ISO Focus 3-2007...ISO Focus • Standards and Intelligent Transport Systems • ISO 26000 reaches positive turning point Volume 4, No. 3, March 2007, ISSN 1729-8709 Comment The intelligent

ISO Focus

• Standards and Intelligent Transport Systems

• ISO 26000 reaches positive turning point

Volume 4, No. 3, March 2007, ISSN 1729-8709

The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization

The intelligent car

ISO Focus is published 11 times a year (single issue : July-August). It is available in English.

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© ISO, 2007. All rights reserved.

The contents of ISO Focus are copyright and may not, whether in whole or in part, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission of the Editor.

The articles in ISO Focus express the views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISO or of any of its members.

ISSN 1729-8709Printed in Switzerland

Cover photo : Renault.

Contents1 Comment Michael Noblett, Chair ISO/TC 204, Intelligent

transport systems, The intelligent car and ITS

2 World Scene Highlights of events from around the world

3 ISO SceneHighlights of news and developments from ISO members

4 Guest ViewYann Vincent, Senior Vice President, Quality, Renault

8 Main Focus

ISO Focus March 2007

• Ergonomics – The driver perception• Worldwide harmonized on-board diagnostics • Automotive electronic systems and ISO• Intelligent transport systems (ITS) : Revolution on the roadways• Importance of ITS standards to emerging markets• First ISO-APEC cooperation for ITS standards• ISO/TC 204 collaboration with other partners on ITS• Digital maps and standards – Past, present and future • Outreach programme of TC 204• Improving road safety worldwide

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Developments and InitiativesThe Linux Standard Base – Standardizing open source • Future ISO 26000 standard on SR reaches positive turning point • ISO Central Secretariat has moved

New on the shelfISO/TS 22003 aim to build confidence in certification of food safety management systems • ISO 21482 : New supplementary radiation warning symbol

40 Coming up

© Renault

The intelligent carThe intelligent car

CommentThe intelligent car and ITSRapidly evolving technology, as

well as concern for public safe-ty and the environmental perfor-

mance of vehicles, has led to a new revo-lution in transport with the development of intelligent transport systems (ITS). As urbanization and traffic congestion impact the quality of life in many cities, ITS holds the promise of improving traf-fic management and vehicle safety.

ITS refers to the integration and application of information technology to urban and rural surface transportation. It enables both government and private industry to improve safety, mitigate traf-fic congestion and reduce fuel consump-tion and emissions, as well as increase traveler mobility and convenience via the use of vehicle and infrastructure probe data to provide location-based telemat-ics services.

The major trends are :

• integrating vehicles with roadway networks through the use of on-board wireless communications ;

• conversion of vehicle and infrastruc-ture data to provide timely location-based services to drivers and roadway operators ;

• to improve advanced safety applica-tions such as automatic crash notifi-cation, secure freight transport and crash avoidance ;

• an improved environment through reduced fuel consumption and emis-sions.

To be successful, low cost commu-nications equipment needs to be incorpo-rated into passenger and public transport vehicles. International Standards ensure the global integration and interoperabil-ity of such technologies, as well as allow the data from these devices to be success-fully translated into useful information for location-based services such as automatic crash notification, traffic notification and alternative routing. Successful standards development is key to turning this poten-tial into reality.

Another important area to the global adoption of ITS technologies is a standard-ized architecture, which provides the com-

Michael Noblett, Chair ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems

“ Personal and public safety are among the

most important potential benefits of ITS.”

Michael Noblett, Chair ISO/TC 204

mon framework for developing, denoting and integrating ITS systems. When used in this fashion, ITS can generate signif-icant benefits for developing countries, which often have high population den-sities and experience traffic congestion as automobile ownership increases with prosperity and rapid urbanization.

As previously mentioned, person-al and public safety are among the most important potential benefits of ITS. Secure communications between infrastructure and vehicles enable advanced warning systems to help drivers avoid accidents and allow for the safe transport of freight.

Within the transport communi-ty, the deployment of new and emerging ITS solutions can help developing coun-tries eliminate or minimize transport and transportation logistics problems. ISO/TC 204, has begun a comprehensive out-reach program designed to bring in key ITS stakeholders from developing coun-tries such as China, Malaysia and Thai-land to share the lessons learned from nations which have already built their roadway infrastructures.

The regulatory framework is of paramount importance, as standards pro-vide regulatory bodies with a blueprint for developing future regulations that do not undermine the interoperability of current and future technologies, as well as elimi-nating technical barriers to trade. But, as the global economy becomes more inte-grated, regional regulatory bodies, such as the European Union and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are turning to ISO to evaluate standards that may be incorporated into their reg-ulations.

ISO/TC 204 maintains an active and productive liaison with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), Working Party 29 (WP 29), the principle author of “ The 1997

Agreement ” harmonizing the complex global regulatory environment for field testing procedures and requirements. In addition, ISO/TC 204 maintains active liaison activities with 10 other external organizations.

As part of the global cooperation on ITS, ISO, the International Telecom-munication Union (ITU) and the Inter-national Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have jointly organized a workshop and exhibition entitled “ The Fully Net-worked Car ”, to be held during the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, which will show-case information and communication technologies in motor vehicles.

The portfolio of articles in this issue of ISO Focus provides an overview of the role of International Standards in creating the “ intelligent car ” within an evolving framework of intelligent transport systems, which will help provide significant ben-efits in traffic management and person-al safety, and reduce the environmental impacts of the transport sector.

The wider application of ITS to different types of vehicles, such as pub-lic transport and passenger vehicles, holds much promise in the management of traffic and reduced fuel consumption and emissions, as well as the safe and timely transport of freight.

ISO Focus March 2007 1

in developing International Standards, with increasing involvement from emerging economies.

• ISO’s quality and environ-mental management system standards are being used in both the public and private sector in diverse fields like the automotive industry, the oil and gas sector and medical devices.

• The ISO 14064 series for greenhouse gas accounting and verification provides metrics for the emerging trading markets of carbon emission rights.

• Development of the ISO 26000 standard for guidance on social responsibility.

Alan Bryden indicated, “ Inter-national Standards can be the vehicle to disseminate good practice and to open world markets for energy efficient and clean technologies, thus ensuring that the ambitious national and regional policies currently being adopted are synergetic rather than fragmenting, or even creating new barriers to trade.”

ISO is collaborating with the International Energy Agency to produce a portfolio and gap anal-ysis of available International Standards to identify priorities and boost production in this area.

Mr. Bryden encouraged global government and industry lead-ers to become even more engaged in developing and implementing International Standards, adding, “ ISO is in the ' engine room ' of positive globalization, enabling best practice to be formulated and broadly promoted to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet.”

International coordination on security standardsMajor catastrophes such as the Asian tsunami and the Gulf Coast hurricanes in the United States have galvanized the world’s attention to ensuring security and safety and high-lighted the vulnerability of global supply chains.

Disruptions to US oil and refining capacity caused by a single hurricane had global consequences for energy prices.

International Standards play a critical role in ensuring securi-ty by facilitating safe handling of dangerous materials, better building design and operation of emergency communications.

In 2004, ISO launched a strate-gic programme to expand its work to meet security needs and in 2006, ISO, the Interna-tional Electrotechnical Com-mission (IEC) and the Interna-tional Telecommunication Union (ITU) established an ISO/IEC/ITU Strategic Advisory Group on Security to coordi-nate security-related standards.

ISO/TC 8, Ships and marine technology, is leading an initia-tive to develop standards to support the security of global supply chains, including the 30 million containers used for trans-porting goods and the maritime ports through which they transit.

A new TC, ISO/TC 223, Societal security, works on standards addressing emergency prepar-edness and management.

ISO and its international partners are committed to working together to provide a comprehensive portfolio of standards solutions that contribute to a safer world.

UNIDO’s regional SMTQ programmesThe United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – a strong partner of ISO – has long supported the efforts of regional trade groups in Africa, Central America and Asia to harmonize their Stand-ards, Metrology, Testing and Quality (SMTQ) system through technical assistance in Trade Capacity Building (TCB).

As regional economic cooperation and trade blocs proliferate, harmo-nization of standards and conform-ity assessment procedures are important to facilitate integration.

Regional TCB programmes help reduce costs and help respond effectively to country needs, as regional groups often face common problems.

Although there are traditional-ly strong trade links among neighbouring countries, barriers to trade still exist, so harmoni-zation of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are important for regional trade.

Regional programmes also help countries voice their needs in standardization and conformity assessment more effectively, as well as in trade negotiations in the international arena.

A new UNIDO-East African Community project, funded by Norway, to build trade capacity for agro-industry for compliance with international market require-ments is a good example. It will create regional coordination mechanisms for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT) matters, including regional accreditation services and strengthening the regional food safety framework.

UNIDO also has regional pro-grammes in the West African and Southern African regions and projects are planned for a number of other regions.

For more information, contact : [email protected]

ISO in Davos In her opening address as con-venor of the G8 in 2007 and current President of the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about energy efficiency and renewable sources, at the World Economic Forum (WEF), 24-28 January 2007, in Davos, Switzerland.

The WEF attracts over 1 000 industry, political, academic and economic leaders. Participants identified that climate change constitutes the greatest threat to the global economy.

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden attended the WEF, high-lighting that the organization can help address some of the global challenges through its capacity to facilitate international consen-sus amongst countries and stake-holders on technical and business issues through its network of national members in 159 countries and links with more than 600 international and regional organizations.

Some of the ISO developments relevant to the debates at the WEF include :

• ISO’s Action Plan for Devel-oping Countries to raise aware-ness and increase participation

Captions

World Scene

(Top) German Chancellor, Angela Merkel ; (above) WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy ; and (left) Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, at the World Economic Forum.

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2 ISO Focus March 2007

er, the workshop had a different focus : the use of JTC 1’s stand-ards in the developing world. It included such topics as :

• providing Internet connectiv-ity in Southern Africa;

• case study – challenges implementing national and International Standards in South Africa;

• the use of IT standards in South Africa ;

• issues in implementing e-passports in India ;

• challenges and successes in developing an IT process standard for small organiza-tions ; and

• the seamless application of JTC 1 standards throughout the world.

There were also common themes in all the presentations of some broader issues. These included the following suggestions for improving the usability of JTC 1 standards :

• provide additional guidance on the use of standards, particularly for those sub-jects which are addressed by a large suite of standards from a number of JTC 1 subcommittees and ISO or IEC technical committees;

• provide better abstracts, summaries, keywords and metadata to assist in identify-ing the appropriate standards to be implemented, and

• consider improved outreach activities, both to gather inputs and to offer expertise in the application of JTC 1’s standards products.

While a departure from the customary Technology Watch Workshop, the meeting venue in South Africa offered JTC 1 a unique opportunity to hear from

users who are implementing its standards in a development setting, which can only help to improve the global relevance of JTC 1’s work.

Calidad 2006 in Cuba The ISO member for Cuba (NC , Oficina National de Nor-malizacion) organized a success-ful 6th International Symposium on Quality in November 2006.

More than 400 participants from some 10 countries of the Carib-bean and Latin America shared experience and perspectives on management systems for quality, security and environmental pro-tection in key sectors for this region, such as food processing, tourism, health and, more gener-ally, services.

Alan Bryden, the ISO Secretary-General, made a keynote speech at the Symposium. He also visit-ed NC and had high level con-tacts with the Cuban authorities and other stakeholders. During his meetings with Dr. Fernando González Bermúdez, Minister for Science, Technology and Environment, and at the Foreign Trade Ministry, the importance and benefits of International Standards for the Cuban econo-my was addressed.

Mr. Bryden took part in the presentation of ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certificates to the Centro de Retinosis Pig-mentaria, a leading institute for eye surgery and treatment and the first of its kind to be certified in the country.

AICC/IISD/ISO workshopThe African Institute of Corpo-rate Citizenship (AICC), the International Institute for Sus-tainable Development (IISD) and ISO held a capacity building workshop in Blantyre, Malawi, for African stakeholders on the development process of ISO 26000, the future standard giving guidance on social responsibility.

Funding to support participation of the different stakeholders was received from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) through IISD and ISO under the developing countries programme (DEVCO). There was a total of 31 participants from various stakeholder groups : government, consumers, labour, NGOs and research groups from 13 countries, including Malawi.

The workshop was officially opened by the Minister of Trade and Private Sector Development, Dr. Ken Lipenga, and, Mr. Marcel Stutz, the Swiss Ambassador to the region. Participants engaged in exercises to help them under-stand the best way to provide comments for consideration in the development of a standard. The exercises also identified some key issues for sustainable social and economic develop-ment .

ISO/IEC JTC 1 focus on developing countriesAs part of its plenary meeting programmes in recent years, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, has devoted a day to a Technology Watch Work-shop with representatives from industry, user groups and JTC 1/SC Chairs to look at evolving trends in information technology and new areas of work for the committee. At the recent plenary in South Africa, 13-17 November 2006, howev-

Roundtable on natural gas and hydrogen fuel vehiclesThe ISO roundtable on “ Global harmonization of regulations, codes and standards for gaseous fuels and vehicles ” took place in Geneva on 10 January 2007. More than 70 delegates from various organizations and ISO technical committees participated.

ISO Scene

ISO Secretary-General, Alan Bryden, at the 6th International Symposium on Quality in Cuba.

Numerous proposals were made towards pursuing exist-ing work and undertaking new initiatives. One of the main proposals is to develop stand-ards for liquefied natural gas fuel vehicles. Other requests were made concerning natural gas hydrogen mixture and component standards.

A report on the roundtable was made to the Working Party on Gas of the United Nations Eco-nomic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Sus-tainable Energy, and to the Working Party on Pollution and Energy of the UNECE Commit-tee on Inland Transport, which met shortly after. ISO was invit-ed to pursue its work and to undertake new work in close collaboration with all interested organizations.

For more information : http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/events/2007/index.html

or contact François Abram : [email protected]


Guest View

Yann Vincent

ISO Focus : In the context of trade globalization, what is the strategic importance of International Stand-ards for an alliance such as Renault-Nissan ? What impact does the ISO/TS 16949, Quality management systems – Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2000 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations, have on the implementation of quality management

ann Vincent, Senior Vice President, Quality,

Renault,is a graduate of the École Centrale de Paris engineering school (1980) and holds an MBA from INSEAD (1989). He began his career as an engineer with Alsthom-Atlantique. In 1982, he joined Renault as a vehicle packaging engineer at the Engineering Department. Between 1989 and 1992, he worked in Renault’s Management Control Department where he was responsible for special projects and then as head of Domestic Financial Affairs at the Finance Department. Between 1992 and 1998, he was in charge of Financial and Information Services, then head of Manufacturing at the SOVAB plant in Batilly. In 1998, Yann Vincent was appointed General Manager of the Douai plant. In April 2004, he became Vice President of the C-Range Programme (lower medium range) at the Industry and Technology Department. In January 2005, Yann Vincent was appointed Senior Vice President, Quality.

