| Future Focus
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com 009
September/October 2019 Traffic Technology International
1999
The first LED traffic lights
were being installed in the
UK, while online possibilities
began to come into focus
2000
At the turn of the Millennium
Traffic scooped International
Business Magazine of The
Year at the PPA Awards
2001
Excitement around 3G
connectivity began –
a journey that has led
directly to 5G systems today
2002
We reported on the fourth
Intertraffic Asia in Bangkok
and fifth Asia-Pacific ITS
Forum in Korea
2003
Enhanced visual simulation
for traffic modeling was
the precursor of today’s
advanced ‘digital twins’
information, eliminating the
need for roadside equipment
and other infrastructure.
Future toll agencies will be a
point-of-sale entity, utilizing
the guaranteed payments
from the private company
providers. Toll agencies will
still plan, build and maintain
the facilities, and ensure
adequate fees are collected to
cover debt service, operations
and maintenance. Companies with large fleets of
vehicles will pay these fees (remember upgraded
Uber?), not individuals.
Low-cost transportation
Coupled with drones and ‘flying cars,’
disruption of transportation is inevitable. We
already have cars flying in Dubai, and the
self-driving of Tesla is in regular conversation.
Industry progression is unavoidable, but so is
the reduction in cost to the consumer. Just think,
the ability to go anywhere, anytime, without car
payments, insurance and maintenance. Vehicle
ownership will no longer be status-driven but
will instead be a utility that provides equal
access and opportunities across all social classes.
A reduction in the cost of transportation will
provide more opportunities across all
socioeconomic statuses. This will reshape the
workforce in transportation logistics that makes
up almost 35% of the GDP in the US and most
leading world economies. In the last decade,
there has been an increase of globalization due
to lower offshore costs. Cheaper and more
efficient transportation networks will enable
local economic engines to produce and distribute
goods and services in micro-economies in major
cities and urban areas that facilitate selfsustaining
communities.
Tolling agencies and their
supporting vendors and
consultants are very cautious
and slow, slow, slow to
change, or migrate
technology. This reluctance
to change has hamstrung
agencies and technical
innovation. Antiquated
approaches to evaluate and
purchase technology makes
it obsolete before it even
reaches the market. The ideas of “I own the
customer,” and “we always did it this way,”
must change. Everyone interacts with the
customers when using their services and
products, and merchants (including toll
operators) must integrate with customer
experience technology in an existing commercial
application. Other industries continue making
investments and innovations that meet
customer expectations and can help shape
the future of transportation.
In order to adapt to new technologies and
manage mobility going forward, service
providers and agencies must be willing to accept
the change that is coming. We must invest in
data, new technologies and demonstration
projects for innovation and improvements that
will provide more personal mobility options,
increase usage on transportation systems, and
reduce capital and operating costs. We are all
responsible for advancing technology that the
next generation of drivers and riders will want
in the future. The next 25 years will bring far
more change in the industry, and we must come
together to prepare and embrace it.
JJ Eden, executive director,
North Carolina Turnpike.
For more from JJ Eden turn to page 85
In 25 years, instead
of accepting 37,000
deaths on American
roadways and more than
1.35 million worldwide,
I hope that roadway
fatalities will be so
rare that just one
death in a car crash will
be a newsworthy event
Shailen Bhatt,
president & CEO, ITS America
Vehicle ownership
will no longer be
status-driven but will
instead be a utility that
provides equal access
and opportunities across
all social classes
th
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