EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 286/45

Thursday 19 June 2008

Towards Europe-wide Safer, Cleaner and Efficient Mobility: The First Intelligent Car Report

P6_TA(2008)0311

European Parliament resolution of 19 June 2008 on the Communication from the Commission tothe European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Towards Europe-wide Safer, Cleaner and Efficient Mobility: The First Intelligent Car Report (2007/2259(INI))

2009/C 286 E/11

The European Parliament,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission on the Intelligent Car Initiative — ‘Raising Awareness of ICT for Smarter, Safer and Cleaner Vehicles’ (COM(2006)0059) (‘Intelligent Car Initiative’),

having regard to the Communication from the Commission entitled ‘Bringing eCall back on track — Action Plan (3rd eSafety Communication)’ (COM(2006)0723),

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Council and the European Parliament entitled ‘An energy policy for Europe’ (COM(2007)0001),

having regard to the Communication from the Commission entitled ‘i2010 — Annual Information Society Report 2007’ (COM(2007)0146),

having regard to the Communication from the Commission entitled ‘Towards Europe-wide Safer, Cleaner and Efficient Mobility: The First Intelligent Car Report’ (COM(2007)0541),

having regard to the Commission recommendation 2007/78/EC of 22 December 2006 on safe and efficient in-vehicle information and communication systems: update of the European Statement of Principles on human machine interface (1),

having regard to its resolution of 12 February 2003 on the Commission White Paper ‘European transport policy for 2010: time to decide’ (2),

having regard to its resolution of 27 April 2006 on Road safety: bringing eCall to citizens (3),

having regard to its resolution of 18 January 2007 on European Road Safety Action Programme — Mid-term review (4),

having regard to its resolution of 12 July 2007 on keeping Europe moving — sustainable mobility for our continent (5),

having regard to its resolution of 24 October 2007 on the Community Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles (6),

having regard its resolution of 15 January 2008 on CARS 21: A Competitive Automotive Regulatory Framework (7),

having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0169/2008),

A. whereas the environmental costs of transport have been estimated at 1,1 % of Europe's GDP,

B. whereas transport is responsible for 30 % of total energy consumption in the EU and road transport accounts for 60 % of this figure,

C. whereas car usage currently accounts for approximately 12 % of overall EU emissions of CO2,

D. whereas the European Council of 8-9 March 2007 set a firm target of a 20 % reduction in the EU's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020,

E. whereas the Commission's objective is to reach average CO2 emissions of 120 g/km for new passenger cars and light-duty vehicles by 2012,

F. whereas the EU has not yet met the abovementioned White Paper on European Transport Policy's goal of reducing European road accident fatalities by 50 % by 2010 in comparison to the 2001 level,

G. whereas the Commission has estimated that eCall, the EU-wide in-vehicle emergency call system, could save up to 2 500 lives every year in the European Union if fully deployed,

H. whereas research by the University of Cologne has indicated that 4 000 lives could be saved and 100 000 injuries avoided on Europe's roads each year if all cars had electronic stability control,

I. whereas the market for portable navigation devices grew from 3,8 million devices sold in 2005 to over 9 million in 2006,

J. whereas technological safety systems often promote a greater sense of safety and may thus result in drivers driving in a less responsible fashion; it is therefore necessary to stress the primary importance of also properly educating drivers and promoting more intelligent driving,

1. Welcomes the Intelligent Car Initiative and the progress achieved in its three pillars: coordination of relevant stakeholders, research and technological development, and awareness raising;

2. Believes that intelligent vehicle systems can help to reduce congestion, pollution and the number and seriousness of road accidents, but that their market penetration rate is still too low;

3. Believes that Member States should promote and get involved more actively in eSafety initiatives through Joint Technology Initiatives and that other incentives for private investments in the field of research and development should be envisaged;

4. Is encouraged by the fact that 13 Member States and 3 non-EU countries have thus far signed the eCall Memorandum of Understanding, and reaffirms its support for this measure;

5. Calls on the Member States to urge institutions working in the area of road safety to provide accident simulation training, since the number of road accident fatalities can be reduced above all by actively employing accident prevention techniques and the administration of first aid; believes that training bodies should teach correct responses to emergency situations;

6. Urges the remaining Member States to sign the memorandum as soon as possible, preferably before the middle of 2008, in order to encourage the rapid introduction of this potentially life-saving feature and stresses the need for the Commission to further develop the regulatory framework for the full harmonisation of the standard emergency call (112) as well as for the eCall (E112) EU-wide;

7. Asks the Commission to assess the validity of the transmission methods already used by carmakers for this feature;

8. Reaffirms its support for the Galileo programme and its many potential features which could ensure greater reliability of information related to these initiatives;