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communications technology (ICT) systems at the highest possible level of quality.

Furthermore, increased globalization means we are now sourcing our components and vehicle functions from a worldwide market place.

These two factors com-bined – complexity and glo-bal sourcing – require that the parties involved, i.e. those involved in the value transfor-mation process, must be able to communicate with each other clearly, promptly and accurately wherever they are located worldwide. Hence, they have to speak the same language. The keywords of this language are : safety, quality and standardization (i.e. shar-ing best practices).

International standardization shares those principles with vehicle development and manufacturing pro-cesses, which explains why Renault is so actively involved in the stand-ardization of automobile technolo-gies in ISO/TC 22 and ISO/TC 176 – the ISO technical committees respon-sible, respectively, for road vehicles, and quality management and quality assurance.

Some years ago, Renault was involved in the proceedings of the ISO/TC 176 and the International Automo-tive Task Force (IATF), which draft-ed the ISO/TS 16949 technical spec-ification. Based on ISO 9001:2000, ISO/TS 16949 has been adopted by all manufacturers who were members of the IATF.

ISO/TS 16949 completes ISO 9001:2000 with specific requirements for automotive related products and is

“ The implementation of ISO 14001 is indeed a

useful method for assessing the effectiveness of our

environmental management system.”

systems within the automotive indus-try in general, within the Renault-Nis-san alliance in particular, and for its relations with its suppliers ?

Yann Vincent : Automobile technol-ogy is becoming more and more com-plex. The customer now demands more comfort, less fuel consumption but also a safer car equipped with the lat-est information/communications sys-tems. Customer satisfaction means we have to provide the customer with the latest mechatronic and information and


the area of sustainable develop-ment. The life cycle approach applies to the whole vehicle life cycle, including design, manu-facturing, distribution, vehicle use and the end-of-life phases, including recycling. The imple-mentation of ISO 14001 is indeed a useful method for assessing the effectiveness of our envi-ronmental management sys-tem. As many as 41 industrial sites, among 47 worldwide, have

already achieved ISO 14001 certifica-tion, including all our sites in South America and Asia.

Among our recent major achieve-ments, it is worth noting that Renault was awarded the 2006 prize for “ Envi-ronmental Management for Sustainable Development ” from the French Min-istry of the Environment. We are also one of the four carmakers on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index. In the third-quarter of 2006, the Ger-man oekom research institute1) rated us first in class on sustainable devel-opment among 17 carmakers.

based on best practices in the automotive industry. This com-mon quality management system refers to the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) methodology, pre-ventive actions to improve qual-ity and delivery time. Its interna-tional adoption avoids multiple certification audits, and the asso-ciated costs.

Renault and Nissan con-sider ISO/TS 16949 as imple-mented by certified organiza-tions as a fundamental and minimum requirement for their tier-one suppli-ers. In accordance with ISO/TS 16949, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has devel-oped a common standard named Alli-ance New Product Quality Procedure (ANPQP) which defines the specific requirements of their alliance, in par-ticular for Clause 7 Product realiza-tion. ANPQP places the emphasis on production, preparation, monitoring and suppliers’ undertakings, which are key factors for successfully meet-ing the alliance targets on quality, cost and time.

Finally, an Alliance Suppli-er Evaluation Standard (ASES) has also been developed to support the global alliance requirements. It is implemented by internal auditors in addition to ISO/TS 16949 when vet-ting new suppliers, or in the event of a quality crisis.

ISO Focus : Car manufacturers can contribute in many ways to environ-mental protection and to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions : by reducing intrinsic fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, by accommo-dating the use of renewable energies or by operating industrial facilities in an environmentally friendly manner, e.g. by implementing ISO 14001. Could you describe the current strate-gies and achievements of Renault-Nis-san in this respect ?

Yann Vincent : One of the major strengths of the Renault-Nissan alli-ance is that we are able to contribute globally to sustainable development and environmental protection. This is

what we have been doing since 1999 by sharing clean technology develop-ments in order to manufacture high-ly efficient engines, for vehicles that consume less fuel and release less emissions.

As part of the “ Renault Commit-ment 2009 ”, Renault has undertaken an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This plan is based on three commitments : to be one of the world’s top three carmakers for low-level emissions of CO

2, with one mil-

lion cars below 140 g/km (one third below 120 g/km), to offer a range of models powered by biofuels (B30 and E85) and to develop a wide range of alternative technologies.

Furthermore, we have chosen the life cycle approach, which reflects both our vision and daily practice in

1) oekom research AG is one of the world’s leading providers of information on the social and environmental performance of companies, sectors and countries.

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Guest View

ISO Focus : Concerning the use of renewable energy sources in vehicles, what role do you see for International Standards ?

Yann Vincent : Liquid biofuels make it possible to introduce renewable energy sources in our vehicles. This is part of our answer to the current 98 % depend-ency of transportation fuels on oil. Since 2004, Renault has been marketing flex fuel Clio and Megane cars running on up to 100 % bioethanol in Brazil. By 2009, 50 % of Renault gasoline vehi-cles marketed in Europe will be able to run on bioethanol and gasoline blends (E85). Furthermore, within the same timeframe, all Renault diesel vehicles will be able to run on fuels containing up to 30 % biodiesel. Biogas and hydro-gen fuel might also, even if in a longer term, be part of the answer.

on a common open platform, achiev-ing interoperability, harmonization and standardization of ITS systems and services as well as determining an overall approach to cater for the tech-nical, business and political require-ments of on-board systems.

It should be useful to conduct a more strategic standardization approach by establishing a standards steering group in order to develop strategic rec-ommendations for the long term. The first long term requirement concerns the frequency allocation and the defi-nition of the protocols applied : harmo-nization and standardization between Europe, Asia and America is vital.

ISO Focus : What role is the Renault-Nissan alliance playing in driving tech-nology and safety standards today, and how do you expect that role to evolve in the future ? What new ISO Internation-al Standards would you welcome ?

Yann Vincent : Automobile safety is one of Renault’s main priorities. The first European car to win five Euro-NCAP stars was the Renault Laguna, followed by practically all of the other vehicles in the Renault range (EuroNCAP provides consumers with independent information about a car’s safety).

Our active involvement in the ISO/TC 22/SC 12, Passive safety crash protection systems, chaired by Renault and in the ISO/TC 22/SC 10, Impact test procedures, proceedings contrib-uted to these achievements. Partici-pation in the ISO passive safety pro-ceedings meant we were able to share best practice and promote innovation. For example, the development of the ISOFIX standard at ISO/TC 22/SC 12/WG 1, Child restraint systems in road vehicles, followed by its wide adoption by the automobile industry, marked a major step in improving child protection. One of the main automobile safety chal-lenges at the moment is ergonomics, or what is known as the “ man-machine interface ” (MMI) under the aegis of ISO/TC 22/SC 13, Ergonomics applica-ble to road vehicles. The purpose here is to provide the motorists with driv-ing assistance tools without distracting

Fuel properties are taken into account when designing power-trains and post-treatment systems. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as oil companies, consider that fuel and vehicle technologies should be developed as a single system.

Mineral fuels are already sub-ject to a body of standards. Vehicles are designed to use fuels according to those standards and to meet legislative emission requirements. To ensure a clean, global and safe introduction of

renewable fuels in our vehicles, OEMs, biofuel producers and oil companies will have to develop new standards on an international basis.

ISO, along with other standardi-zation bodies such as the European Com-mittee for Standardization (CEN), has clearly a key role to play by assisting in the introduction of such new tech-nologies. And that is exactly what ISO does, for example in January 2007 it organized a roundtable on global har-monization of regulations, codes and standards for gaseous fuels.

ISO Focus : Intelligent transport sys-tems (geographical data files, informa-tion management protocols and posi-tioning references, just to name a few) is another area for which ISO is develop-ing International Standards. What other products, services and/or functions need

be addressed in Interna-tional Standards in rela-tion to the “ fully net-worked car ”, and accord-ing to what scale of urgency ?

Yann Vincent : Exist-ing ISO working groups cover the various areas of intelligent transport sys-tems (ITS) satisfactorily if we consider only the short-term vision.

But our vision of ITS is more than that ; in the long term we envis-age that cars, road-side equipments and back-office systems will com-municate more directly

in a wireless environment. This implies that we will see radical changes inside the car and on the roads : cars will have two-way communications units, traf-fic information will come from more sources, cars will broadcast their own status and thus inform other road users, and roadside equipment will broadcast wireless information signals.

There are many challenges that need to be overcome in order to achieve this vision. Technical chal-lenges include obtaining agreement

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them from their main task, i.e. full control of the car under all circumstances.

To evaluate these systems in terms of their ergonomic performance and their contribution to safe-ty, it is necessary to implement specific laboratory and real- life tests (field oper-ation tests) for which an international consensus on the methods of valida-tion is crucial. Renault is participat-ing on current ISO projects in order to develop standards in this domain (e.g. occlusion method ; lane change test method) and is ready to support ISO initiatives aimed at developing objec-tive performance indicators.

New automobile technologies based on the development of on-board electronic systems will have to be capa-ble of withstanding significant envi-ronmental stress (temperature, humid-ity, electromagnetic radiation) and last over time. Standards aimed at ensur-ing such reliability at the lowest cost have been developed by ISO/TC 22/SC 3, Electrical and electronic equip-ment, the result of which is less devel-opment time and economies of scale for all industrial partners (e.g. ISO standards relative to on-board networks and diagnostics (OBD), connectors).In all automobile technology standardi-zation fields at ISO, Renault and Nissan, options are shared as a result of joint-ly developed strategies defined at the advanced-project research stage within the framework of the Alliance.

ISO Focus : What quality management principles do you promote to share practices, achieve efficiency and inspire commitment within your highly multinational group ?

Yann Vincent : Since 1989 Renault has been implementing total quali-ty management (TQM). Many of its departments and manufacturing sites have since obtained ISO 9001:2000 quality certifications for their prod-

all employees in the group. This is anoth-er method based on Nissan best practice, however adapted to the specific objec-tives and cultural and economic context of Renault.

This initial sur-vey revealed the excep-tional commitment of practically all of the

100 000 employees interviewed to improv-ing quality in their respective work units. As part of the annual interview, each per-son’s individual contribution to achieving the objectives of the Renault Commitment 2009 is assessed and the achieved results are associated with performance evaluation and remuneration. An effective manage-ment cycle has thereby been implemented right across the Renault Group.

Renault and sustainable development

The Renault Group has drawn up a code of good conduct detailing its own ethical standards. Primarily, this document covers the protection of people and property, compliance with the law and respect for the environ-ment. An ethics committee supervises implementation. Renault has also set up a sustainable development commit-tee to set major policy guidelines and decide on practical action in cooperation with business functions and suppliers. The committee has come up with prac-tical ideas on topics such as emissions, road safety, recycling, renewable ener-gy, human rights and labour laws.

Since 2001, Renault has been using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework as a tool to measure its performance in sustainable devel-opment. The group is involved on an international level in helping the progress of sustainable development, by taking part in the UN Global Com-pact scheme and the Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative. Renault is also a member of several European and world-wide forums and has joined a number of ethical market indices.

uct manufacturing and service provi-sion processes, achieving the quality and standardization of processes with-in the company.

The whole management force of the company has been mobilized to meet the objectives of the “ Renault Commitment 2009 ”, the group’s strate-gy for the coming four years presented by our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in February 2006. The focus on quality has been reasserted so that Renault – within the Alliance framework – “ will achieve a long-lasting position as the most profitable general automobile manufacturer in Europe ”.

This strategy is based on the principles of the PDCA management cycle of ISO 9001:2000. Our CEO initiated the cycle from April 2005 to February 2006 by conducting a field review of all sectors of the company. The subsequent objectives and action plans were implemented throughout the whole group from February to June 2006 according to best practice meth-ods already in force at the manufactur-ing level and based on Nissan meth-odology. Thirty-one key performance indicators were defined to coordinate the plan at the corporate level.

For example, to monitor two key indicators, personnel commitment and management quality, the compa-ny has organized an annual survey of

“ As part of the “ Renault Commitment 2009 ”,

Renault has undertaken an ambitious plan to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions.”

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Who are we ?Subcommittee 13, with its four

working groups, has developed 21 standards to date, with another nine in the pipeline. At this point, it has been fortunate to enjoy an excellent all-round international membership with very little turnover and a team spirit of hard workers.

Due to the different topics with-in the field, the work is organized in four working groups :

– Localization of controls and tell-tales ;

– Symbols ;

Ergonomics – The driver perception

by Dr. Christian Heinrich, Convenor of ISO/TC 22/SC 13 WG 8, Ergonomics applicable to road vehicles, to TICS on-board – MMI, and Dr. Gary Rupp, Convenor of ISO/TC 22/SC 13 WG 7, Hand reach and R- and H-point determination

Safety and comfort – where driv-ing is concerned, the two form an inseparable pair. In the sophis-

ticated automobile environment of today, drivers are solicited by many potential sources of distraction. These sources are diverse, ranging from mobile phones to road maps, and can both help and hinder driving – if the new instru-ments are not rationally organized and designed to aid the driver.

A wide variety of in-vehicle information systems known as “ trans-port information and control systems ” (TICS) currently exist or are planned to support the vehicle driver. Examples of these include traveler information, traf-fic information, navigation and route guidance, vehicle/roadway warning and control systems, emergency serv-ices and commercial services.

This new generation of infor-mation systems offers big opportunities for improving safety and environmental issues : the navigation systems, includ-ing advanced, up-to-date parking infor-mation, eliminate the need to look for direction signs and use paper maps, as well as help to avoid detours. Assistance systems, such as adaptive cruise con-trol and collision mitigation, partially support elements of the driving task by automation. Emergency calls save lives by automatically forwarding accident information to the rescue services.

ISO subcommittee 13 is devot-ed to this sector of automobile devel-opment : ergonomics applicable to road vehicles.

– Hand reach and R- and H-point determination ;

– TICS On board MMI.

New designs and new technolo-gies are constantly challenging us, so that we can never rest on our laurels. To stop car theft, for instance, new technologies for ignition systems and new types of ignition switches such as card access, push buttons challenge the existing standard because we no long-er need a key to start the car. We now have to revisit this question.

There is plenty of work on board for SC 13, and everything points to there being more to come.

