Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the Intelligent Car Initiative - "Raising Awareness of ICT for Smarter, Safer and Cleaner Vehicles"
Date: 2006-02-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: environmental protection, information technology, intelligent transport system, road safety, road transport, transport policy

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 15.2.2006 
COM(2006) 59 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

On the Intelligent Car Initiative  
"Raising Awareness of ICT for Smarter, Safer and Cleaner Vehicles" 

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1. 

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THIS COMMUNICATION 

The  present  Communication  is  an  answer  to  the  need  of  the  citizen,  the  industry  and  the 
Member  States  to  solve  transport  related  societal  problems  and  improve  Information  and 
Communication Technologies (ICT) take up. The Communication presents the Intelligent 
Car Initiative as a policy framework for actions in this area. The Intelligent car initiative 
is composed of 3 pillars: the eSafety Forum, the ICT research programme and the awareness 
raising actions. 

2. 

INTRODUCTION 

On 1 June 2005 the Commission adopted the initiative “i20101: European Information Society 
2010  for  growth  and  employment”  as  a  comprehensive  strategy  for  modernising  and 
deploying  all  EU  policy  instruments  to  encourage  the  development  of  the  digital  economy. 
i2010  consists  of  three  pillars:  a  Single  European  Information  Space,  Innovation  and 
Investment,  and  an  Inclusive  European  Information  Society.  The  “Intelligent  Car”  is  one  of 
the  3  Flagship  initiatives  proposed  within  the  third  pillar  with  the  objective  to  raise  the 
visibility  of  the  vital  contribution  of  ICT  to  the  quality  of  life.  The  “Intelligent  Car 
Initiative”  on  smart,  safe  and  clean  transport,  focuses  on  road  vehicles  and  addresses  safety 
and environmental challenges caused by increased road use. 

3. 

RATIONALE: WHY A EUROPEAN INITIATIVE ON THE INTELLIGENT CAR? 

There are an estimated 300 million drivers in the EU Member States, who wish their driving 
to  be  easier  with  less  trouble,  less  delay,  and  less  chance  of  getting  injured.  Of  all  daily 
activities, driving is crucial as our entire life could change in an instant or even end because of 
a road accident. The present activity responds to the need to move towards a new situation, 
where  cars  don’t  crash  anymore,  and  traffic  congestion  is  reduced.  The  pollution  of  the 
environment,  traffic  safety  and  congestion  are  truly  European  problems  affecting  all  25 
Member States and therefore, European solutions need to be found. 

3.1. 

Description of the Problem 

Modern societies depend heavily on mobility, but transport entails severe problems, such as 
congestion of road networks and urban areas, harmful effects on the environment and public 
health, waste of energy and, above all, accidents which cause fatalities, injuries and material 
damage.  

In the EU, Congestion costs amount to 50 billion € per year or 0.5 % of Community GDP, 
and  by  2010  this  figure  could  go  up  to  1%  of  EU  GDP.  The  number  of  cars  per  thousand 
persons has increased from 232 in 1975 to 460 in 2002. The overall distance travelled by road 
vehicles  has  tripled  in  the  last  30  years  and,  in  the  last  decade,  the  volume  of  road  freight 
grew  by  35%  contributing  to  7  500  km  or  10  %  of  the  network  being  affected  daily  by 
traffic jams2.  

1 
2 

COM(2005) 229 final: “i2010 – A European Information Society for growth and employment” 
source DG TREN. 

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Concerning  energy  efficiency  and  emissions,  in  2002  the  transport  sector  consumed  338 
million tonnes oil equivalent (MToe) representing 31% of the total energy consumption in the 
EU.  Road  transport  consumed  281  MToe,  or  83%  of  the  energy  consumed  by  the  whole 
transport  sector.  Road  transport  CO2  emissions  account  for  835  million  tonnes  per  year 
representing 85% of the total transport emissions3. Investigations show that up to 50% of fuel 
consumption  is  caused  by  congested  traffic  situations  and  non  optimal  driving 
behaviour.  

