For ITS, there are some potential additional objectives for
which regulatory standards may be helpful. These include
promoting uniformity and interoperability of ITS systems so
that, for example:
ETC can be done consistently throughout the country
Agencies can work together effectively both routinely and
in times of emergency
Nationally issued smart cards can be used in public
transport systems in multiple cities
One way in which some countries have promoted uniformity
and interoperability is through the use of an ITS system
architecture. This is the topic of ITS Technical Note 5 in this
series.
It is not a requirement that every person in a country agrees
with a particular regulatory standard, but the politics of ITS
are simpler and more satisfying if regulatory standards are
well-accepted by most people. One way to achieve this is
to give stakeholders an opportunity to provide their views
as regulatory standards are considered and developed.
Another is to conduct a program of outreach that clearly
articulates the social or safety objectives of the regulatory
standard and how the standard will help achieve these
objectives. Regulatory standards that can be presented as
carefully arrived at and generally fair will be better accepted
and less politically sensitive.

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ITS Technical Note For Developing Countries

Appendix Where to Find Further Information on SDOs and Standards

The best source of current information on standards,
including ITS standards, is the web sites of the SDOs and
of some government agencies. The table below provides
the main link to these organizations. The use of each sites

search function is recommended to seek specific

information, since the detailed web addresses are subject
to significant change over time.

SDO

Relevant Subject Area

Main Web Address

American Association of State Highway

Road design and traffic control

and Transportation Officials

standards

www.transportation.org

ASTM International

Road surfaces, weigh-in-motion,

www.astm.org

U.S. and International

DSRC

Automotive Multimedia Interface

`In-vehicle interfaces to

Collaboration (AMI-C)

ITS equipment

www.ami-c.org

Comit Europen de Normalisation

All subjects except electronics

www.cenorm.org

(CEN) European

and communications

(AASHTO) U.S.

International industry

Comit Europen de Normalisation

Electrotechnique

Electronics

www.cenelec.org

Telecommunications

www.etsi.org

Electronics and communications

www.ieee.org

Traffic and road engineering

www.ite.org

Electronics

www.iec.ch

International Organization for

All subjects except electronics

www.iso.ch

Standardizations (ISO) International

and communications

International Telecommuni-cations Union

Spectrum and communications

www.itu.int

ITS Databus Forum (IDB) Forum U.S.

ITS databus

www.idbforum.org

National Electrical Manufacturers

Electrical equipment, notably

www.nema.org

Association (NEMA) U.S.

traffic control devices

Society of Automotive Engineers

Road Vehicles (and aerospace)

www.sae.org

Road vehicle

www.jsae.or.jp

Infrastructure and

www.its.dot.gov

(CENELEC) European
European Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI) European
Institute of and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) U.S. and international
Institute of Transportation Engineers
(ITE) U.S.
International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) International

(ITU) International

(SAE) U.S. and international

Society of Automotive Engineers of
Japan (JSAE) Japan
U.S. DOT ITS Standards Program U.S.

vehicle-infrastructure cooperation

13