Main Focus

The intelligent cThe intelligent c


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e car

Regulations use standards

The automotive industry is a global industry. All manufacturers take the ISO standards seriously. In the USA, for example, a good number of standards that originated in Society for Automative Engineers (SAE) have been taken over into the international forum at ISO. Japan, Sweden, Germa-ny and other countries implement ISO standards to a large extent as well.

Most of the world’s car manu-facturers are members of our subcom-mittee and support development of universal ergonomic standards. Some

of our standards have been adopted in regulations.

Manufacturers take the stand-ards as base documents, often as in-house standards, and go a bit further, elaborating according to needs, but respecting the standard’s requirements. For example, SC 13 defines ways to measure and check seats, while man-ufacturers design creatively to the standards.

Standards that come out of SC 13 make it possible for creativity, ease of use and safety to co-exist, but leave room for innovative develop-ments and technology. The challenge

lies in not over-standardizing so as to hinder introduction of new technolo-gies, while making conditions safe and comfortable for the driver.

Technologies change… humans stay the same

Ergonomics (or human factors, the terms are used interchangeably) applied to the automobile industry is an experimental science continuously in flux. In what it sets out to do, ergo-nomics has not changed very greatly from its infancy, but the technologies it deals with are constantly changing. In the 1960s and 1970s the field of auto-motive ergonomics focused primarily on the the physical side of ergonom-ics important in the development of vehicle architecture – how we verify seats, set up the driver workspace and vehicle environment, etc.

The workspace around the driver was, and is, constantly being refined, with new studies being undertaken even today to ensure the right positioning of the different elements in a vehicle.

The intelligent cThe intelligent carCompared to the physical side,

the mental and cognitive side is becom-ing increasingly important as we are constantly adding to the cognitive workload of the driver, with evermore sophisticated audio systems, making them more challenging to use (CDs or even mobile phones, for example). Because of the fundamental electri-cal architecture that exists in today’s vehicles, opportunities grow to inex-pensively introduce additional safety items and electronics into the auto-mobile.

Displays, navigation systems, systems that display where parking spaces are available, audio messages

“ Ergonomics applied to the automobile

industry is an experimental science

continuously in flux.”

Modern HMI concepts such as this of the new Mercedes

C-Class focus on clear dialog structures, as well as the

ease of perception and understanding of visual and

auditory information. The goal is to create a user-friendly

environment that minimizes driver distraction.


Main Focus

and warnings, emergency call systems, access to Internet based information, lane change aids – all these provide the challenge to not overload the driv-er and compromise safety, while offer-ing additional benefits to comfortable and convenient driving.

Mental workload of the driver

To ensure safe and reasonable integration of these new elements is par-ticularly hard when there is not much solid research to go on. The mental and cognitive side lacks good mathe-matical models in order to assess driv-er workload and distraction.

Extensive studies are now being undertaken to develop standard ways in which we can measure the men-tal workload of the driver. How far should we go ? On what basis can we establish our work ? To carry out this research, SC 13 set up WG 8, TICS on-board – MMI, in November 1994. It had existed in Europe as CEN WG 10, and was transferred to ISO to get more international involvement for these types of issues.

provides ergonomic specifications for the design and installation of auditory displays presenting speech and tonal information while driving.

The message priority techni-cal specification (ISO 16951) supplies methods to determine the relevance of warnings and to control their presenta-tion to the driver accordingly.

In view of the importance of warnings, a task force was established to develop guidelines on warnings based on existing knowledge.

These innovations require the driver’s attention ; cognitive distrac-tions are the biggest issues in auto-motive ergonomics today, as changes to the contents of the interior of the car can involve changes for the driv-er. Finding more and simpler ways to interface between device and driver has become important, which is what WG 8 sets out to do.

These goggles are used with the Occlusion Method (ISO 16673) to interrupt the vision to the device under test. The influence on task performance provides information about the usability of the system.

Human-machine interface (HMI) experts both from the automotive indus-try and scientific institutions recog-nized that it was vital in the automo-tive environment to have internation-ally accepted standards.

The standards developed by WG 8 cover a broad field of ergo-nomic issues :

Vision provides the primary source of information available to the driver. Information is gathered by looking at objects and events, which, in turn, ena-ble control and navigation of the vehicle in the road traffic environment. A visu-al information standard (ISO 15008) ensures legibility of displays by setting limits for contrast and letter size. This standard was published in 2003, but due to the rapid changing of technology an update is already in progress.

The multitude of information needing to be displayed to the driver through TICS may create the need to minimize visual load and make more and better use of the auditory channel. An auditory standard (ISO 15006)

“ Cognitive distractions are the biggest issues

in automotive ergonomics today.”

This led to a technical report on warnings which compiled the present knowledge of the topic and gives guid-ance to human-machine interface (HMI) developers. Since more and more sys-tems display warnings to the driver, a new task force for addressing warnings integration was set up. Developing a standard for integrating warnings is a particularly challenging endeavour.

Another approach, rather than fixing certain details of the HMI, is to develop an overall test for evaluating the influence of the HMI on driving performance. Two methods are cur-rently under development :

– The visual occlusion method deter-mines the interuptability and visual distraction potential of a task.

– The lane change test is a surro-gate for a driving simulator with the advantage of a precise definition of all features that may influence driv-ing performance under multiple task conditions. The driver performs a series of lane changes while at the same time doing a secondary task such a operating a navigation sys-tem. The primary performance met-ric is derived from the lane change behavior.

To compare different test sites (driving simulator, lane change test,

“ This new generation of information systems offers opportunities to improve safety and environmental

issues ."


ThThe intelligent e intelligent e caretc.) a standard set of calibration tasks are being defined.

For overall assessment of in-vehicle systems, a framework based on a structured questionnaire meth-odology is supplied by the suitabil-ity standard.

The dialog management stand-ard (ISO 15005) supplies principles on how to design user interfaces to limit driver distraction. The basic concept was adopted by the Alliance of Auto-motive Manufacturers (in the USA) in establishing their HMI principles. These voluntary guidelines of the Alli-ance also reference other ISO stand-ards and show the commitment of the automotive industry to establish high

quality HMI with minimized driver distraction.

Due to the fact that cognitve distraction is a top-ic that continually draws more atten-tion from both the public and the authori-ties, we are certain that our work will g a i n m o r e importance and require more effort in the future.

Dr. Gary Rupp recently retired from Ford Motor Company where he was a Principal Research Engi-neer in ergonom-ics and is now consulting on vehicle ergonom-ics issues. Prior to

coming to Ford in 1979, he was an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at The University of Toledo. Dr. Rupp has served as president of the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the Human Factors Engineering Society from 1980-1990, member of the Transpor-tation Research Board’s Committee on the Measurement and Simulation of Driving, Chair of the American Automobile Manu-facturers’ subcommittee on Human Factors, Chair of the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Driver Vision Committee, Control and Displays Committee, and the Human Accommodations Committee. He also chaired an international alliance to develop the next generation SAE 3D H-point Machine (HPM-II). He is current-ly an active member of several SAE Ergonom-ics committees. Dr. Rupp was chair of ISO TC 22/SC 13 from 1993 to 2004 and is still actively involved in its working groups and is the acting convenor of WG 7, the ISO Work-ing Group on H-Point determination. Dr. Rupp has a BSE in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University, and MSE and Ph.D. degrees in Bioengineering from the University of Michigan.

About the authors

Dr. Christian Heinrich leads a team which develops HMI for telematic applications for the Mercedes Car Group since 1998. After joining Daimler-Chrysler in 1984

he held management positions responsible for the prototyping of vehicle dynamic systems and sensor development.

In 1990 his team started developing speech control for telephone, audio and navigation systems.

Since 2001 Dr. Heinrich chairs committees dealing with HMI for Traffic Information and Control Systems (TICS) on the international and European levels (ISO/TC 22/SC 13 WG 8 and CEN/TC 278 WG 10).

Dr. Heinrich holds a Degree in Experi-mental Physics from the University of Cologne and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of Hamburg.

Driver Metrics Workshop

In conjunction with the last WG 8 meeting, the first Driver Metrics Work-shop was convened 2-3 October 2006, in Ottawa, Canada, to bring together a core group of global experts in driv-er performance research. This meet-ing was planned by WG 8 members, funded by the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers (USA), and hosted by Transport Canada.

The two-day meeting looked at how driver performance metrics regard-ing visual demand can be employed early in product design before more complex driving simulations occur. The early off-road/off-simulator meas-ures can help driver interface design-ers understand how a new display con-cept might work before more complex, costly testing occurs.

As visual demand is the basis for many advanced telematics and info-tainment devices, it is a central area of research.

Two of these metrics are the subject of WG 8 standards: ISO 16673, Visual Occlusion (already published) and ISO 20262, Lane Change Task (in CD ballot). SC 13 WG 8’s work in developing these two standards, and now manufacturers applying these met-rics during product development, was the driving force leading to the Met-rics Workshop. All presentations can be downloaded at : http://ppc.uiowa.edu/drivermetricsworkshop/

The report from this workshop will help WG 8 in its development of future standards and tools for the auto-motive industry.

Due to the fact that cognitve distraction is a top-ic that continually draws more atten-

Driver Metrics Workshop


Worldwide harmonized on-board diagnostics

by Martin Gerstl, Convenor ISO/TC 22/SC 3/ WG 1

The advent of electronic controls in the 1990s required a different approach to the diagnosis of prob-

lems with engine and emissions con-trol systems. In order to ease diagnosis and repair, most manufacturers of vehi-cles and engines incorporated on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems into their products.

J1939/73 – have only recently been required and will exist in parallel for some period of time (see box).

The United Nations Econom-ic Commission for Europe (UNECE) World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) decided to develop a Global Technical Regula-tion (GTR) concerning emissions-related onboard diagnostic systems for heavy-duty vehicles and engines. Consequent-ly a common OBD protocol was neces-sary to fulfil the communication require-ments of this new regulation.

The emissions control systems on highway vehicles are not the only sys-tems with OBD capability. Recogniz-ing this fact and the negative implica-tions that non-standardized diagnostics can have on maintenance and inspection procedures, it was decided to structure the GTR such that further OBD func-tionalities could be added in the future as and when appropriate.

These OBD systems are capable of identifying improper functioning and help to pinpoint where the malfunction is occurring. This serves to inform the driver of the vehicle that repair is need-ed, and tells the mechanic what needs to be repaired. Some national authori-ties also use the OBD system to verify the road-worthiness status of a vehicle during periodic inspections. Diagnostic equipment used during inspection and maintenance retrieves OBD data through a standardized OBD connector.

Legislative requirementsNearly all worldwide require-

ments for passenger car emissions OBD (connector, diagnostic services, trouble codes, communication protocol, etc.) have been harmonized for more than ten years. For heavy duty vehicles (HDV) however, two alternative communica-tion protocols – ISO 15765-4 and SAE

Main Focus



About the author

Martin Gerstl is Convenor of ISO/TC 22, Road Vehicles, SC 3, Electrical and electronic equipment, WG 1, Data communication. He is vice presi-dent of Robert

Bosch GmbH. He is a member or chair of several ISO and SAE committees in the field of electrical and electronic vehicle equipment, data communication and diagnostics.

Mission possibleISO was charged by WP.29 to

develop a single communication standard for access to OBD related information. Consequently, ISO/PAS 27145 on the implementation of World-wide harmo-nized on-board diagnostics (WWH-OBD) communication requirements (see box for titles of the four parts of the stand-ard) was developed by ISO/TC 22/SC 3 WG 1, Data communication.

A dedicated group of highly motivated experts from industry, gov-ernment and research began working immediately. After extensive prepara-tory work by an ad-hoc group led by Richard Price, at that time with Dear-born Group, researching and develop-ing a possible standardization route, timing became critical. The New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) was submitted in December 2005 and the finalized Pub-licly Available Specification (PAS) had to be published by September 2006 to permit an adoption by WP.29 in Novem-ber 2006.

Close cooperation between dif-ferent stakeholders, e. g. WP.29 and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) was therefore crucial. To increase the efficiency of the group, the task force was co-led by two experts from the auto-motive industry, Christoph Saalfeld, DaimlerChrysler AG and Franklin Jos-ey, Volvo Trucks North America.

ISO 15765, Road vehicles – Diagnostics on Controller Area Networks (CAN) – Part 4 : Requirements for emissions-related systems

SAE J1939, Recommended Practice for a Serial Control and Communications Vehicle Network

– 71: Vehicle Application Layer

– 73: Application Layer – Diagnostics

ISO/PAS 27145, Road vehicles – Implementation of WWH-OBD communication requirements

– Part 1 : General information and use case definition

– Part 2 : Common emissions-related data dictionary

– Part 3 : Common message dictionary

– Part 4 : Connection between vehicle and test equipment

ISO 15031, Road vehicles – Communication between vehicle and external equipment for emissions-related diagnostics

– Part 5 : Emissions-related diagnostic services

– Part 6 : Diagnostic trouble code definitions

SAE J1939, Recommended Practice for a Serial Control and Communications Vehicle Network

– Part 03 : Implementation Guide for HD OBD on J1939

– Part 71: Vehicle Application Layer

– Part 73 : Application Layer – Diagnostics

UNECE GTR No 5 – Technical requirements for on-board diagnostic systems (OBD) for road vehicles

ISO 11898, Road vehicles – Controller area network (CAN) (several parts)

Standards related to on-board diagnostic systems


Main Focus

Two other WG 1 task forces led by Gangolf Feiter, Concepts & Servic-es Consulting, supported the activities of the WWH-OBD task force by mak-ing the required additions to ISO 15031 Part 5 and Part 6 as referenced in ISO/PAS (see box). At the same time SAE developed SAE J1939/3 and modified /71 and /73 accordingly. All groups stayed in constant communication with each other and with WP.29’s informal group on WWH-OBD.

Mission accomplishedISO/PAS 27145 was published

on-time in September 2006. UNECE WP.29 unanimously adopted the Glo-bal Technical Regulation on on-board diagnostic systems, which refer to ISO/PAS 27145 during its 140th session in November 2006.

Mission expandedTo allow for a smooth migra-

tion from the existing communication standards to this worldwide communi-cation standard, the initial communica-tion concept was based on ISO 11898 on controller area networks for vehicles (see box), which is the most commonly used standard for in-vehicle communi-cation networks today.

In a second step, ISO/PAS 27145 will be developed into an extended worldwide harmonized OBD commu-nication standard based on other exist-ing and even more widely used industry communications standards, e.g. Inter-net Protocol (TCP/IP) over Ethernet. Due to the use of standard network and transport layer protocols, future exten-sions like additional, optional physical layers (e.g. wireless) will be possible. ISO/PAS 27145 will therefore become a solid basis for a wide variety of OBD applications.“ For a smooth migration

from the existing communication standards to this worldwide standard,

the initial concept was based on ISO 11898.”