Of all transport problems, Safety is the one with the most serious impact on the daily lives of 
citizens. It also has a high impact on most of the socio-economic indicators. With its “White 
Paper”4of September 2001, the European Commission set the target to half road fatalities by 
2010.  Although  the  situation  has  improved  thanks  to  the  road  safety  action  programmes5, 
there  are  still  over  40.000  fatalities  on  the  Euro  25  roads  every  year,  with  1.4  million 
accidents  with  a  cost  of  around  200  billion  €/year  representing  2%  of  the  EU  GDP6. 
Concerning the causes of accidents, current research7 indicates that human error is involved in 
almost 93% of accidents and that, in almost three-quarters of the cases, the human mistake is 
solely to blame. As an example, a recent study8 concluded that if we have an accident when 
driving at a speed of 50 km/h and we could brake half a second earlier, we could reduce the 
crash  energy  by  50%,  but  an  analysis  of  German  accidents  showed  that  39%  of  passenger 
vehicles and 26% of trucks do not activate brakes before a collision and some 40% more do 
not brake effectively, underlying our limits as drivers.  

3.2. 

The potential of intelligent cars 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which enable building Intelligent 
Cars, provide new intelligent solutions that contribute to solving the key societal challenges 
described above by increasing road safety, the overall efficiency of the transport systems and 
by contributing to a more efficient use of fuel. These intelligent systems can assist the driver 
in the driving functions preventing or avoiding accidents, they can provide drivers with real 
time  information  about  the  road  network  avoiding  congestion,  and  they  can  optimise  a 
journey  or  the  engine  performance  improving  overall  energy  efficiency.  These  intelligent 
systems address the interaction between the driver, the vehicle and the road environment, in 
an  integrated  approach  where  the  autonomous  on-board  systems  are  complemented  with 
vehicle-to-vehicle  and  vehicle-to-infrastructure  co-operative  technologies  and  improved 
traffic network management.  

3 
4 
5 

6 
7 
8 

source EUROSTAT 
COM(2001) 370 final “WHITE PAPER: European transport policy for 2010: time to decide” 
COM(2003) 311 final: European Road Safety Action Programme Halving the number of road accident 
victims  in  the  European  Union  by  2010:  A  shared  responsibility  COM(2003)  542  Final:  Information 
and Communications Technologies for Safe and Intelligent Vehicles 
source EUROSTAT 
GIDAS database 
source HELLA presentation AMAA 2004 

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What is the potential of these intelligent systems? 

Why should the EU propose a plan to raise their awareness? 

•  The SeiSS study9, estimated that if all vehicles were equipped with eCall (emergency call 
automatically  triggered  by  the  vehicle  in  case  of  an  accident)  by  2010  a  reduction  in 
fatalities between 5% and 15% could be achieved in the EU saving up to a maximum of 22 
billion  €.  Moreover,  eCall  could  reduce  congestion  times  between  10%  and  20%  with 
additional cost savings of between 2 to 4 billion €.  

•  The  same  study  estimated  that  Adaptive  Cruise  Control  (ACC)  that  performs 
longitudinal control (thus avoiding rear-end collisions) could save up to 4.000 accidents in 
2010 if only 3% of the vehicles were equipped.  

•  In the case of Lateral Support (lane departure warning and lane change assistant) 1.500 
accidents could be saved in 2010 given a penetration rate of only 0.6%, while a penetration 
rate of 7% in 2020 would lead to 14.000 fewer accidents.  

•  AWAKE,  a  project  that  developed  a  Driver  hypovigilance  system,  estimated  that  a 
warning to the driver in case of drowsiness could play an important role in avoiding 30% 
of fatal crashes on motorways and 9% of all fatal accidents.  

•  The SMART NETS project demonstrated that improved software and real-time traffic data 
in  urban  traffic  control  centres  could  lead  to  better  traffic  management  and  achieve  a 
reduction of up to 40% in traffic standstill and congestion, thus resulting  in considerable 
energy savings.  

•  Other  systems  like  “speed  alert”,  “alcohol-lock”  and  “charging  systems”  can  have  also, 
under  certain  circumstances,  an  important  impact  on  cleaner,  safer  and  more  efficient 
transport.  

3.3. 

Need for action at European Level 

Considering  the  problems  described,  it  appears  that  intelligent  car  systems  could  contribute 
substantially to overcome some of the current transport problems. Unfortunately, despite their 
potential, most of these intelligent systems are not yet on the market and the vehicles that are 
fitted  with  telematics  or  with  new  generation  active  safety  features  are  mainly  luxury  cars 
representing a small percentage of the market. For some successful active safety systems, for 
example, large-scale deployment faced several problems and took very long periods of time. 
This  has  been  the  case  with  the  introduction  of  the  ABS10  (20  years);  the  ESP  (10  years  to 
reach  40%  of  market  penetration)  and  ACC  (more  than  25  years  since  the  start  of  the 
development phase and yet a very low penetration rate). The main reasons are legal barriers, 
the  extremely  competitive  situation  of  the  automotive  sector  with  narrow  margins  and  low 
return on investment, the high cost of intelligent systems and the consequent lack of customer 
demand,  the  lack  of  information,  throughout  society,  about  the  potential  benefits  of  these 
systems and a clear business case. 

