Fully Networked Car workshop addresses climate change

The third edition of the Fully Networked Car workshop, organized in partnership by ISO, IEC and ITU on 5-7 March at the Geneva International Motor Show 2008, focused on standards that will facilitate the convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) in motor vehicles, as well as addressing this year's special theme of climate change.

ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, commented in his presentation at the opening of the workshop: “Today, ICTs are an integral part of keeping vehicles on our roads safe and secure… This merging of technology requires that the World Standard Cooperation partners, ITU, ISO and IEC, take into account each other’s work and co-operate at points of technological interface so that manufacturers can use our standards to deliver a final product to customers that functions as expected.”

At the opening session, ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden stated (see full speech): “This event is the opportunity to underline that innovation and standardization go hand in hand and how ICT support progress in the performance, safety and functionalities of transportation, It also shows how the collaboration between ISO, IEC and ITU optimizes the channeling of world expertise and best practices into globally relevant international standards.”

He indicated that ISO has been directly associated with three major, recent meetings of global significance:

• the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December 2007 which gave an opportunity for highlighting the contribution of the ISO 14000 series on environmental management, particularly the ISO 14064 and ISO 14065 standards relating to the accounting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions
• the 2nd UN Stakeholders Forum on Global Road Safety in April 2007. ISO has recently decided to embark on the development of a road safety management system standard that will provide public services and private companies operating fleets of vehicles, including transportation services, freight and car rentals, with a specific and globally recognized framework for improving road safety
• the 2008 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, which focused on the “power of collaborative innovation”.

Jack Sheldon, on behalf of IEC General Secretary Aharon Amit, declared: “The IEC – and this applies equally to ISO and the ITU – has an ongoing commitment to provide the market with timely and relevant standards. This commitment embraces a vast spectrum of industries, and automobiles are a significant part of the market. This workshop is an opportunity to study who wants what and who needs to work with whom to provide integrated systems for networked cars”.

The main purpose of the workshop is to establish a constructive dialogue among market stakeholders and identify how standards help the the motor industry to make vehicles more efficient and safer, with lower impact on the environment.

A feature of this year's Fully Networked Car exhibition is the Honda Racing F1 Team’s new Formula-1 “Earthdreams ” car whose design emphasizes environmental features and points towards green automotive technologies of the future. (source www.iso.org)