ThThe intelligent e intelligent e carAutomotive electronic systems and ISO

by Pierre Malaterre, Peugeot S.A., member of ISO/TC 22/SC 3, Electrical and electronic equipment, and a member of ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems

Growth in the use of electronic control units (ECUs) continues to expand in the automotive

industry, enabling improvements in safety, pollution control, efficiency and comfort. Two ISO committees focus on developing worldwide stand-ards in the field.

Position of electronics in the automotive business

The number of ECUs embed-ded in automobiles has grown dra-matically, from a single unit 25 years ago to today’s 20 to 50 units in a typ-ical vehicle, along with about 100 electric motors under electronic com-mand. With the emergence of power-ful digital systems, growth in the use of ECUs in automotive applications has been driven by regulation and cus-tomer demand.

Pollution control requirements inspired the first automotive electron-ic applications, and today’s extensive regulations promoting clean air and safety could never be met without the innovations made possible by ECUs. Indeed, an estimated 80 % of innova-tion in the auto industry is driven by electronic systems, including :

• Anti-locking brake system ;

• Immobilizer ;

• Lane departure ;

• Anti-skid regulation ;

• Automatic transmission ;

• Exhaust gas recirculation ;

• Electronic stability program ;

• Particulate filter ;

• Adaptative cruise control ;

• Stop and start variable valve tim-ing ;

• Hill assist.

Sensors and ECUs are now commonly shared among several func-tions, resulting in more efficient, less expensive systems. Sharing informa-tion makes provision of new services essentially cost-free, and security is increased because it is possible to calculate the value of a parameter if the sensor for this parameter fails to function.

But this leads to increased com-plexity in development and integration, along with increased risk in terms of functional safety and reliability. This relationship can also lead to compat-ibility problems when mixing equip-ment from various manufacturers in the same car, and to increased sensitivity to electromagnetic behaviour.

Typical problems of modern auto electronic architecture

This complex and interconnected architecture presents difficulties for engineers developing new cars, and can lead to unwanted compromises. With today’s short development schedules (roughly 24 months), there is insuf-ficient time to hypothesise and verify behaviours. Combining software from a variety of suppliers in a common hardware component raises technical

Figure 1 – In the electronic network : ECUs HW & SW, wires, connectors, data transmission protocol... there are ISO specifications.

In 2002, electronic systems rep-resented 25 % of manufacturing costs, a figure expected to grow to 35 % by 2010. Manufacturers are understand-ably keen to control these costs.

Early systems were relatively simple, with a single electronic control unit and one or more actuators. Each function was independent and had no or little communication with other functions. Economic considerations have led to continuing efforts to shrink system architectures.

“ A modern car must also be compliant with new regulations, which are the same for all car

manufacturers and which cannot be met without electronic systems.”


Main Focus

issues as well as questions of legal responsibility.

The market for automotive silicon chips is about 6 % to 9 % of the total chip market, a very large proportion but still not enough to support development of dedicated components for a single manufacturer.

Other serious constraints are reliability and functional safety. The behaviour of an auto-motive electronic system cannot be similar to a PC – we could never accept a reset button on the dash-board. Digital data transmission must be virtually error-free in the interest of safety. Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) must be as perfect as possible, which is to say that electronic systems must be robust against electromagnetic disturbances, and that electronics and electric systems cannot pass perturbations to other systems inside and outside the car.

A modern car must also be compliant with new regula-tions, which are the same for all car manufacturers and which cannot be met without electronic systems. Current and imminent regulations include : pollution emissions, diagnosis, dismantling of old airbags, electronic vehicle identifica-tion and common ways of describing electronic systems.

These issues compel the auto-motive electronics industry to work with International Standards through ISO because this is quite simply the most efficient and least expensive way to meet goals.

Role of ISO in automotive electronics

Two ISO technical committees are involved in automotive electronics. ISO/TC 22 is in charge of standards for road vehicles, and the subcommittee SC 3 focuses in particular on electri-cal and electronic equipment. The second committee, ISO/TC 204, works on standards for intelligent transport systems (ITSs), which are inside the car or imply behaviour of the car.

ISO/TC 22The task of TC 22/SC 3 shifted

from electrical to electronic systems some 20 years ago. The first application was diagnosis, which used a flashing code, in effect a serial data transmis-sion on a single wire. The ISO 9141 standard was defined in TC 22/SC 3/WG 1, Serial data transmission. Immediately following, a multiplex data transmission protocol was developed in the same working group by technical analogy. Three competing protocols emerged : Controller Area Network (CAN), VAN and J1850, and after a long and difficult struggle, three ISO standards remained. All participants understood that these battles were a waste of time and money.

A new era of cooperation has emerged. Some techniques are devel-oped in cooperation among industrial companies. When the specifications are completed, these companies can choose between open behaviour and attempts to create monopolies. In the case of auto electronics – with a small share of the

silicon chip market – it is more efficient from a business point of view to offer the standard to ISO. Several consortiums have made this choice : OSEK for embedded soft-ware (ISO 17356), and AMIC for multimedia interface (ISO 22902). In the near future, we expect to see cooperation between FlexRay Autosar and ISO/TC 22/SC 3 for a standard Transport Protocol on FlexRay for diagnostics.

ISO is not only a group of experts defining standards in the hope that they will be adopted by all actors; ISO also defines the specifications we must fulfil to receive authorization to place the car on the market.

TC 22/SC 3 is in charge of a wide panel of working groups : data transmission and multiplexing, diagnosis, software, electromag-netic compatibility, connectors, fuses, wires, multimedia interfaces, functional safety, and silicon components for multiplex.

Among the regulations, elec-tromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is of particular importance.

About the author

An electronic engineer with a doctorate in electrochemistry, Dr. Pierre Malaterre is currently Vehicle System Electron-ic Manager at PSA Peugeot Citroën.

Dr. Malaterre has many years of experience in the automotive industry, three years at the Electrochemistry Laboratory CNRS, ten years in digital telephony and as a data transmission member of CCITT (ITU), and eight years in testing of car embedded elec-tronics. He has been Vice President of GIEG in FIEV and has spent four years in a defence system company, and has been 15 years with PSA. He is a member of ISO/TC 22/SC 3 and convenor of a number of working groups, as well as a member of ISO/TC 204.


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e carEMC standards are defined in

TC 22/SC 3/WG 3, which is in charge of defining measurement methodology. There are two families of regulations for EMC :

• The car must support EMC perturba-tions ;

• The car must not radiate electro-magnetic fields.

International Standards for automotive applications are defined in two standards organizations :

• ISO TC 22/SC 3/WG 3 for immu-nity ;

• IEC : Special International Commit-tee for Radio Interference (CISPR) for radiation.

under the generic name CALM which stands for Communication Air-interface Long and Medium range. CALM uses all existing media, including wireless satellite, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), WiFi and IR. It also defines processes to have information on the road (probe data), and emergency call systems.

A few examples of standards “ on the road ”

If the car was a personal compu-ter we would likely see a sticker on the keyboard proclaiming “ISO Inside”. The list shown in the boxes is a collection of ISO standards in this field.

The exact values to be measured are supplied by the regulator. As accurate measurement of electromagnetic fields is difficult, the methodologies provided by ISO and CIPSR are essential.

ISO/TC 204TC 204 plays a major role in

ITS and works in cooperation with TC 22/SC 3 on several standards. The link with automotive electronics is clear in TC 204/WG 4, WG 14 and WG 16.

WG 4 is in charge of automatic vehicle identification, WG 14 handles vehicle roadway warning and control systems, and WG 16 focuses on wide area communications, protocols and interfaces.

WG 14 defines standards such as adaptive cruise control systems, forward vehicle collision warning systems, manoeuvring aids, and lane departure warning systems.

WG 16 defines a global archi-tecture of communications between the vehicle and the outside world

“ If the car was a personal computer, we would likely

see a sticker on the keyboard proclaiming

ISO Inside.”

From ISO/TC 22/SC 3

ISO 11898, Controller Area Network

ISO 14229, Unified Diagnosis Services

ISO 15031, Communication between vehicle and external equip-ment for emission-related diagnostics

ISO 17356, Open interface for embedded automotive applications

ISO 14230, Diagnostic systems Keyword Protocol 2000

ISO 15765, Diagnostics on Controller Area Networks

All these standards are used to elabo-rate systems inside the car, allowing the monitoring of emission-related components. This is used to comply with OBD regulations.

Other useful standards:

ISO 22902, Automotive multimedia interface

ISO 22900, Modular vehicle com-munication interface (MVCI) with Test tool

ISO 22901, Open diagnostic data exchange

ISO 16844, Tachograph systems

ISO 21848, Electrical and electronic equipment for a supply voltage of 42 V

ISO 15497, Development guidelines for vehicle based software

ISO 15764, Extended data link security

ISO 26021, End of life activation on on-board pyrotechnic devices

ISO 7637, Electrical interference by conduction and coupling

ISO 11451, Road vehicles — Vehicle test methods for electrical distur-bances from narrowband radiated electromagnetic energy

ISO 11452, Road vehicles – Com-ponent test methods for electrical disturbances from narrowband radiated electromagnetic energy

ISO 10605, Electrical disturbances from electrostatic discharge

From ISO/TC 204

ISO 15622, Adaptive Cruise Con-trol Systems

ISO 15623, Forward vehicle colli-sion warning systems

ISO 17386, Manoeuvring Aids for Low Speed Operation (MALSO)

ISO 14813, Reference model architecture(s) for the TICS sector

ISO 24535, Automatic vehicle identification

ISO 17387, Lane Change Deci-sion Aid Systems

ISO 17361, Lane departure warn-ing systems

ISO 22179, Full speed range adaptive cruise control (FSRA) systems

ISO 21210, CALM (Communica-tion Air-interface Long and Medi-um range) Networking Protocols

ISO 21217, Communications, Air Interface, Long and Medium Range (CALM) Architecture

ISO 21218, CALM Common Sta-tion Manager (Lower Level SAPs)

ISO 24977, Wireless Telephone Based e-Call


Main Focus

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) : Revolution on the roadways

by Michael Noblett, Chair ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems

A s increased urbanization and traffic congestion threaten to overwhelm the existing trans-

port infrastructure, intelligent trans-port systems (ITS) holds the promise of ushering in a second transportation

revolution. ITS refers to the integra-tion and application of information technology to urban and rural surface transportation. Its application will allow both government and private industry to improve road safety, reli-ability and convenience, mitigate traf-fic congestion, as well as reduce fuel consumption and emissions. It is wide-ly anticipated that ITS will help make travel more productive, convenient, environmentally friendly, and eco-nomically efficient.

To date, many ITS technologies have been designed for local markets and have been directed towards the high-end market such as luxury auto-mobiles and business users of sophisti-cated electronics technology. However, for the industry to be successful, a far

wider market must be accessed, with lower cost technologies being incor-porated into passenger cars, buses, fer-ries, trains, and commercial vehicles, which are built and sold globally.

In addition, many ITS products, especially those that are communica-tions-enabled, are aimed at travelers who need consistent access to ITS serv-ices wherever they go, requiring con-sistency in operation, wireless inter-faces, and user interfaces, including mobile Internet.

Standards are a primary ena-bler of the widespread dissemination of such ITS technology, helping to ensure their integration and interop-erability with existing infrastructure, while concurrently generating signifi-cant social and economic returns. ISO/



About the author

Michael Noblett, Chair of ISO/TC 204, is Vice President of Glo-bal Automotive Initiatives for Connexis LCC, which is devel-oping and pro-moting a new approach for

wireless vehicle data communication to support advanced safety applications. Prior to joining Connexis, Mr. Noblett spent nearly 20 years at General Motors Corporation and OnStar. As an expatriate manager in Europe, he led major interna-tional technology projects for GM. He also represented the global automobile industry as Program Manager of the Auto-motive Multimedia Interface Collabora-tion. Mr. Noblett is the Chair of ITS America’s Automotive, Telecommunica-tions and Consumer Electronics Forum, and was recently appointed General Chair of the 2008 ITS World Congress in New York. He is also a member of the Trans-portation Research Board’s Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation, and a mem-ber of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

TC 204 is honored to be at the fore-front of this process.

While the adoption of ITS holds promise for all nations, perhaps the most significant gains stand to be realized in developing countries. As prosperity increases in developing countries, so will automobile ownership – greatly increasing congestion.

Within the transport commu-nity there is a clear enthusiasm for the deployment of new and emerging ITS solutions, which will help devel-oping countries eliminate or minimize the problems of transport and trans-portation logistics that arose in tra-ditional “ steel-and-asphalt ” environ-ments, and “ leapfrog ” over existing technologies.

For these reasons, TC 204 has begun a comprehensive outreach pro-gram designed to bring in key ITS stakeholders from the developing countries such as China, Malaysia and Thailand, etc.

Today, representatives from 24 participating member countries (“ P ” countries) take part in ISO/TC 204, with an additional 25 countries hold-ing observer status (“ O ” countries). While most ISO technical commit-tees are broken down into subcommit-tees composed of one or more work-ing groups, the makeup of ISO/TC 204 is unusual. Subcommittees have been bypassed in favor of 11 working

groups, each headed by a P-member nation reporting directly to the Chair-man and Secretariat’s office.

ISO/TC 204 maintains close liai-son relationships with nine technical committees and working groups. Exter-nal to ISO, TC 204 currently maintains liaison activities with ten organizations, including both the International Tele-

Observing “ O ” member countries

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark,

Egypt, Finland, Greece, Indonesia,

Iran, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Singapore,

Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,

Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay

Participating “ P ” member countries

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China,

Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary,

India, Israel, Italy, Japan,

Korea, Malaysia,

Netherlands, Norway, Russian

Federation, South Africa,

Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,

United Kingdom, United States

ISO/TC 204 Working Groups/Country Leads

WG 1 : Architecture/ United Kingdom

WG 3 : TICS database technology/ Japan

WG 4 : Automotive vehicle and equipment identification/ Norway

WG 5 : Fee and toll collection/ Sweden

WG 7 : General fleet management and commercial/freight/ Canada

WG 8 : Public transport/ emergency/ USA

WG 9 : Integrated transport information, management and control/ Australia

WG 10 : Traveler information systems/ Germany

WG 14 : Vehicle/road-way warn-ing and con-trol systems/ Japan

WG 15 : Dedicated short range communications for TICS application/ Germany

WG 16P : Wide area communications/protocols and interfaces/USA


Main Focus

communication Union’s (ITU) Adviso-ry Panel for Standards Cooperation on Telecommunications related to Motor Vehicles (APSC TELEMOV) and mul-tiple ITU Radio communication Sec-tor (ITU-R), study groups.