9 

10 

Exploratory  Study  on  the  potential  socio-economic  impact  of  the  introduction  of  Intelligent  Safety 
Systems in Road Vehicles: SeiSS final report. 
ABS: Antilock Braking System; ESP: Electronic Stability Programme; ACC: Adaptive Cruise Control 

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A survey done by EUROTEST11 on a representative sample of almost 2800 drivers showed 
that only half the drivers surveyed were familiar with existing basic in-vehicle technologies 
providing active and passive safety (only 50% of them, for example, knew what an antilock 
braking system (ABS) does,). The same survey also concluded that “more needs to be done, 
on  both  the  European  and  national  level, to  raise  the  awareness  about  safer,  cleaner  and 
more  economical  driving”.  Citizens  and  policy  makers  cannot  be  expected  to  invest  or 
promote  technology  unless  its  benefits  and  usefulness  are  clear.  In  order  to  stimulate  the 
users’  demand  for  intelligent  car  systems,  it  is  therefore  important  to  establish  a  consistent 
awareness raising programme being careful not to create distortion of competition in the after-
market or false expectations on systems capabilities  

Moreover,  European  transport  problems  need  harmonised  solutions  at  European  level. 
Bottlenecks  to  market  implementation  need  to  be  removed,  product  demand  needs  to  be 
stimulated and consensus needs to be built among key players. The eSafety Forum underlines 
that the wide-spread take-up of Intelligent Car Systems cannot depend on the private business 
case  only.  This  take-up  needs  the  full  support  of  the  public  sector  especially  in  the  initial 
phase  of  market  penetration  of  mature  technologies,  if  they  contribute  to  solving  European 
societal problems and represent excellence in innovation. The Cars2112 initiative that focuses 
on a competitive automotive regulatory system for the 21st Century also identifies eSafety as a 
key initiative to reach the objective of reducing fatalities on European roads. The Intelligent 
Car  links  to  Cars21  and  complements  it  through a number  of  awareness raising actions and 
research.  The  actions  proposed  in  the  present  Communication  will  also  contribute 
significantly to the overall reduction in the emission of pollutants and would help industry to 
fulfil its commitment to reduce average new car CO2 emissions to 140 g/km in 2008. 

To ensure interoperability and the harmonisation of technical solutions throughout the Union, 
a comprehensive European approach is needed. In addition to standardisation and in line with 
the  ongoing  work  on  co-operative  systems,  public  authorities  have  a  particular  role  in  the 
implementation  of  the  appropriate  infrastructures,  including  intelligent  features,  and  putting 
forward targeted actions enabling the wider deployment of ITS. 

Further  action  is  needed  in  research  and  development.  During  the  last  decades,  major 
investments have been made in Europe in the use of ICT for intelligent vehicle technologies, 
also  thanks  to  the  European  Framework  Programmes.  Several  technologies  contributing  to 
higher  road  and  vehicle  safety,  less  congestion  and  more  rational  energy  consumption  were 
developed  and  tested  in  these  programmes.  Additional  efforts  are  needed  to  follow  up  the 
appropriate  research  priorities  activities  developed  so  far  by  focusing  on  assessment 
programmes and refinement of technologies and systems to make them smarter, cheaper and 
more  reliable.  It  is  also  important  to  maintain  European  industry  competitiveness  towards 
Japan and the US where similar research programmes exists. 

4. 

OBJECTIVES 

The three needs for action at European level in the area of intelligent cars as identified above, 
define the following objectives of the Intelligent Car Initiative:  

11 
12 

http://www.eurotestmobility.net/eurotest.php?itemno=86&lang=EN 
For more on the CARS 21 initiative and to download the final report, see 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/automotive/pagesbackground/competitiveness/cars21.htm 

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(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Coordinate and support the work of relevant stakeholders, citizens, Member States and 
the Industry, in the Intelligent Car Initiative. 

Support  research  and  development  in  the  area  of  smarter,  cleaner  and  safer  vehicles 
and facilitate the take-up and use of research results. 