9. Recalls that the Commission's stated aim is to achieve a 100 % take-up of electronic stability control for all new vehicles from 2012 onwards;

10. Recalls that there is potential for reducing CO2 emissions through simple measures that have been known about for a long time, such as reduced-weight seats or tyres, engine heat accumulators or brake energy regeneration, but that many vehicles do not incorporate these features; therefore calls on the Member States and the Commission to insist on incorporation of these technically simpler measures in every car;

11. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to assess the importance of developing new systems for accident avoidance, including new materials and automatic interconnections through active sensors, vehicle to vehicle as well as vehicle to road;

12. Stresses the importance of the timely and widespread market implementation of intelligent vehicle systems, given that such systems stand out, inter alia, thanks to their ability to interact with intelligent infrastructures; recalls that electronic systems require regular technical maintenance;

13. Therefore calls on Member States and the Commission to develop guidelines in order to encourage Member States to introduce incentives for both ecological and vehicle safety features;

14. Urges stakeholders to take appropriate measures which ensure the affordability of these new features, thus increasing consumer demand;

15. Calls, therefore, on the Member States and the Commission to continue their efforts to devise tax incentives for the purchase of vehicles which are environmentally adapted and are equipped with intelligent safety devices, in parallel to the existing incentives for purchasing less polluting cars;

16. Calls on Member States, the Commission and the car industry to provide brief, clear and comprehensible information as part of awareness-raising campaigns in order to reach the largest audience possible, including car dealerships and driving schools, and inform them about intelligent vehicle systems;

17. Calls for the incentives introduced to be combined with prevention and road safety training measures for drivers;

18. Believes that road safety will benefit from better interaction between intelligent on-board apparatuses and communicators with devices integrated within the infrastructure;

19. Suggests that the Commission pay special attention to Member States where the availability of intelligent systems is still very low;

20. Is aware of the fact that the introduction of new technologies should be done progressively;

21. Underlines the fact that the Intelligent Car Initiative cannot be fully accomplished if separated from ‘Smart roads’ initiatives;

22. Therefore welcomes the commitment by the Commission to launch, from 2008 onwards, a programme to prepare transport infrastructure for the integration of cooperative systems, as well as the Commission's cooperation with the Radio Spectrum Committee in allocating and harmonising the Intelligent Transport Systems spectrum for cooperative systems;

23. Stresses the need for coherent inter-sectoral strategies at EU level as well as the need to enhance policy frameworks for the automotive industry, the telecommunications sector, the emergency services, public safety and security, public works and infrastructure, research institutes and universities, which could provide incentives for developing further preventive safety applications and technologies;

24. Urges stakeholders to create an appropriate ‘intelligent environment’ on roads and within infrastructure so that new intelligent features can work properly and can be fully exploited, including better road capacity management and intelligent road monitoring systems (real-time monitoring);

25. Urges the car industry to take into account fresh car safety features when designing new vehicles and to provide for devices to measure and display energy consumption and environmental data such as real CO2 and particulate emissions;

26. Recalls that information and communication technology (ICT) based systems can contribute to reducing pollutant emissions through more efficient traffic management, reduced fuel consumption and by facilitating eco-driving;

27. Invites the Commission to develop methodology for measuring the impact of ICTs on CO2 emissions or to coordinate and disseminate existing findings;

28. Notes that the use and availability of portable or nomadic ICT-based device systems has increased and that the market for said devices continues to grow steadily;

29. Calls on stakeholders to work on measures to ensure the safe use and fixing of such devices, and to facilitate human-machine interaction;

30. Recalls that data privacy should be properly addressed and looks forward to the publication of the eSafety Forum's forthcoming data privacy code of practice;

31. Stresses the need for a definition by the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute of an open standard for introducing eCall services at European level;

32. Welcomes the negotiations on the voluntary agreement on the inclusion of eCall as a standard option in all new vehicles from 2010 onwards;

33. Welcomes the negotiations on an international agreement for a global technical regulation which would include the technical specifications for the electronic stability control system, and calls on the Commission to draw up a report on the state of those negotiations and the measures agreed on the matter;

34. Looks forward to future reports on the development of the Safer, Cleaner, Efficient and Intelligent Car Initiative;

35. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

(1) OJ L 32, 6.2.2007, p. 200.

(2) OJ C 43 E, 19.2.2004, p. 250.

(3) OJ C 296 E, 6.12.2006, p. 268.

(4) OJ C 244 E, 18.10.2007, p. 220.

(5) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2007)0345.

(6) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2007)0469.

(7) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2008)0007.