As part of our greater liaison activities with ITU and the Interna-tional Electrotechical Commission IEC, ISO/TC 204 will co-host a con-ference at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, titled The Fully Networked Car. The event is an opportunity to showcase the incorporation of infor-mation and communication technol-ogies in motor vehicles.

• Rear-end collision mitigation brak-ing systems ;

• Intersection signal information and violation warning systems ;

• Lane departure warning systems ; and

• Emergency crash notification using any available wireless media.

The second deals with technol-ogies to facilitate global interopera-bility for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehi-cle-to-infrastructure communications. Known collectively as CALM (con-tinuous air interface, long- and medi-um-range), these standards are intend-ed to deliver the promise of seamless wireless communications and Internet access on a global scale.

Just as continuous communica-tions form the backbone of the knowl-edge economy ; so too will these stand-ards form a key component of any suc-cessful ITS technology.

As an acknowledgement of this critical requirement, TC 204 has undertaken significant work to develop the requisite standards. Fall-ing under the jurisdiction of Working Group 16, nearly 20 CALM stand-ards are currently under develop-ment. CALM standards will enable a wide range of ITS services, such as vehicle collision avoidance sys-tems for passenger vehicles, based on ad-hoc networks linking multi-ple vehicles.

Realizing the transport mar-ket is global in scope and that the very nature of vehicle and infrastruc-ture investments renders them quite expensive, CALM is intended to pro-vide for systems with a useful stand-ardization lifetime of 10-20 years, so as to accommodate new technologies as they are developed.

Since 1992, over 30 ISO/TC 204 standards have been published to address the commercial needs of the ITS industry, including stand-ards addressing the overall ITS archi-tecture, public transport/emergen-cy management, traveler informa-tion systems, fee and toll collection, and short-range and wide-area com-munications protocols and interfac-es. In addition, nearly 90 standards and technical specification/reports are currently under development in these areas.

Of all the potential benefits of ITS, perhaps none ranks higher in the public’s consciousness than technol-ogies capable of increasing personal and public safety. Specifically, two categories of standards have garnered special attention.

The first addresses technologies for preventive and active safety prod-ucts which make use of sensor data, communications, digital maps, and positioning technologies to improve road safety. Active committee work items addressing these technologies include:

“ While the adoption of ITS holds promise for all

nations, perhaps the most significant gains stand to be realized in developing

countries.”

Furthermore, the lower infra-structure costs and ease of implemen-tation associated with wireless tech-nologies means that CALM will serve as an excellent blueprint for develop-ing nations looking to modernize their transport infrastructure.

Another area of tremendous importance to the successful world-wide dissemination and adoption of ITS technologies is a standardized, overarching ITS architecture to provide the common framework for developing, denoting, and integrating ITS systems.

In this space, the efforts of Working Group 1, Architecture ,

“ Of all the potential benefits of ITS, perhaps none ranks higher in the public’s conscious than technologies capable of increasing personal and

public safety.”

Internal ISO/IEC liaisons

TC 8

TC 22

TC 104

TC 154

TC 211

ISO/IEC/JTC 1

ISO/IEC/JTC 1/SC 31

TC 122-TC 104 JWG

IEC/TC 9

External liaisons

ITU-R WP6M

ITU-R WP8A

CEN/TC 278

APEC

IEEE

OGC

UN/CEFACT/TBG 3

IrDA

ETSI/TG 37

WCO


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e carreflect the broad contribution of the international ITS community. This will be of particular importance to the developing world – and is further detailed in this series of articles – as it supports the relatively easy adoption of ITS technologies and eliminate the need to develop an architecture locally.

An excellent illustration of WG 1’s work can be seen in its latest efforts to guide the development of common ITS standards, data registries, and data dictionaries using XML (the eXtensible Mark up Language). XML designates a universal data format for publishing and exchanging structured documents on the Internet and is a critical technology for ensuring inter-operability and information sharing between multiple ITS devices.

Efforts to standardize the use of XML in the ITS context are nearly complete, with publication anticipated by 2008. With six currently published standards and an additional 20 work items under development, WG 1 is helping to lay the foundation for the 21st century transportation revolu-tion.

As we celebrate our 15th year, ISO/TC 204 remains the premier international committee for devel-oping ITS standards. As Chair of TC 204, I am proud of the progress made so far and I look forward with confidence that TC 204 will reach its goals for the next 15 years.

Importance of ITS standards to emerging markets

by Neil Frost, Chair of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) SC 71H

T ransport systems form one of the main pillars of economic growth and are critical to grow-

ing emerging economies, as these transport systems allow access to goods, services and markets. Many countries are therefore investing heav-ily in intelligent transport systems (ITS) to manage and control the var-ious aspects of transport networks, infrastructure and vehicles.

This results in increased demand for sophisticated technology solutions from a relatively young worldwide industry. There are a number of com-panies developing these systems glob-ally ; however, very often these com-panies focus only on the local (home) markets and pay little attention to inter-national standardization and interna-tional requirements. This article dis-cusses some of the important aspects of ITS standards for emerging markets and does not focus on separate mar-ket segments and the individual mar-ket complexities.

The creation of new industries and systems that are not developed according to International Standards exposes major threats to economies such as technology lock-in and reduc-es the opportunity for interoperability


Main Focus

About the author

Neil Frost, Managing Direc-tor of Willow-stream Business Consultants (Pty) Ltd., holds a BSc (Computer Sci-ence) and a Mas-ter in Business Leadership (MBL) from

the University of South Africa. Mr. Frost has served on the board of numerous companies and has more than 20 years of IT experience, mostly in trans-ponder and smartcard technology. He is currently Chair of the SABS SC 71H deal-ing with intelligent transport system stand-ards and is the head of the South African delegation to ISO/TC 204. Mr. Frost’s pri-mary role is consulting on ITS system and standard requirements, including preparing business plans and tenders for clients. He has participated in activities in The South African Society for Intelligent Transport Systems (SASITS) and has also participated in discussions with the High Speed Train Transaction Advisors on standards to be adopted and the overall requirements of such systems. One of the most challenging areas is multiple application interoperability and he is currently responsible for resolv-ing these issues for a number of projects.

e-mail: [email protected]

between systems. This can result in infor-mation not being available to a number of stakeholders and hence duplication of systems with the associated addi-tional costs to the economy.

It can be argued that the capital costs of such systems are relatively low and that standards are therefore not a major issue as systems can be replaced. This type of argument immediately ignores the cost of ownership of these systems and the immense investment in historical information that is often lost if a system has to be replaced. It also ignores the cost of system prolif-eration across these individual islands that therefore can not interoperate.

In certain instances, these servic-es become so essential to the users that discontinuation results in major political outcry. This is the area in which Inter-national Standards play a very impor-tant role in alleviating these risks. They are there to protect all the stakehold-ers and introduce competition into the industry.

forms of import protection and hence open economies for trade.

Standards further offer industries developing new products the oppor-tunity to compete on an internation-al basis and not just in very restricted markets. Testimony to adopting Inter-national Standards and participating in the development of these standards has paid dividends to numerous com-panies which have managed to estab-lish their leadership position and enter international markets with compliant products ahead of the competition. This type of strategy, however, is nor-mally long-term and not many inves-tors understand the requirements, pre-ferring short-term returns.

Numerous well-established indus-tries such as banking and telecommu-nications have used International Stan-dards that have converted the world into a global village.

With improved infrastructure, cross-border operations are becoming more frequent and standards in licens-ing and transport network operations are becoming a reality. This is impos-

ing additional challenges for emerg-ing markets that need to be innovative and resourceful when implementing ITS systems.

One major objective of the gov-ernment in South Africa is to reduce road accidents. The research and stan-dardization efforts occurring in Europe and elsewhere can contribute signifi-cantly to these objectives. Numerous examples can be quoted but suffice to say that ITS standards will play an ever-increasing role in transport sys-tems and operations.

In spite of what is said above, there are numerous challenges that are faced by the ITS industry in develop-ing these standards. The emerging mar-kets usually lack the skills, capacity and resources to actively participate in standards development and rely heavily

Emerging markets

• Most developing countries are already members of international SDOs like ISO and IEC through their national member bodies. As a result, they are already well-positioned to participate in the development of International Standards at any of a variety of levels.

• However, it is probably not fea-sible or economically desirable for developing countries to estab-lish their own independent pro-grams for developing voluntary consensus standards. The WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Technology provides strong encouragement to countries not to independently develop stan-dards that have already (or are already being) developed else-where.

Regulatory standards that can be presented as generally fair, carefully developed and arrived at, will be better accepted and less politically sensitive.

ITS standards are developed to improve economies of scale, interoper-ability, and to serve as a form of pro-tection for the acquirer and developer of such systems. They are also there to protect economies against “ dumping ” which is often targeted at emerging mar-kets. These dumped products possibly represent older technology that no lon-ger meets the standards set by the mar-kets that were originally targeted. This dumping practice can have associated all the previously mentioned risks and destroys emerging local industries.

It is therefore imperative that gov-ernments protect their emerging indus-tries and the best and most accepted form of protection is international standard-ization, since organizations such as the World Trade Organization are trying to remove tariff protection and other

“ Transport systems are one of the main pillars of economic growth, critical

to growing emerging economies.”


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e caron the resources made available by the first world economies. Emerging mar-kets are therefore often seen to be those who adopt standards, rather than leaders in establishing these standards.

This tendency of being a fol-lower results in a great deal of outreach work and marketing being required as the emerging market industries focus-ing on ITS solutions are not necessar-ily aware of what is being developed and what benefits can be derived by the emerging market industries and com-panies by participating in the standards development.

Their exposure to standardiza-tion is usually limited to the informa-tion derived from and claims made by vendors, and could lead to the above-mentioned risks of “ dumping ” and ven-dor lock-in.

Very often, certain elements of ITS systems are developed in coun-tries due to local circumstances, with very little or no cognizance of existing International Standards being incorpo-rated into the systems being developed and implemented. The vehicle track-ing industry in South Africa is a good example of stand-alone systems that might result in lock-in. This industry was developed from the requirements of security and insurance companies wish-ing to retrieve stolen vehicles.

International Standards there-fore improve global competition and enhance fair trade in the market place, while affording the various stakeholders protection from non-compliant systems and hence reducing the risk of owner-ship and single source supply. Interna-tional Standards further reduce the like-lihood of incompatible systems prolif-erating market segments and reducing the viability of the segment. They afford the users a certain level of comfort and therefore the risk of investment is sig-nificantly reduced.

“ International Standards therefore improve global competition and enhance

fair trade.”

First ISO-APEC cooperation for ITS standards

by Mr. Donggeun Choi, Liaison ISO/ TC 204, APEC Transportation Working Group

This article aims to give a brief overview of the history of coop-eration and the desired outcomes

of the technical report ISO/TR 28682, A joint APEC-ISO study of progress to develop and deploy ITS standards, which is the first joint project between ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport sys-tems and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Transportation Working Group (TPT).

APEC Transportation Working Group liaises with ISO/TC 204

ISO/TC 204 is developing Inter-national Standards on intelligent trans-port systems (ITS) by reflecting world-wide needs, and the APEC TPT strives to foster economic development in the Asia-Pacific region through recommen-dations to increase efficiency, sustain-ability and safety of the regional trans-portation system. Under the APEC TPT, the Intermodal/ITS Experts Group has the goal of saving lives, time, money and the environment through the real-ization of ITS systems.

To achieve that goal, the Intermo-dal/ITS Experts Group has established objectives that include the identifica-tion of ITS standards requirements and the facilitation of the establishment of ITS standards by ISO, which are APEC


Main Focus

priorities. To address these objectives, the ITS Experts Group has established a formal liaison with ISO/TC 204, Intel-ligent transport systems.

There have been three joint work-shops between the two groups and pro-ductive discussions to develop more har-monized international ITS standards. The TR 28682 report, now under final editing process, was jointly developed by ISO and APEC in 2004-2006.

This report is intended to facili-tate cooperation in ITS standardization activities by sharing the latest infor-mation and experience on the applica-tion and deployment of ITS standards among APEC economies and ISO/TC 204 member countries.

The report contains the fol-lowing :

• a list of 662 ITS standards devel-oped or under development world-wide ;

• fact sheets of 89 ITS standards describing scope and conformance features ;

• a list of 100 ITS standards deployed worldwide ;

• 20 lessons learned from develop-ment or deployment experience of ITS standards, and recommenda-tions developing and deploying ITS standards for ISO/TC 204, APEC and their members.

The following sections summa-rize the report.

Information bank on ITS standards worldwide

The report identified 662 ITS (draft) standards worldwide: 208 (including 130 under development) International Standards, 128 (44 of them under development) regional standards, and 326 (54 under develop-ment) national standards. It is found that 54 (15 under development) out of 104 European Committee for Standard-ization (CEN) standards are identical to ISO/TC 204 standards.

However, only 33 national stan-dards are adopted from out of 326 (289 from Asia-Pacific; 37 from European countries). This number is probably not satisfying. One reason is that Interna-tional Standards do not always reflect the particular needs of a country and some adaptation is necessary.

Also, there is no mechanism sim-ilar to CEN for non-European countries to coordinate closely the joint develop-ment of the standards they use. There-fore, these countries should focus on the benefits of closer regional cooperation to develop ITS standards and look for ways to accomplish this.

Different approaches to ITS standards development

The accompanying chart shows that there are clearly two clusters of countries representing two quite dif-ferent approaches to developing and

adopting ITS standards. These two approaches are :

1. The European approach of coun-tries which do not develop their own national ITS standards but work together through CEN, a regional standards development organization, and then automati-cally adopt the regional ITS stan-dards from CEN as their national ITS standards ; and

2. The APEC approach, championed by most other countries outside of Europe, that develop national ITS standards, either a limited num-ber or a comprehensive set, and then adopt ITS standards selec-tively as national ITS standards as required.

The existence of two approach-es is well known in the standards com-munity. The survey results confirm that these two approaches apply to

Different approaches to ITS standards development

Number of ITS national standards

Adoption policy of international/regional standards (as of early 2006)

Recognition only

Adopted selectively

Automatic adoption

Deve

lope

d na

tiona

l sta

ndar

dNo

t dev

elop

ed

natio

nal s

tand

ard

Mexico (1)South Africa

Singapore

Peru

Brunei D.

USA (111)

Korea (79) China (47) Japan (9)

Chinese Taipei (8)Canada (5)

Australia (3)

Hong Kong (1)

France (24) Czech Rep. (9)

Sweden (3)

* CEN only

* ISO and CEN

* CEN & ETSI Norway United Kingdom

* CEN only

Austria Germany Hungary Switzerland Slovakia


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e carITS standards as well. In particular, the success of the European approach to develop ITS standards and get them introduced into practice quickly is well known and is a model that other regions of the world might find use-ful to emulate.