Create awareness of ICT-based solutions to stimulate users’ demand for these systems 
and create socio-economic acceptance. 

5. 

ACTIONS PROPOSED 

5.1. 

Support  and  co-ordinate  the  work  of  the  Member  States  and  of  the  other 
relevant stakeholders. 

in 

The  first  objective  of  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  is  implemented  with  the  support  of  the 
eSafety  Forum.  The  eSafety  Forum  activities  are  described 
two  Commission 
Communications  on  eSafety13.  The  Forum  aims  at  removing  the  bottlenecks  that  prevent 
Intelligent  Vehicle  Systems  entering  the  market,  through  consensus  building  among 
stakeholders  and  recommendations  to  the  Member  States  and  the  EU.  It  was  established  in 
2003  and  has  now  over  150  members  representing  all  road  safety  stakeholders.  It  has 
established  so  far  eleven  industry-led  Working  Groups  that  work  on  priority  topics.  The 
Forum  has  produced  a  consistent  number  of  valuable  reports  that  constitutes  an  important 
input  for  industrial  initiatives  and  policy  activities.  The  Forum  will  ensure  the  links  with 
parallel  and  complementary  activities  in  the  domain  of  intelligent  transport  systems  like 
Cars21, the European Road Safety Action Programme in particular the European Road Safety 
Charter14,  the  “Intelligent  Transport  Systems  for  logistics  and  intermodality”  initiative 
announced  in  the  Community  Lisbon  Programme  and,  in  the  field  of  the  environment,  the 
European  Climate  Change  Programme  working  group  on  light  vehicles15.  As  the  Intelligent 
Car Initiative develops, the Commission will consider extending the activities of the eSafety 
Forum to cover ICT for cleaner as well as safer transport. 

The  Forum  becomes  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  and  it  will  be  the 
essential link to decision makers. 

Within the first objective of the Intelligent Car Initiative, the eSafety Forum will continue to 
support  the  Commission  through  its  working  groups.  In  addition,  the  following  specific 
actions are proposed: 

(1) 

Follow  up  and  report  on  the  specific  actions  proposed  in  the  2nd  eSafety 
Communication “Bringing eCall to Citizens” mainly in relation to the signature of the 
eCall  Memorandum  of  Understanding  by 
the  state  of 
implementation  of  the  single  emergency  number  112  and  E112,  the  status  of  the 
PSAPs  (Public  Service  Answering  Points)  upgrading  for  the  handling  of  location-
enhanced  E112  calls  and  eCalls  and  on  the  provision  of  adequate  location-enhanced 
emergency services and language support. 

the  Member  States, 

13 

14 
15 

COM(2003)  542  Final:  Information  and  Communications  Technologies  for  Safe  and  Intelligent 
Vehicles and COM/2005/0431 final The 2nd eSafety Communication - Bringing eCall to Citizens 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/road/roadsafety/rsap/charter.htm 
http://forum.europa.eu.int/Public/irc/env/eccp_2/library 

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(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

Produce Commission Recommendation on the design and safe use of Human Machine 
Interfaces  (HMI)  for  intelligent  vehicles  systems.  The  recommendation  updates  the 
Commission Recommendation of 21 December 1999 on safe and efficient in vehicle 
information  and  communication  systems,  taking  also  into  account  the  evolution  of 
technology during the past 5 years. 

Investigate  the  possibility  to  use  appropriate  incentives  schemes  at  national  level  in 
order to support the purchase of vehicles equipped with advanced safety functions and 
after-market installations. Fiscal Incentive schemes should be introduced by Member 
States  in  a  coordinated  manner  across  the  EU  to  avoid  fragmentation  of  the  internal 
market,  and  mainly  take  the  form  of  tax  differentiation,  aimed  at  influencing 
consumer’s  behaviour  towards  a  well  defined  category  of  vehicles,  which  will  be 
equipped  with  the  preferred  advanced  safety  functions  and  after-market  installation. 
Any incentive  plan  including national support to  Intelligent Car technologies will be 
carefully elaborated in conformity with State aid rules.  

To  address  the  issues  of  spectrum  needs  in  the  context  of  vehicle-to-vehicle 
communication and to organise a workshop to discuss spectrum implications16 of the 
Intelligent  Car  Initiative.  The  spectrum  needs  require  coordination  with  the  proper 
bodies  at  an  early  stage  of  technical  development  to  ensure  the  necessary  frequency 
band availability. 

