The role of telematics applications in shaping the new road freight transport scene in Europe

The Road Freight Transport scene in Europe is undergoing significant changes. The main driving forces shaping the new operating environment for road freight operations (RFO) in the EEC include: the EEC transport policy; the changing demands of shippers; and developments in road transport informatics (RTI) applications. The role of RTI in the new scene is crucial and a pan‐European strategy is required for their evolution and diffusion towards achieving objectives such as efficiency, environmental protection, and safety. In studying this, alternative scenarios were devised for the development of RFO in the next 20 years in Europe. For every scenario the most important RFO activities were identified and the possibility for serving these scenario‐specific activities by various RTI technologies was evaluated and relevant strategies were developed. Finally, at this stage of the work using multicriteria analysis the most important RTI technologies to be promoted by governments were identified.