However, the countries in the non-European cluster do not have a structure like the European Union to enforce adoption of standards. Also, they will likely wish to retain the flexibility to adopt ITS standards selectively.

It should be noted that some countries, most notably the USA, have no general process for formally adopting ISO standards on a national basis.

In Europe, the adoption of CEN standards by European Union members is automatic. Adoption of ISO standards elsewhere in the world is generally volun-tary, although most are normally adopt-ed by most countries. In practice, this equates very much to the situation in the USA regarding International Stan-dards – they are there and frequently used but are not required.

The closest thing to a require-ment is that for the tendering of public contracts in Europe “ available relevant standards must be taken into account ”. Therefore, while European countries

have largely responded “ adopted unless there is a national reason not to do so ”, in practice this means the same as the US response “ available but not adopt-ed ”, because the use is voluntary and not mandated.

Strategic recommendations

A summary of the recommen-dations from this report follows. It is not possible to prioritize such a list, although clearly some recommenda-tions are more significant or of greater strategic impact than others.

• Standards development organiza-tions (SDOs) like ISO are encour-aged to develop standards in a more user oriented manner in order to narrow the gap between develop-ers and users, keeping in mind that standards are not for authors (developers) but for their readers (users).

• Regional bodies like APEC and the European Union are encouraged to sponsor outreach activities in their member countries to increase acces-sibility to information on existing standards and deployment experi-ences.

• Stakeholders in the ITS arena should identify business case or cost-ben-efit analysis of standards implemen-tation or interoperability issues.

SDOs and regional bodies are encouraged to strive for efficient coop-eration/networking in identifying requirements and in developing stan-dards to avoid duplication and secure harmonization.

• APEC, EU, national governments and SDOs are encouraged to sponsor the development of implementation guideline and conformance require-ments.

• With increased travel and disburse-ment costs and an increased number of meetings, joint meetings between SDO working groups and telecon-ferences should be encouraged.

About the author

Mr. Donggeun Choi is Senior Researcher of the Korean Standards Association and involved in Inter-national Standards development pol-icy and strategy. He has served as liaison between

ISO/TC 204 and APEC TP TWG (Transportation Working Group) and served as project editor of the first joint project, ISO TR 28682, World Report for ITS Standards. He is a member of standards and conformance committees of APEC and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which are dealing with standards and conformity assessment policy and cooperation in the regions.

• ALL SDOs should re-examine their achieved deliverables and deliv-erables in progress to establish if there are adequate specified proce-dures to determine whether some-thing is in compliance with/or out of compliance with the standard.

• Despite significant improvements in the processing of ISO standards, it still needs to be improved further in order to retain the support of the experts who develop the stan-dards.

• Relationships can be improved even further between ISO/TC 204 and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at Central Secretariat level, and with the International Telecommmunica-tion Union (ITU) at working party levels, as can exchanges with other liaison SDOs.

• It is recommended that ISO/TC 204 review and update its work programme.


Main Focus

About the authorTamás Szafkó, Manager of External Relations and Standardiza-tion graduated as an economist at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Debrecen. He joined the Ygomi

companies in 2004. Since the beginning of 2005 he has been the Rapporteur of ISO/TC 204 WG 16. In April, 2005 he was elected as the Hungarian Head of Delegation for ISO/ TC 204 and CEN/TC 278. In February, 2006 he was elected as the Chairman of the new Hungarian ITS Standards committee, MSZT MB 911.

ISO/TC 204 collaboration with other partners on ITS

by Tamás Szafko, Hungarian Head of Delegation to ISO/TC 204 and CEN/TC 278

ISO/TC 204 was set up in 1992 with the goal of providing a global framework for intelligent transport

systems (ITS) standardization. ISO/TC 204 currently consists of 12 act-ing working groups with eight coun-tries serving as lead countries of the working groups. The importance of ITS standardization is demonstrated by the fact that ISO/TC 204 has 24 participating countries and 25 observ-er members. The current Chair of the committee is Mr. Michael Noblett, while the Secretariat support is pro-vided by the Telecommunications Industry Association (USA).

ISO/TC 204 has many liaisons and maintains traditionally close rela-tionships with other organizations. The most notable partners include :

• The International Telecommunica-tion Union (ITU-R WP 6M, ITU-R WP 8A) ;

• The European Committee for Stan-dardization (CEN/TC 278) ;

• the European Telecommunica-tions Standards Institute (ETSI TG 37) ;

• The Asia Pacific Economic Coop-eration (APEC) ;

• The Institute of Electrical and Elec-tronics Engineers (IEEE) ;

• Committees of United Nations (UN/CEFACT/TBG 3) ;

• The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) ; and

• The Global Standards Collabora-tion (GSC).

It is important to highlight the strong relationship between ISO/TC 204 and CEN/TC 278. The two com-mittees have several joint work items

and have cooperated successfully over the past decade. The cooperation with IEEE, ITU and ETSI is also important in the ITS standardization world since many communications related stan-dards are being developed and stud-ied in these committees.

The first World Report on ITS Standards (WRITSS) is another good example of successful cooperation as the WRITSS study was done by APEC and ISO/TC 204 together and will be published as a technical report by ISO in 2007.

As mentioned earlier, ISO/TC 204 has 12 working groups currently that covers a broad range of ITS related fields (see box). Intelligent transport systems are large scale systems with numerous applications and with a large number of people (developers, service providers and users) involved. Therefore it is necessary to focus on and ensure interoperability, compatibility and expandability.

Working Group 1 is respon-sible for preparing standards related to information and methodology to be used within the ITS sector.

Working Group 3 develops standards for interfaces to exchange geographical information, consider-ing various situations. Geographical information is undoubtedly one of the most important pieces of information in many ITS service areas.



Working Groups (lead countries in brackets)

• WG 1, Architecture (United Kingdom)

• WG 3, ITS database technology (Japan)

• WG 4, Automatic vehicle identification/Automatic equipment identification (Norway)

• WG 5, Electronic fee collection (Sweden)

• WG 7, General fleet management and commercial/freight operations (Canada)

• WG 8, Public transport and emergency (United States)

• WG 9, Integrated transport information, management and control (Australia)

• WG 10, Traveller information systems (Germany)

• WG 11, Route guidance and navigation systems (vacant)

• WG 14: Vehicle/roadway warning and control systems (Japan)

• WG 15, Dedicated short-range communications (Germany)

• WG 16, Wide area communication (United States)

WG 4 develops International Standards to ensure interoperability in the fields of audio visual interleave (AVI)/AEI, an automatic identifica-tion system for vehicles and equip-ment through such simple media as tags are being developed in.

WG 5 is working on standard-ization of electronic fee and electron-ic toll collection systems. The work covers among many others road tolls, parking fees, and ferry fees.

WG 7 is currently focusing on items related to the transportation of hazardous goods.

WG 8 items include interopera-ble fare management systems (IFMS), data dictionary and message sets for preemption and prioritization sig-nal systems for emergency and pub-lic vehicles (PRESTO) and standard numbering systems for public trans-port stops. Public transport includes buses, trams, trains, metro, and emer-gency vehicles.

technology directly linked to vehi-cle drivers.

WG 15 is working on the stan-dardization of short range radio com-munications to be used for ITS appli-cations.

WG 16 is one of the larg-est groups within ISO/TC 204 and it focuses on two main areas. One is communication air interface long and medium range (CALM) architec-ture and the other is the field of probe data systems.

In Europe there are several proj-ects that are co-funded by the Europe-an Union and companies together to ensure that ITS applications develop into a higher level. ISO/TC 204 established liaisons with most of these projects and the committee’s and those of the respec-

tive projects work closely together. It is important that standards organizations cooperate with projects that are actually implementing new technologies.

ISO/TC 204 understands the necessity of liaising with the compet-itive part of the world outside of stan-dards because standards will only prove fruitful if they are deployed on the mar-ket. The two most notable projects are the cooperative vehicle infrastructure system (CVIS) and SafeSpot.

The creators of CVIS believe that the next big challenge for the ITS sector is the development of intelli-gent cooperative systems (ICS). Their use will improve the efficiency of transport systems and aims to build a safer environment for all road users. The quality and reliability of infor-mation provided to the drivers about their immediate environment will be increased. As a result, the driving con-ditions including safety and mobility efficiency will be much better.

Intelligent co-operative systems involve both vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Therefore this new system will also provide more detailed information about road conditions to road operators and will enable better response to accidents and hazards.

ICS are expected to provide the following benefits :

• increased road network capacity

• reduced congestion and pollution

• shorter and more predictable journey times

• improved traffic safety for all road users

• lower vehicle operating costs

• more efficient logistics

• improved management and control of the road network (both urban and inter-urban)

• increased efficiency of the public transport systems

• better and more efficient response to hazards, incidents and accidents

“The creators of CVIS believe that the next big

challenge for the ITS sector is the development of intelligent cooperative

systems.”

WG 9 is working on systems that ensure efficient data exchange between traffic management cen-ters and roadside modules and pro-vide information for other actors. A core part of ITS is traveler informa-tion systems.

WG 10 focuses on data dic-tionaries and message sets to pro-vide information for vehicle drivers through various media.

WG 11 is responsible for stan-dardizing route guidance and navi-gation systems with special focus on navigation message sets, centrally-determined route guidance and mes-sage set translators.

As one of the most active work-ing groups WG 14 is developing stan-dards in the field of driver support systems control, which is a control


Main Focus

Another interesting initiative is the project called SafeSpot. This is an integrated research project that is co-funded by the European Commis-sion. The main target for the project is to investigate and understand how the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications can improve road safety.

SafeSpot is aiming to build a so-called “ Safety Margin Assistant ” that would detect potentially danger-ous road situations in advance and provide extended range of informa-tion about the surrounding environ-ment to the driver.

The key objectives of the Safe-Spot project are the following :

• to improve the range, quality and reliability of the safety-related information available to “ intelligent vehicles ” by providing “ extended co-operative awareness ” through the real-time reconstruction of the driving context and environment ;

• to support drivers preventively in applying the proper manoeuvres in different contexts ;

• to optimise the intervention of vehi-cle controls with respect to critical situations ;

• to manage existing incidents to minimise further negative safety impacts ;

• to open the development of new safety applications based on the cooperative approach ;

• to increase safety for all road users

There is a strong relationship between SafeSpot and CVIS therefore the Safety Margin Assistant is planned to be an intelligent co-operative sys-tem based on the V2V and V2I com-munications. More information can be found on related Web sites :

http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/secretariats_tags/iso_tc204/

http://www.cvisproject.org/

http://www.safespot-eu.org/

Digital maps and standards – past, present and future

by Masao Shibata, Convenor of ISO/TC 204/WG 3

D igital maps are widely used in many fields of computer appli-cations. Digital maps are espe-

cially important in the field of intelli-gent transport systems (ITS), since ITS deals with the moving of people and goods and geographic information is indispensable to handle movements.

The description of road networks is the most vital part in digital maps in ITS applications. The standards for road networks require more compli-cated descriptions than those for sim-ple drawing applications. For example, the relationships among road sections are requested to search for the shortest route between the starting point and the destination in a navigation system.

At the time of the inaugura-tion of ISO/TC 204 and its Working Groups in 1993, there were European

standards and a Japanese standard for the exchange of digital map data among the data providers. There were no standards for the record formats in media such as CD- ROM.

WG 3 started its work with two items, geographic data files (ISO 14825) and physical storage (ISO 14826) and location referencing (New Project (NP) 17572) started several years later. The navigation data delivery structure and protocol started in 2006.

Geographic data filesGeographic data files (GDF) is

a standard for data exchange between contents providers and media provid-ers. It was approved as an Internation-al Standard in 2003 and published in 2004. It is the modification of a Euro-pean standard (CEN GDF 3.0) and is called GDF 4.0. It influences all the other standards in WG 3, since it is the basis of all digital map data.

There are other standards for digital maps, but this is the first and the only International Standard ded-icated to road networks. It has more than 600 pages and defines detailed components of digital maps. It is referred to in many occasions.



In GDF 4.0, the actual world is represented by using features, attri-butes and relationships. Features are database representations of objects such as roads and ferries. Road net-works are the most important objects of geographic data files, since GDF is principally for ITS applications.

Attributes describe the charac-teristics of features. For example, road elements have attributes such as length, width, number of lanes, road surface, gradient, road class, etc. Relationships describe the characteristics of the rela-tions between features. For example,

road elements, junctions, buildings and services can be associated with dis-tricts or administrative areas.

GDF 4.0 is very useful as a ref-erence; however, it is outdated in many aspects. Adding the time discussed as CEN GDF 3.0, it took more than 10 years to finalize. After finalization of the working draft of GDF 4.0, WG 3 decided to continue the work in order to meet new requirements of existing and new markets and incorporate the possibilities of new technologies.

Examples of new markets include location-based telematic ser-vices and advanced driver assistance systems. Technological developments addressed include the developments in database technology and the rise of Internet-related technology.

The spatio-temporal extension will be also included in the new item to describe actual changes. The relat-ed standardization activities like those in ISO/TC 211, Geographic informa-tion/Geomatics, were addressed with the clear goal of harmonized develop-ment. The new item is named eXtended Geographic Data Files (XGDF) and it was approved as an NP in 2004. It will be finalized in WG 3 in 2007.

Physical storage is a standard for the record formats in media such as CD-ROM which deliver data to the

final product such as a navigation sys-tem. WG 3 could not reach a consen-sus on the physical format of it. The former part of the draft which includes requirements, the concept model and a logical format was approved as a Tech-nical Standard in 2005. The physical format discussed in WG 3 was utilized as a local standard in Japan.

The navigation system applica-tion program interface (API) standard defines data access for navigation and information application for physical-ly stored data. The requirements are common with physical storage. The first work on API was not completed in the assigned term and it was auto-matically terminated.

The new preliminary work item (PWI) was proposed at a technical com-mittee meeting in October 2003 and approved. After the examination of the cases, the report on requirements was drafted and reviewed. The NP docu-ment was provided using these drafts. The approval for new project voting was proposed in April 2005 and approved (NP 20452).

Work on the standard publish-ing update was cancelled because of the slow progress. The item might be resumed if the discussions on extended geographic data files require it.

Location referencingLocation referencing is a stan-

dard to specify the location referencing procedures for the geographic database. The identification of locations between different digital maps is a vital part of an integrated TICS system to transmit or to exchange information such as traf-fic congestion, accidents, etc.

When this item started in 1995, vehicle information and communication systems (VICS) in Japan and radio data system – traffic message channel (RDS/TMC) in Europe were going to launch their traffic information services and they planned to use location referencing sys-tems with pre-coded links or nodes.

