Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
  • News
    • A-D
      • Appointments & Staffing
      • Asset Management
      • Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS
      • Awards
      • Cloud Computing
      • Congestion Reduction
      • Connected Vehicles
      • Covid-19
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data & Modeling
      • Deals, Acquisitions & Mergers
    • E-J
      • Electric vehicles & infrastructure
      • Emissions & Low Emission Zones
      • Enforcement
      • Event News
      • Funding
      • Incident Detection
      • Infrastructure
      • Intersections & Traffic Signals
      • ITS
    • K-S
      • Legal / Government Regulation
      • Machine Vision / ALPR
      • Mapping
      • Mobility as a Service
      • Multimodality & Micromobility
      • Planning, Testing, R&D
      • Public transit
      • Safety
      • Smart Cities
      • Smart Parking
    • T-Z
      • Tolling
      • Traffic counting & categorization
      • Traffic Management
      • Traveler Information Systems
      • Tunnels & Bridges
      • Variable Message Signs
      • Vulnerable Road Users
      • Weather systems
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
  • Online Magazines
    • September 2023
    • May 2023
    • March 2023
    • Nov/Dec 2022
    • September 2022
    • Archive Issues
    • Subscribe Free!
    • > Tolltrans
  • Videos
  • Audio
    • The Transportation Podcast
    • Additional Audio
  • Events
  • Webinars
  • Technology Profiles
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Subscribe >
Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
  • News
      • Appointments & Staffing
      • Asset Management
      • Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS
      • Awards
      • Cloud Computing
      • Congestion Reduction
      • Connected Vehicles
      • Covid-19
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data & Modeling
      • Deals, Acquisitions & Mergers
      • Electric vehicles & infrastructure
      • Emissions & Low Emission Zones
      • Enforcement
      • Event News
      • Funding
      • Incident Detection
      • Infrastructure
      • Intersections & Traffic Signals
      • ITS
      • Legal / Government Regulation
      • Machine Vision / ALPR
      • Mapping
      • Mobility as a Service
      • Multimodality & Micromobility
      • Planning, Testing, R&D
      • Public transit
      • Safety
      • Smart Cities
      • Smart Parking
      • Tolling
      • Traffic counting & categorization
      • Traffic Management
      • Traveler Information Systems
      • Tunnels & Bridges
      • Variable Message Signs
      • Vulnerable Road Users
      • Weather systems
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
  • Online Magazines
    1. September 2023
    2. May 2023
    3. March 2023
    4. Nov/Dec 2022
    5. September 2022
    6. Archive Issues
    7. Subscribe Free!
    8. > Tolltrans
    Featured
    September 15, 2023

    In this Issue – September 2023

    Online Magazines By Tom Stone
    Recent

    In this Issue – September 2023

    September 15, 2023

    In this Issue – May 2023

    May 4, 2023

    In this Issue – March 2023

    March 20, 2023
  • Videos
  • Audio
    • The Transportation Podcast
    • Additional Audio
  • Events
  • Webinars
  • Technology Profiles
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
Opinion

Making conferences lead to good business

Opinion WritersBy Opinion WritersMarch 27, 20153 Mins Read
Share LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

This is the time of year when conference plans are being finalized, agendas locked in and speakers contacted. This year seems to be busier than ever. As I was wading through the emails, texts, phone calls and notes that I have accumulated on my desk, I began to see why there is an increase. As I have touched on in past articles, we are speeding toward solutions. Most of these solutions have a problem that they are aiming to solve. However, few bridge to other solutions or address multiple problems. For example, at the 2015 Las Vegas International Consumer Electronics Show, several automobile manufacturers are unveiling new technologies including autonomous vehicles, and new and improved in-vehicle systems. These innovations may satisfy consumer demand for the latest, greatest technological innovation, but how will they interface with mobile payment systems, connected cities, or even other autonomous vehicles?

Just a few years back, we had high-level conferences on broad topics. Tolling, ITS, and transit all had their conferences, as well as state DOTs, DMVs, county and state government. Today, in addition to these conferences we also have specialty conferences, with topics that have been broken out into more detailed sessions to provide solutions to today’s pressing problems. Some examples are: all-electronic tolling, tolling enforcement, reciprocity, managed lanes, highway financing, mileage-based user fees, connected vehicle, connected cities, in-vehicle technology, mobile commerce and mobile payment systems. So, why are there so many specialty conferences? Most are driven by technology and business rules. Is the new technology too complex to discuss at a higher level? Are the business rules that we have all used independently for so many years too complex to work across multiple states? Maybe we are still missing some other conferences. How are the new technologies going to evolve? A transportation system or even a vehicle will need an upgrade path. Currently, even cell phone connectors and Bluetooth versions are outdating our still drivable vehicles. Federal money and grants are usually available to build and install the infrastructure, but we lack funding for maintenance, operation and upgrades.

Specialty conferences still need to happen; however, we need to bring these discussions and solutions back to the bigger picture without being so disruptive that we start over. When do we get the key players together for the overall solution? I hear this sentence a lot: “When we deploy our solution, everyone will have to use it.” Is this wishful thinking, or is this truly how our transportation systems will progress? If you look, commercially most providers have reluctantly learned to get along. Cell phones work between providers, your credit card works on Amazon and Apple Pay. How did they get there? How are they sharing data and financial networks? How did they resolve the hundreds of issues unique to each industry? Maybe we need another conference to get the players together to talk about the vision for 2020 and 2025, and explore real solutions for combining efforts and resources toward a common end game. Between our industries we have the financial and technical capabilities to not only solve today’s transportation needs, but to set in place a sustainable blueprint for the future.

JJ Eden, is the director of tolling at Aecom, james.eden@aecom.com

Illustration: Ian Parratt, the-caricatureartist.co.uk

For more from our excluisve columnists check out the latest issue of Traffic Technology International here

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticleITS (UK) responds to government report
Next Article The invasion of the electric vehicle
Opinion Writers

Related Posts

Opinion

OPINION: Why we don’t need to fear AI and machine learning

November 29, 20234 Mins Read
Electric Vehicles & Infrastructure

OPINION: Someday EVs may power your home

November 23, 20233 Mins Read
Data & Modeling

OPINION: How USA’s road safety trends can be reversed

July 27, 20233 Mins Read
Latest Posts

OPINION: Why we don’t need to fear AI and machine learning

November 29, 2023

USDOT’s new interactive map shows cost/benefit of ITS nationwide

November 29, 2023

AUDIO: Why endangered species must be protected during road construction

November 29, 2023
FREE WEEKLY NEWS EMAIL!

Get the ‘best of the week’ from TrafficTechnologyToday.com direct to your inbox every Thursday


Supplier Spotlight
  • SMATS traffic solutions logo
    SMATS Traffic Solutions Inc.
Our Social Channels
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Getting in Touch
  • Free Email Newsletters
  • Contact Us
  • Meet the Editors
  • Supplier Spotlight

Upcoming Events

Jan 7
7th January 2024 - 11th January 2024

TRB Annual Meeting

Jan 9
9th January 2024 - 12th January 2024

CES 2024

Apr 16
16th April 2024 - 19th April 2024

Intertraffic Amsterdam

View Calendar
© 2023 Mark Allen Group Ltd | All Rights Reserved
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.