(5) 

To  follow  up  the  recommendation  on  the  establishment  of  a  European  Code  of 
Practice for the development and testing of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems17.  

5.2. 

Research and development in the area of smarter, cleaner and safer vehicles 

The  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  activities  build  upon  the  achievements  and  results  of  EU 
Framework Programmes on research and technological development18. 

The  long-term  objectives  of  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  can  only  be  achieved  through  co-
operative  research  and  will  be  part  of  the  ICT  priority  in  FP7:  ICT  meeting  societal 
challenges, contributing to the development of ICT-based transportation systems and services 
enabling  people  and  goods  to  move  safely,  ecologically,  comfortably  and  efficiently.  The 
research  priorities  of  the  Intelligent  Car  fully  support  the  ERTRAC19  (European  Road 
Transport Research Advisory Council) strategic research agenda. Within the second objective 
of the Intelligent Car the following actions are proposed: 

(6) 

Co-operative Research in Europe has allowed system suppliers and car manufacturers 
to  develop  active  safety  systems  to  mitigate  or  avoid  accidents.  Future  research  in 
this  area  should  continue  the  work  done  so  far  and  look  at  the  needs  for  the  next 
generation  of  driver  assistance  systems,  such  as  enhanced  performance,  reliability, 
security  and  reduced  fuel  consumption,  including  potential  risks  of  Electromagnetic 
faster  components. 
compatibility 

failure,  based  on  cheaper, 

smarter  and 

16 

17 
18 
19 

Pursuant  to  Decision  676/2002/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  a  regulatory 
framework for radio spectrum policy in the European Community (Radio Spectrum Decision) 
results of RESPONSE 3 part of the PREVENT integrated project http://www.prevent-ip.org/ 
http://www.cordis.lu/ist/so/esafety-road/home.html 
http://www.ertrac.org/ 

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Under FP6 a first group of projects looking at the potential of vehicle-to-vehicle and 
vehicle-to-infrastructure communication have been launched. Further research on co-
operative  systems  is  needed  to  evolve  from  basic  conceptual  models  towards 
take  place. 
integrated  systems  enabling  functional 

testing  and  validation  to 

Traveller and traffic information have become key services for improving access to 
transport services. Open platforms are under development enabling travellers to access 
information in a seamless  way. Market uptake is slow and further RTD  is needed to 
acceptability. 
business 
overcome 

linked 

issues 

cases 

user 

and 

to 

ICT  research  should  also  help  to  achieve  transport  across  transport  modes,  in 
particular in the case of freight transport where increased capacity management has a 
direct impact on fuel consumption. ICT should also help to overcome the economical 
barriers  of  multi-modal  transport  by  improving  the  overall  information  flow. 

The research mentioned above, needs to be complemented with actions demonstrating 
the benefits and use of intelligent vehicle systems. 

Establishment  through  FP7  of  a  comprehensive,  technical  and  socio/economic 
assessment  program,  based  on  Field  Operational  Tests  (FOT)  to  assess  in  real 
environments the impact of ICT-based Intelligent Car systems on driver behaviour and 
on driving dynamics. The FOT will also serve as the basis for a cost-benefit analysis 
of  advanced,  intelligent  systems  and  for  an  overall  assessment  of  their  impact  on 
system.  
traffic 

efficiency 

transport 

safety 

and 

the 

the 

on 

of 

The deployment of these systems requires the commitment of the automotive industry 
and  investments  in  the  infrastructure  that  is  under  the  responsibility  of  public 
authorities.  Any  engagement  from  their  side  will  be  based  on  impact  assessment 
studies,  where  costs/benefits  play  an  important  role.  The  FOT  will  provide  real 
operational data to carry out this analysis. The programme should target close-to-the-
market  systems  that  can  rapidly  be  made  available  in  a  sufficiently  large  fleet  of 
vehicles.  The  results  of  the  Assessment  programme  will  strongly  depend  on  the 
commitment, involvement and participation of the Member States in the identification, 
setting-up and follow-up of the tests. The same applies for the work on co-operative 
systems,  where  the  road  operators,  both  urban  and  inter-urban,  play  a  key  role  in 
achieving the expected benefits. 