WG 3 worked on the standard-ization of dynamic location referenc-ing which was studied in Europe and

About the authorMasao Shibata is a Professor of civil engineering at Maebashi Institute of Tech-nology in Japan and the Convenor of ISO/TC 204, WG 3. Prior to joining the Maebashi

Institute, Mr. Shibata served as Executive Director of the Japan Digital Road Map Association from 1993 to 1997 and as Deputy Director General for the Geographical Survey Institute from 1992 to 1993.

Perspective of work items of WG 3.


Main Focus

Japan. The assignment of ID for each road section or each intersection in advance is not necessary in dynamic location referencing. The draft which includes these two methods was final-ized in WG 3 and sent for committee draft ballot in 2006.

Navigation data delivery struc-ture and protocol defines data struc-tures for the provision of map data and update of map-related data for ITS applications. The background of this item relates to growing mar-ket demand for dynamic update ser-vices for map-related data in naviga-tion systems.

Currently, most map data updates are provided on physical media whose map data content begins aging rapidly once it is delivered to the user. In the future, it is anticipat-ed that the transmission of these data will be most often, but not exclusive-ly, via wireless means.

The advantage of wireless data delivery is that it simplifies the distri-bution logistics, thereby accelerating the ability of a consumer to receive fresher data.

The updates will not necessari-ly require the replacement of an entire map database. Rather, the updates may be limited to a portion of a data set or a specific list of attributes, or points of interest (POI) changes may also be provided. The use cases and require-ments have been studied so far.

The discussions on this new item and spatial-temporal represen-tation in XGDF indicate the future direction of the digital map standards. The conventional digital maps repre-sent the static world or the status at a time slice.

The new status is provided by a new map version. The requirement will be for partial changes to be reflect-ed in maps at the time of change. This cannot be realized with paper maps, but digital maps have the potential ability to fulfil the requirement.

The future standards for dig-ital maps should have the ability to manage the perpetual changes of the actual world.

Outreach programme of TC 204

by Hironao Kawashima, Keio University, Japan, Vice Chairman of ISO/TC 204

Establishment of the outreach programme

A fter the establishment of ISO/TC 204 in 1993, quite a number of intelligent transport systems

(ITS) standards have been established. Since ITS also concerns public safe-ty issues, the standards are developed not only by various related industries, but also by public organizations from many countries.

Because ITS is an integration of information and communications technology (ITC) and vehicular tech-nologies, there is growing interest from various technological associations, academic associations, international

organizations and standards develop-ment organizations (SDOs).

Under these circumstances, TC 204 recognized the needs for tracking the outreach to related associations and organizations. TC 204 also recognized the importance of receiving feedback from various groups of experts for the standards revision process and also for starting new work items to cover the vast growing technological and mar-ket developments in ITS.

In April 2005, the new Chair-man of TC 204, Mr. Michael Noblett, proposed the idea of an outreach pro-gramme to ensure that the work of TC 204 corresponds to external demands. (See Figure 1, opposite)

After discussing and examin-ing the implementation of the pro-gramme, in April 2006 the Chairman

“ In 2005, the Chairman of TC 204 proposed an outreach programme to

ensure the work of TC 204 corresponds to external

demands.”



assigned Hironao Kawashima as the Vice Chairman of TC 204 to conduct this programme.

As can be observed from Fig-ure 1, the role of Vice Chairman in TC 204 is different from the role defined by the ISO Central Secretariat. Since the programme is carried out by vol-unteers, all opportunities for members of TC 204 to gather are used to con-duct events planned for the outreach programme.

Seminar and workshops for the outreach programme

After the start of the outreach programme, one seminar and two work-shops have been held. The first one was held in Bangkok, in August 2006, with the support of the National Electron-ics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC). About 38 researchers and engineers from industry and academia attended the seminar.

About the authorHironao Kawashima is a professor at the Center for Open Systems Manage-ment at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, and has served as the head of the

Japanese delegation to ISO/TC 204 since the formation of the TC in 1993. He has been the Vice Chairman of ISO/ TC 204 since 2006.

The ISO standards for map data-bases and electronic toll collection sys-tems were explained and open discus-sions were conducted.

In conjunction with the Cape Town plenary meeting in October 2006, two outreach events were planned. One was organized by the South Afri-can delegation and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), and gen-eral information on ISO standards was given to more than 130 participants from industry and the public sector of the city of Cape Town.

A workshop was also held on technical topics by WG 1, Architecture, on “ Web services and XML.” More than 30 people attended the workshop and discussed the importance of introduc-ing new technologies in ITS.

“ Since ITS also concerns public safety, standards

are developed not only by industry, but also by public organizations from many

countries.”

Figure 1 − The outreach programme.

TC 204 Outreach

Chairman’s Initiative

Research community

ITS professional development

Increasing awareness

of ITS standards

Recruiting

Network of ITS

implemen-tation

Identifying professional

compet-encies

Awareness of TC 204

Awareness of TC 204 standards

Developing countries

O members to

P members

Network for dissemin-ating ISO standards


Improving road safety worldwide

by François Abram, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat

S ince the alarm was sounded by His Excellency Fuad Mubarak Al-Hinai, Permanent Repre-

sentative of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations, at the April 2004 UN General Assembly and repeated by the former UN Secretary Gener-al in 2005, many organizations have worked together to reduce the number of people killed and injured in traffic accidents all over the world.

The task of leading the campaign against traffic accidents with the UN regional commissions was entrusted by the UN to the World Health Organ-ization (WHO). Several international governmental organizations, such as the World Bank, and non-governmen-tal organizations, including ISO, have joined forces to tackle this ambitious, difficult and complex task, which is clearly a very necessary and praise-worthy endeavour.

It should be borne in mind that the number of road accident casual-ties was growing at a dramatic rate in the developing countries where urgent measures were – and still are – need-ed. Road safety campaigns have been initiated in a number of countries with the support of the International Auto-mobile Federation (FIA – Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile).

Depending on the situation that prevails in different countries, these campaigns can focus on the wearing of seatbelts or helmets, on driver training, on the consequences of speeding and dangerous driving. Other topics include the improvement of vehicle safety and equipment, and driving under the influence of med-ications, alcohol or drugs, and on the improvement of highway infra-structures.

Main Focus


ThThe intelligent intelligent e intelligent e carThere is a strong need to devel-

op and further increase public aware-ness of these issues. A world film fes-tival on traffic safety was held in Gene-va in March 2006 to that end, with the help of the Transport Division of the United Nations’ Economic Commis-sion for Europe (UNECE) and LASER EUROPE, among others.

Young driversThe first World Road Safety

Week will be taking place 24 to 28 April 2007, with a broad range of events organized all over the world. One of the intended actions will involve rais-ing the awareness of road safety issues among young drivers.

ISO, for its part, contributes to resolving vehicle and equipment design questions through the interna-tional technical standards it produces. This also includes highway equipment in connection with intelligent transport systems, as well as work on the compu-terization of documents such as driv-ing licenses. But the real question is: what should ISO be doing in addition to what it is already doing ?

Clearly, large industries are also highly motivated and initiate a number of concrete steps in the hope that ISO will take them on board in its standard-ization work to promote road safety. In particular, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), which brings together the major oil producing companies, has developed recommenda-tions that can serve as a starting point for developing a comprehensive man-agement system for companies having to manage a fleet of vehicles. The Interna-

tional Road Transport Union (IRU) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have also devel-oped recommendations for their members.

The purpose of a management system for road safety would be to complement those management systems dealing with occupa-tional health and safe-ty and the environment (HSE management). ISO should therefore wel-come the commitment of these major compa-nies, while encourag-ing them and, conse-quently, should explore all opportunities with them to develop and adopt relevant International Standards that are recog-nized worldwide.

The OGP recommendations deal with issues such as :

1. seatbelts,

2. driver training and qualification,

3. in-vehicle monitoring systems,

4. cellular telephones and two-way communication devices (e.g. CB),

5. journey management plans,

6. driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, narcotics or medications,

7. driver fitness and alertness,

8. vehicle equipment,

9. management systems.

Auditing and certificationAll of the above items are highly

factual and provide sound advice. They can be applied on a voluntary basis and be the subject of internal or external audit-ing. It may also be beneficial to obtain certification through an independent external body. Moreover, recognition on a world scale clearly requires Internation-al Standards such as those produced by an organization like ISO. At this early stage, there is a need for consultations between the organizations involved in the extensive field of road safety.

This proposal put forward by OGP stems from the will of compa-nies already engaged in the work of a number of ISO technical commit-tees to promote a worldwide industry code of ethics. It should further be not-ed that this approach in the form of a “management system” can apply just as well in developed countries as it can in developing countries, which is not the least of its advantages.

It can include some amount of flexibility in regard to “ circumstances in the field ” in the countries concerned, while maintaining competition between the companies concerned.

It now remains to be seen wheth-er organizations interested in road safe-ty wish to encourage ISO to follow that course and, if possible, bring their contribution to the work. If so, such a management system would serve to extensively promote the existing rules (standards and regulations) developed by competent organizations on a much broader scale than is the case today. International standardization can then become a powerful tool for promoting good practice in the field of road safety and in this, we are all concerned.

Visit the OGP website at :http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/365.pdf

or contact François Abram:[email protected]

About the author

François Abram, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat


Developments and Initiatives

Last autumn, the Linux Standard Base (LSB), the interoperability standard for the Linux operating

system, achieved unanimous official approval by ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to be published as International Standard ISO/IEC 23360, Linux Standard Base Core Specification.

It was a significant milestone, demonstrating the maturity and scope of both the LSB and the Linux operat-ing system, and is important to explain what exactly the Linux Standard Base covers and who benefits most from its existence.

The LSB is produced by the Free Standards Group (FSG), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting open source software standards. The organiza-tion was formed in 1998 and hosts other standards workgroups including Openi18N (the internationalization initiative for Linux) and the Linux Accessibility Project.

It is not surprising, given the unique characteristics of the Linux operating system and open source software, that the Linux Standard Base would also be unique.

What is a Linux operating system ?

A Linux operating system represents an amalgamation of software projects – created by vari-ous organizations and individuals – which are integrated into a single computing solution (in this case a Linux distribution from a vendor like Novell or Red Hat).

These components include libraries, compilers, text editors, a UNIX-like shell and the kernel 1). The distribution vendors decide which versions of these elements (and many other applications and packages) to include in their distribution.

The increasing popularity of the Linux operating system has spawned a large number of these distributions with variations in the features they deliver. These variations can make it difficult for software providers to target the Linux platform.

The FSG delivers access to standards, tools and compliance test-ing, which allows software develop-ers to concentrate on adding value to Linux, rather than spending time dealing with verification and porting issues between the various distribu-tions. Compliance with the standard

also ensures end users will have a broad set of applications for the Linux distribution of their choice and that they will not be locked into a single Linux distribution.

Facilitate development with a unique structure

Because of this unique struc-ture, the LSB does not define the standard and dictate to the distribution vendors what to implement; rather, it documents best practices that have emerged in the Linux community through natural market forces. The goal of the LSB is to make is easy for

The Linux Standard Base – Standardizing open sourceby Amanda McPherson, Director, Marketing and Communication, Free Standards Group

1) UNIX is a multi-layered system. The kernel and shell are frequently referred to as the “ operating system ”.


developers to target the Linux operat-ing system, while still allowing for a competitive distribution ecosystem.

The LSB is an application binary interface for Linux and Linux-compatible platforms. The LSB draws on the source standards of the IEEE POSIX standards 2) and The Open Group’s Single UNIX Specification (SUS) 3) for many of its behavioural interface definitions. Some interfaces are not included in the LSB, since they are outside the remit of a binary runtime environment; typically these are development interfaces or user-level tools. The LSB also extends the source standards in other areas (such as graphics) and includes the necessary details (such as the binary execution file formats) to support a high volume binary application platform.

But while the LSB has incor-porated the durable aspects of these precursors, the Free Standards Group has learned from the UNIX experience, and the LSB has therefore not adopted the limitations of POSIX and SUS.

Notably, POSIX only defined programming interfaces and, therefore could not guarantee binary compatibil-ity. At the other end of the spectrum, standards such as OSF/14), which aimed for binary compatibility, were found to be too restrictive. The LSB aims to strike a balance between the two approaches – it includes a binary compatibility layer that splits the difference between the approaches taken with POSIX and OSF/1.

Why is a Linux standard needed ?

A well-supported International Standard for Linux is a necessary component of Linux’s continued suc-cess. Without a commonly adopted standard, Linux will fragment, thus proving costly for independent soft-ware vendors (ISVs) 5) to port their applications to the operating system and making it difficult for end users and Linux vendors alike. With the LSB, all parties – distribution ven-dors, ISVs and end users – benefit as it becomes easier and less costly

for software vendors to target Linux, resulting in more applications available for the Linux platform. According to the market research company IDC, the Linux market is rapidly growing and is projected to exceed USD 35.7 billion by 2008.

Currently, the Free Standards Group and the Linux Standard Base are supported by major vendors in the world of Linux including AMD, Computer Associates, Debian, Dell, Fujitsu, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, MySQL, NEC, Novell, Red Flag, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Veritas and many others. Membership is open to any individual, non-profit organization or company involved in the world of open source software.

Why is ISO and IEC approval important ?

ISO and IEC approval shows the world that Linux is a serious, mainstream operating system, and a serious companion to POSIX systems. It provides a benchmark between procurement and vendor, preserving healthy competition without allowing

About the author

Amanda McPherson is the director of marketing and communication for the Free Standards Group, an independent, non-profit organization

dedicated to accelerating and promoting open source software standards. She has marketed enterprise and open source technology for the past twelve years. Most recently, she was director of marketing for Covalent Technologies, the leading provider of Apache Web server software. She was also a core member of the marketing team responsible for the launch of the Java programming language in 1995. A published author, Amanda graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona.

2) POSIX is the collective name of a family of related standards specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to define the application programming interface (API) for software compatible with variants of the Unix operating system. They are formally designated as IEEE 1003 and the international standard name is ISO/IEC 9945.

3) The Single UNIX Specification (SUS) is the collective name of a family of standards for computer operating systems to qualify for the name “ UNIX ”. The SUS is developed and maintained by the Austin Group, based on earlier work by the IEEE and The Open Group.

4) The Open Software Foundation released OSF/1, their standard UNIX implementation.

