Intelligent Transportation System

Abstract

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) hold great promise for public works professionals seeking to optimize those public investment strategies that deal with traffic congestion and other growth pressures. Advanced traffic and fleet management systems as well as traveler information and vehicle-based systems can take advantage of information technology advances and private market products to substantially improve the productivity, connectivity, and safety of transportation. And as the new federal transportation act further spurs deployment of these systems, ITS research programs will continue to play a vital role in supporting such deployment and the overall evolution of ITS. Such research includes developing technology tools, providing testing and evaluation environments, and helping advance the state of the practice.

Traffic control has been an issue since humans put the first wheels on the first cart. The modern world demands mobility. Cars represent the main method of mobility, but today’s congested highways and city streets don’t move fast, and sometimes they don’t move at all. Intelligent traffic systems (ITS), sometimes called intelligent transportation systems, apply communications and information technology to provide solutions to this congestion as well as other traffic control issues. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) represent a major transition in transportation on many dimensions. ITS is an international program intended to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of surface transportation systems through advanced technologies in information systems, communications, and sensors.