Project Details

Project goal

ASTRA’s objectives:

• Designation of the relevant data sources and identification of the scope of the data they generate as well as clarification of the need for harmonisation and standardisation;
• Description of the possible uses of the data and assessment of their strategic importance;
• Describe and assess the relevant uses of some of these data for future transport governance;
• draw conclusions on the importance and role of relevant stakeholders;
• Formulation of recommendations for action based on the relevant stakeholders.

Results

Technical recommendations:

Synchronicity of time is key to the functionality of digital systems. Authorities should ensure that technical requirements for synchronization with base time are maintained and expanded, independently of whether this be achieved in the context of public procurement or by influencing the market environment and mechanisms. The same applies to ensuring a high level of positioning accuracy at any point in the wider traffic system. In view of this, appropriate measures must be provided as a part of planning, implementing and operating transportation infrastructure. Technological measures required to avert risks of disruption must be identified and evaluated, where necessary also through further research.

In order to secure access to data, it appears as essential that Swiss authorities participate in European and international C-ITS committees as well as in corresponding European and international research projects, reflecting Switzerland's national interests. In the field of sensor technologies, a need emerged for research on the topic of securing high quality of data. In particular, the authors recommend the focus to be on the handling of unfavorable environmental conditions, sufficiently precise classification methods, risk mitigation in view of faulty detection or system failures, and designing necessary redundancies and fallback levels.

Clarity in handling large amounts of data, computing power, storage capacities and cloud solutions, taking into account availability and cybersecurity, are key factors with regard to ICT system requirements. Also, core ICT elements such as cloud storage and gadgets for ICT systems are mostly controlled by a handful of dominant corporations: this can be a major challenge for the public sector. Those system components that are subject to real-time requirements must be identified for the benefit of overall system security. To this purpose, authorities should define a set of explicit requirements together with partners from science and the transport industry.

Quality assurance calls for defining relevant minimum requirements for data sources. As far as possible, any associated standardization is to be designed as a continuous process involving all key players. Those data sources whose failure would be critical are also to be identified.

In view of mixed traffic situations, it is ultimately not clear whether and to what extent improvements securing traffic safety can realistically be set up, and what requirements would be. Also, it seems appropriate to assess the relevant aspects in terms of a detailed layout in view of the various availabilities of data.

Having a closer look at data protection, a research-based exploration of the potentials of dichotomous data system architectures is recommended so that authorities and third parties can independently gain access to mutually beneficial data.

Securing intermodal connections is a core aspect of efficient inter-modality, thus questions about relevant opportunities and challenges should be explored.

Project partners

• Roland Müller Küsnacht AG, Zurich, Switzerland
• BAETZNER METROPOLITAN, Zurich, Switzerland
• Rupprecht Consult GmbH, Cologne, Germany
• Anwaltskanzlei Kohli, Zurich, Switzerland