17. The World Forum noted that the “UNECE Road Map for promoting Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) – 20 global actions 2012 – 2020” was adopted by the Inland Transport Committee during its seventy-fourth session.

18. The secretariat reported on the special policy segment on ITS that was held in the framework of the ITC session. During the first-of-its-kind ITS kick-off event, more than 140 government participants, industry experts and academia came together to mark UNECE’s launch of the ITS strategy embodied by the UNECE publication “ITS for sustainable mobility”. The event showcased that ITS deployment was on track in many places, although high-level speakers from the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russian Federation, South Africa and the United Kingdom outlined that more work was needed.

19. WP.29 noted that UNECE had received valued support from governments and stakeholders in its efforts to put ITS on the global agenda and to identify issue areas with UNECE possibly taking the leading role in areas such as solving liability problems, developing a common definition of ITS, advancing initiatives on variable message signs (VMS), further developing regulations that touch ITS standards, delivering research and data, as well as best practices, workshops and capacity-building.

20. The World Forum acknowledged the Road Map on ITS, which is the UNECE’s work plan for the next several years. The three main objectives are:

• (1) To endorse the actual work of UNECE Working Parties on ITS, to foster the promotion of discussion between the Working Parties and to respond to the pledge of participating delegates to bring these discussion to their ministries;
• (2) To offer analytical work in areas where direct links to the UNECE legal instruments/ conventions and to partner with relevant ITS stakeholders exist; and
• (3) To deliver capacity-building, to spread news on ITS and to enhance extra opportunities.

21. WP.29 welcomed the initiative of the UNECE to host annual round tables on ITS. These will unbundle the various issues around ITS and dig deeper into the subject matter. The first round table was expected to take place in 2013. WP.29 noted the lack of an institutional forum on ITS at a global level, where transport policymakers could meet and discuss policy frameworks.

22. The GRE Chair informed WP.29 about the forthcoming Vision Congress 2012 on adaptive lighting and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The event, organized by the French Society of Automotive Engineers (SIA), would be held in the “Palais des Congrès” in Versailles (France), on 9-10 October 2012 (see detailed information at: SIA Vision Conference 2012 details).

23. The World Forum noted that the next meeting of informal working group in ITS was scheduled to be held on Friday, 16 March 2012 from 9.30 to 11.00 a.m. It was agreed that WP.29-156-14, WP.29-156-15 and WP.29-156-16 be considered during that meeting.