5) An independent software vendor (ISV) is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, usually for niche markets. This includes software such as real estate brokers, time scheduling for healthcare personnel, barcode scanning and stock maintenance.


fragmentation of the market. As readers of this magazine already know, Inter-national Standards have been shown to contribute more to economic growth than patents and licenses combined, and the LSB will open the door to Linux as a requirement in large scale (e.g. government) procurements. The approval of the LSB also makes it easier for individuals, companies and governments to concentrate their efforts on one unified programme.

Who benefits from LSB ?The LSB primarily benefits soft-

ware developers who are targeting the Linux platform. This can include com-mercial software developers as well as internal corporate developers. They can use the specification and the support services provided by the FSG to write portable applications and target the broadest Linux market with their soft-ware. Testing, development and support costs are minimized. Distribution ven-dors (Red Hat, Novell, Asianux, etc.) are the enablers of the standard. As of today, all major Linux distributions are compliant with the standard and all par-ticipate in the LSB workgroup, many as steering committee members. End users can also profit from the stand-ard by writing LSB-compliance into their procurement and support con-tracts with hardware and distribution vendors. They can then buy application binaries from compliant independent software vendors (ISVs) and have a choice of Linux distributions on which to run them, thereby not being limit-ed in their vendor choices when they add to or upgrade their systems. This provides a free risk management strat-egy and ensures end users the choice promised by Linux and open source. The Free Standards Group provides this legal language for end users on its web site.

We encourage all interested parties to visit the Free Standards Group web site and get involved with the Linux Standard Base project. www.freestandards.org


Future ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility reaches positive turning point

The development of the future ISO 26000 standard giving guidance on social responsibility has reached

a positive “turning point” in terms of consensus and trust among the broad base of participating stakeholders.

This was the opinion of the lead-ership of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) at the end of its fourth plenary on 29 January-2 February 2007 in Sydney, Australia.

Some 275 people from 54 ISO member countries and 28 internation-al organizations attended, representing the following interests : industry; gov-ernment; labour ; consumers ; non-gov-ernmental organizations ; and service, support, research and others. Notable at

the Sydney meeting was increased par-ticipation by experts from developing countries and the programme included a developing countries workshop.

Among the main activities was work on the key topics which had been identified among the 5 176 comments received from the WG SR’s experts on the second working draft of ISO 26000 circulated in October 2006.

Core issues were agreed at Sydney and grouped in the following four clusters (each assigned a draft-ing team) :

• environment,

• human rights and labour practices,

• organizational governance and fair operating practices, and

by Roger Frost, Manager, Communication Services, ISO Central Secretariat


• consumer issues and community involvement/society development.

The work is now continuing in order to produce a third working draft for circulation and comment before the fifth WG SR meeting in Novem-ber 2007.

At this working draft stage, the need is to build consensus among indi-vidual experts, while the next stage where the developing standard progress-es to committee draft status will aim to build consensus among the nation-al standards bodies and international organizations participating.

Members of the ISO WG SR leadership team at the Sydney 2007 plenary, from left : Staffan Söderberg, WG Vice Chair; Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, WG Chair, and Kristina Sandberg, WG Secretary. They are pictured with UN Global Compact representatives, George Kell, Executive Head, and Kola Badejo, Special Adviser. (Not present in this photo is Eduardo Campos de São Thiago, WG Co-Secretary.)

Below : 275 people attended from 54 countries and 28 international organizations.

munities, and the environment. After Sydney, I am even more confident that ISO 26000 will contribute to helping all kinds of organizations to improve in socially responsible behaviour.”

In addition, the ISO/WG SR finalized the establishment of the ISO SR Trust Fund which is now accept-ing donations to support the group’s work.

The next meetings of the ISO/WG SR are :

• 5-9 November 2007, in Vienna, Aus-tria, hosted by the Austrian Stand-ards Institute (ON) with the sup-

port of the Austrian Government and Austrian Development Agency (ADA), together with the UN Glo-bal Compact and the United Nations Industrial Development Organiza-tion (UNIDO).

• 2008, in Santiago, Chile, hosted by the national standards body, INN.

Further information on the ISO/WG SR and ISO 26000 is available on its public Web site : www.iso.org/sr

Its working documents are publicly accessible at : www.iso.org/wgsr

Vice-Chair Staffan Söderberg, nominated by the ISO member for Sweden, SIS, commented : “ Building trust was an important accomplish-ment during this meeting. The Syd-ney meeting will be the one remem-bered as the turning point that put us on the right road.”

The Sydney meeting was hosted by Standards Australia whose Chair, John Castles, officially welcomed the WG SR. Among the objectives of the meeting were to increase the account-ability of its processes, to clarify its procedures and to increase participa-tion. In line with this last objective, the WG SR welcomed the decision of the UN Global Compact – with whom it recently signed a memorandum of understanding for enhanced coopera-tion – and its networks to collaborate by establishing links with WG SR national “ mirror ” committees.

Chair, Mr. Jorge E.R. Cajazei-ra, nominated by the ISO member for Brazil, Brazilian Association for Tech-nical Standards (ABNT), commented : “ A growing number of global leaders, many countries and related stakeholders have added their voices to those urg-ing organizations to remember their obligations to their workforces, com-


New on the shelfISO/TS 22003 aims to build confidence in certification of food safety management systems

A newly published document in the ISO 22000 series gives the requirements for the bodies

that carry out auditing and certifica-tion of food safety management sys-tems (FSMS).

ISO technical specification ISO/TS 22003:2007 provides information, criteria and guidance for carrying out ISO 22000:2005 auditing and certifica-tion. It will therefore be useful for cer-tification bodies, the accreditation bod-ies that approve them, suppliers wishing to have their FSMS certified, their cus-tomers and food sector regulators.

Certification to ISO 22000:2005, Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain, is not a requirement of that standard, which can be implement-ed solely for the benefits it provides. However, where certification is required by customers, or by regulators, or is judged desirable as a marketing differ-entiator, ISO/TS 22003:2007 will help to build confidence in such certification throughout the food supply chain.

Comprising 10 clauses, two annexes and a bibliography, ISO/TS 22003 covers topics such as resource requirements, competence of manage-ment and personnel (including auditors and persons involved in decisions relat-ed to certification), process require-ments and requirements for certifica-tion bodies. It closely follows the require-ments established by ISO 17021:2006, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certifi-cation of management systems, which places rigorous requirements for com-petence and impartiality on the bodies that offer audit and certification to man-agement system standards.

ISO/TS 22003 is the latest doc-ument in the ISO series for food safe-ty management systems, which har-monizes good food safety practice worldwide. It was launched in 2005 with ISO 22000, backed by an inter-national consensus among experts from government and industry.

ISO 22000 can be applied to organizations ranging from feed pro-ducers and primary producers through food manufacturers, transport and stor-age operators, and subcontractors to retail and food service outlets. Relat-ed organizations such as producers of equipment, packaging material, clean-ing agents, additives and ingredients are also affected by the prospective standard.

The standard was followed by technical specification ISO/TS 22004:2005, Food safety management systems – Guidance on the application of ISO 22000:2005, which gives advice for all types of organization within the food supply chain on how to imple-ment an FSMS. A related publication will be published shortly, ISO 22000 – Are you ready ? which provides organ-izations with self-assessment guidance to establish whether they are ready for ISO 22000 certification.

ISO/TS 22003:2007, Require-ments for bodies providing audit and cer-tification of food safety management sys-tems, was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 34, Food products, in collaboration with ISO/CASCO, Com-mittee on conformity assessment. It costs 84 Swiss francs and is available from ISO national member institutes and the ISO Central Secretariat.

ISO Central Secretariat has moved !Since 19 February 2007, ISO Central Secretariat (ISO/CS) has been operating from new premises in Geneva, Switzerland. Grouping all its operations at a single location is expected to benefit communication, teamwork and efficiency, leading to even better service for ISO’s members, customers and stakeholders.

ISO’s new home is in a brand new office which is environmentally friendly and energy efficient. It is located near to the former premises, thus remaining within close reach of ISO’s partners among the interna-tional organizations in Geneva.

The new address is :

ISO Central Secretariat1, ch. de la Voie-CreuseCase postale 56CH-1211 Geneva 20Switzerland

Tel + 41 22 749 01 11Fax + 41 22 733 34 30 E-mail [email protected] www.iso.org

Individual ISO/CS e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers are unchanged.

© H

enri

Dam


ISO 21482 : New supplementaryradiation warning symbol aims to save lives

A newly published Internation-al Standard ISO 21482:2007, Ionizing-radiation warning

– Supplementary symbol, specifies a symbol warning of the presence of dangerous ionizing radiation from a high-level sealed radioactive source that can cause death or serious injury if handled carelessly.

The new symbol is not intend-ed to replace the familiar “ trefoil ” radiation symbol in use since the ear-ly 1950s (ISO 361), but to supplement it by providing further information for untrained or uninformed members of the public.

The need for a supplementary symbol was identified at an Interna-

tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference on radiation safety in 2000. While widely recognized within the nuclear community, the trefoil was judged to be insufficiently informa-tive for application directly on sealed sources of radiation.

The new symbol was devel-oped following a five-year study, including extensive evaluation of reactions to various pictographs among people with limited technical education or background, including children. Assessment was conducted among a variety of cultures in 11 dif-ferent countries.

The familiar trefoil (left) basic ionizing-radiation warning symbol (ISO 361 and ISO 7010) has now been joined by the supplementary warning symbol (right) launched in ISO 21482:2007.

“ The publication of this new ISO International Standard is the result of a joint effort of ISO and IAEA as part of their long-standing coopera-tion in the field of peaceful applica-tion of nuclear energy and radioactive materials,” said Ms. Eliana Amaral, Director, Division of Radiation, Trans-port and Waste Safety, IAEA.

“ I believe international recog-nition of the specific expertise of both organizations will ensure that the new standard will be accepted and applied by governments and industry to improve the safety of nuclear appli-cations, protection of people and the environment.”

On a red triangular background, the symbol includes three images : the trefoil with waved lines added to rep-resent radiation ; the universally rec-ognized skull-and-crossbones figure representing danger; and a symbol of a person running, indicating the need to place distance between oneself and the radiation source.

Development of the new safety-related supplementary symbol included assessment among a variety of cultures in 11 different countries – here, in Kenya – to ensure that it will be universally understood.

The IAEA study, initiated in 2001 by consensus among member states, was conducted by the Gallup public opinion research organization, with 1 650 participants surveyed in Bra-zil, Mexico, Morocco, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, China, India, Thailand, Poland, Ukraine and the USA. Respondents were chosen from a wide variety of population groups – urban and rural, mixed ages, varying educational back-grounds, male and female. Researchers sought to identify reactions to symbols and find out what actions people would take when they encountered them.

As a supplement to the trefoil, the new symbol is intended for place-ment on the radioactive source or shielding, or under the device cover. In many cases, it will not be visible under normal use but only to some-one attempting to dismantle the radio-active source. The symbol will not be located on external surfaces such as transport packages or building access doors.

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented : “ The new sup-plementary ionizing-radiation warn-ing symbol launched by ISO 21482 is the latest successful result of long-standing cooperation between the IAEA and ISO. We encourage the sym-bol’s rapid adoption by the interna-tional community.”

ISO 21482:2007, Ionizing-radi-ation warning – Supplementary sym-bol, was prepared by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 85, Nuclear ener-gy, Subcommittee SC 2, Radiation protection.


Coming up

IMS6-2006E.indd C2 2006-10-30 16:35:29

The Fully Networked CarFollowing up on our March issue on the intelligent car and intelligent transport systems, the April issue of ISO Focus will feature a report on the Workshop and Exhibition on ICT in motor vehi-cles, sponsored by the International Tel-ecommunications Union (ITU), ISO and the International Electrotechnical Com-mission : The Fully Networked Car.

The workshop will demonstrate the importance of standards to vehicle safety, fuel efficiency and emissions reduction and the importance of stand-ards to transport systems.

Rapidly evolving technology, as well as an increasing public interest for the

safety and environmental performance of road transport, provides a continu-ous momentum for the hundreds of standards elaborated by ISO/TC 22, which also needs to take into account that this is a moving framework, to which the drafting of standards has to adapt.

ISO/TC 204 encompasses standardi-zation of information, communication and control systems in the field of urban and rural surface transportation, traveller information, traffic manage-ment, public transport, and commer-cial transport, emergency services, generally referred to as “Intelligent Transport Systems” (ITS).

ITS is a global market and the ability for suppliers to build and distribute consistent products worldwide is a sig-nificant market stimulus. In addition, many ITS products, especially those that are communications-enabled, are aimed at travellers who want consist-ent access to ITS services wherever they go.

Find out all about the latest develop-ments on wireless interfaces, includ-ing mobile use of the Internet and how ITS systems can increase both safety and convenience in the report on The Fully Networked Car.


Nanotechnologies

Nanotechnologies is an exciting new field that has potential applications in many sectors including energy, agri-culture, electronics, medical devices and optics.

In the next issue of ISO Focus, a port-folio of articles provides an overview of standardization work in this field from the leading experts.

Dr. Mihail Roco, of the National Sci-ence Foundation in the United States, and key architect of the National Nano-technology Initiative, provides his personal views on the benefits of nano-technologies and how standardization can contribute to research through measurement of various properties like chemical, mechanical and biological, as well as properties like magnetic behaviour and temperature.

Nanotechnologies will require the inte-gration of many scientific, engineer-ing and technical disciplines and ISO with its international networks can help facilitate the standardization work in these various fields. Standardization will also be important in defining term-inology and how experts from differ-ent disciplines interact.

Governance will also be an important aspect in the development of nanotech-nologies and Dr. Roco addresses this issue as well as the framework for stake-holder involvement.

Some articles also point to the economic benefits nanotechnologies can provide, including for developing countries.

The research on nanotechnologies in a number of countries will appear in a number of short country and region-al profiles.

The work of ISO/ TC 229, Nanotech-nologies, chaired by Dr. Peter Hatto of the United Kingdom, will also be profiled in the April issue.

This issue will give readers a good overview on the issues from a number of perspectives looking at the technol-ogies, applications, scientific research, as well as the social, economic and legal aspects.

Main Focus


Defi nitely, one good ISO standard could change your business – for the better

ISO has more than 16 500 great standards for you to choose from !

Probably, you’ve heard the expression,

“ One good idea can change your life ! ”

And confidence has a new designation.ISO/IEC 17021:2006.

ISO/IEC 17021:2006, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems

Available from ISO national member insti-tutes (listed with contact details on the ISO Web site at www.iso.org) and ISO Central Secretariat Web store at www.iso.org or by e-mail to [email protected].

The bar has just got higher.

Documents

ISO Focus 3-2007...ISO Focus • Standards and Intelligent Transport Systems • ISO 26000 reaches positive turning point Volume 4, No. 3, March 2007, ISSN 1729-8709 Comment The intelligent