Support  and  promote  the  setting  up  of  an  independent  conformance  testing  and 
performance  assessment  programme  in  the  EU,  by  using  the  existing  means  and 
capacity available in major European research centres. Whereas in the field of passive 
safety and emissions there are clear testing methods to verify design performance (i.e. 
crash worthiness), harmonised performance testing methods of ICT based systems do 
not  exist.  It  is  therefore  urgent  to  start  the  reflection  on  criteria  and  methods  to 
measure  their  performance.  A  number  of  European  test  centres  have  gained  a  lot  of 
experience on performance testing of ICT based traffic safety and efficiency systems, 
and  a  comprehensive  initiative  can  be  started  in  close  co-operation  with  the 
automotive industry, its suppliers, European Standards Organisations, Member States 
and EuroNCAP20. The initiative will include the launching of a feasibility study which 

(7) 

(8) 

20 

European New Car Assessment Programme: www.euroncap.com 

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will  investigate  the  most  appropriate  methodology  for  testing  and  the  organisational 
structure of the programme. In the second phase, a project could be started in FP7 for 
the proper application of the methodology, to carry out preliminary performance tests 
and to link with the standardisation bodies.  

5.3. 

Create awareness of ICT based solutions for intelligent Cars 

The  awareness  pillar  of  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  will  promote,  active  information 
dissemination  to  a  wide  audience  to  raise  drivers  and  policy  maker’s  knowledge  about  the 
potential  of  intelligent  vehicle  systems,  stimulate  user’s  demand  and  create  socio-economic 
acceptance.  The  following  specific  actions  under  the  third  objective  of  the  Intelligent  Car 
Initiative are proposed: 

(9) 

Hold appropriate and regular “Intelligent Car Initiative Events”. These events aim at 
maximising media attention through result-oriented activities e.g. demonstration days, 
Integrated Projects road shows, showcases, workshops. 

(10)  Support  and  launch  targeted  activities  to  raise  intelligent  car  systems  awareness 
including  the  production  of  short,  well  targeted  TV  series  or  documentaries  on 
specific  ICT  based  systems,  and  the  launching  of  a  comprehensive  benchmarking 
study on ongoing activities in promoting and deploying intelligent vehicle systems in 
the Member States and in the industry. 

(11)  Promote the establishment of an “eSafety Communication Platform” with the aim to 
improve,  coordinate  and  harmonise  the  end-user  communication  of  the  different 
stakeholders. This platform has been proposed by the User Outreach Working Group 
of the eSafety Forum. In this working group a number of industrial partners identified 
the need to establish a formal organisation as a prerequisite for raising user awareness 
at  EU  level.  This  work  will  make  use  of  best  practise  toolbox  and  pilots  for  user 
campaigns to be tested in several Member States. 

(12)  Support  and  promote  with 

the 

i2010  branding  and  other 

targeted  actions, 

stakeholders’ initiatives which pursue the objectives of the Intelligent Car Initiative 

5.4.  Monitoring of the Intelligent Car Initiative 

In order to measure the progresses of the Intelligent Car Initiative a monitoring exercise will 
be  put  in  place  at  European,  national  and  industrial  level,  focusing  on  specific  indicators  to 
regularly assess the progress on the proposed actions. 

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6. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The present Communication focuses on the third pillar of the i2010 initiative, the building of 
an  inclusive  European  Information  Society  that  offers  better  quality  of  life  and  improved 
public  services.  It  proposes  an  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  with  three  specific  objectives: 
Coordination of the work of stakeholders through the eSafety Forum, supporting research and 
development  and  raising  the  user's  awareness  about  intelligent  vehicle  systems  and  their 
potential benefits, and to accelerate their deployment in the market.  

The Communication emphasises the strategic importance of Information and Communication 
Technologies, which enable building of smarter, safer and cleaner vehicles that help to solve 
the  road  transport  related  societal  problems.  It  presents  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative  as  the 
policy framework that will guide the stakeholder’s efforts in this area, aiming at accelerating 
the  deployment  of  intelligent  vehicle  systems  on  the  European  and  other  markets  through 
clearly  defined  actions  that  encompass  the  use  of  policy,  research  and  communications 
instruments.  

The  Member  States  are  key  stakeholders  of  the  Intelligent  Car  Initiative.  The  Commission 
invites  the  Member  States  to  support  the  objectives  expressed  in  this  Communication,  and 
stresses the need to act together at the European level. To this effect, the Member States are 
invited  to  play  an  active  role  in  the  execution  of  the  proposed  actions,  together  with  the 
Commission, industry and other stakeholders. 

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   EN