ISO Focus

The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization

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

The
intelligent
car
• Standards and
Intelligent
Transport Systems
• ISO 26000
reaches positive
turning point
 Contents
1 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 Scene
Highlights of news and developments from ISO members
4 Guest View
Yann Vincent, Senior Vice President, Quality, Renault
ISO Focus is published 11 times
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8 Main Focus
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The intelligent car

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ISSN 1729-8709
Printed in Switzerland
Cover photo : Renault.
ISO Focus March 2007
© Renault
• 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
34 Developments and Initiatives
The Linux Standard Base – Standardizing open source • Future
ISO 26000 standard on SR reaches positive turning point • ISO
Central Secretariat has moved
38 New on the shelf
ISO/TS 22003 aim to build confidence in certification of food
safety management systems • ISO 21482 : New supplementary
radiation warning symbol
40 Coming up
Comment
The intelligent car and ITS
R
apidly 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-
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.
“ Personal and public
safety are among the
most important potential
benefits of ITS.”
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.
Michael Noblett, Chair ISO/TC 204
204,
Intelligent transport systems
ISO Focus March 2007 1
World Scene
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.
Captions
(Top) German
Chancellor, Angela
Merkel ; (above) WTO
Director General,
Pascal Lamy ; and
(left) Microsoft
founder, Bill Gates,
at the World
Economic Forum.
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
2 ISO Focus March 2007
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 standards
Major 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
programmes
The 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 :
tcb@unido.org
© Aurélie Nalin
ISO Scene
AICC/IISD/ISO workshop
The 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 countries
As 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-
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.
ISO Secretary-General, Alan
Bryden, at the 6th International
Symposium on Quality in Cuba.
Roundtable on natural
gas and hydrogen fuel
vehicles
The 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.
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 :
abram@iso.org
ISO Focus March 2007 3
Guest View
Yann Vincent © Renault
Y
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.
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
4 ISO Focus March 2007
“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
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
 © Renault
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.
© Renault
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 CO2, 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
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.
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.
ISO Focus March 2007 5
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.
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
6 ISO Focus March 2007
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
© Renault
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
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
 © Renault
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-
uct manufacturing and service provi-
sion processes, achieving the quality
and standardization of processes with-
in the company.
“As part of the “Renault
Commitment 2009”,
Renault has undertaken an
ambitious plan to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.”
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
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.
ISO Focus March 2007 7
 Main Focus
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

S
afety 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.
8 ISO Focus March 2007
The intelligent
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 ;
– 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.

ccar
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
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.
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
Thee intelligent car
Th
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.
“ Ergonomics applied
to the automobile
industry is
an experimental science
continuously in flux.”
Compared 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
ISO Focus March 2007 9
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.
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.
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.
10 ISO Focus March 2007
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.
“ Cognitive distractions
are the biggest issues
in automotive
ergonomics today.”
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)
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.
“ This new generation of
information systems offers
opportunities to improve
safety and environmental
issues."
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,

etc.) 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
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.
Thee intelligent car
Th
quality HMI with minimized driver
distraction.
Due to the fact that cognitve
distraction is a top- Driver Metrics
ic that continually Workshop
draws more atten-
tion from both
the public and
the authori-
ties, we are
certain that
our work will
gain more
importance
and require
more effort In conjunction with the last WG 8
in the future. 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,
Dr. Gary Rupp funded by the Alliance of Automotive
recently retired Manufacturers (USA), and hosted by
from Ford Motor Transport Canada.
Company where The two-day meeting looked at
he was a Principal
how driver performance metrics regard-
Research Engi-
ing visual demand can be employed
neer in ergonom-
ics and is now early in product design before more
consulting on complex driving simulations occur.
vehicle ergonom- The early off-road/off-simulator meas-
ics issues. Prior to ures can help driver interface design-
coming to Ford in 1979, he was an Assistant ers understand how a new display con-
Professor of Industrial Engineering at The cept might work before more complex,
University of Toledo. Dr. Rupp has served as costly testing occurs.
president of the Southeast Michigan Chapter As visual demand is the basis
of the Human Factors Engineering Society for many advanced telematics and info-
from 1980-1990, member of the Transpor-
tainment devices, it is a central area
tation Research Board’s Committee on the
of research.
Measurement and Simulation of Driving,
Two of these metrics are the
Chair of the American Automobile Manu-
subject of WG 8 standards: ISO 16673,
facturers’ subcommittee on Human Factors,
Visual Occlusion (already published)
Chair of the Society of Automotive Engineers’
and ISO 20262, Lane Change Task
Driver Vision Committee, Control and Displays
Committee, and the Human Accommodations (in CD ballot). SC 13 WG 8’s work
Committee. He also chaired an international in developing these two standards, and
alliance to develop the next generation SAE now manufacturers applying these met-
3D H-point Machine (HPM-II). He is current- rics during product development, was
ly an active member of several SAE Ergonom- the driving force leading to the Met-
ics committees. Dr. Rupp was chair of ISO
rics Workshop. All presentations can
TC 22/SC 13 from 1993 to 2004 and is still
be downloaded at : http://ppc.uiowa.
actively involved in its working groups and is
the acting convenor of WG 7, the ISO Work- edu/drivermetricsworkshop/
ing Group on H-Point determination. The report from this workshop
Dr. Rupp has a BSE in Electrical Engineering will help WG 8 in its development of
from Ohio State University, and MSE and future standards and tools for the auto-
Ph.D. degrees in Bioengineering from the motive industry.
University of Michigan.
ISO Focus March 2007 11
Main Focus

Worldwide These OBD systems are capable

of identifying improper functioning and
J1939/73 – have only recently been
required and will exist in parallel for
harmonized help to pinpoint where the malfunction some period of time (see box).

on-board
is occurring. This serves to inform the
driver of the vehicle that repair is need-
diagnostics 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
by Martin Gerstl, Convenor a standardized OBD connector.
ISO/TC 22/SC 3/ WG 1
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

T
he 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.
12 ISO Focus March 2007
Legislative requirements
Nearly 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
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.
 Thee intelligent car
Th

Standards related to on-board diagnostic systems Mission possible

ISO was charged by WP.29 to
ISO 15765, Road vehicles – Diagnostics on Controller Area Networks develop a single communication standard
(CAN) – Part 4 : Requirements for emissions-related systems for access to OBD related information.
Consequently, ISO/PAS 27145 on the
SAE J1939, Recommended Practice for a Serial Control and implementation of World-wide harmo-
Communications Vehicle Network nized on-board diagnostics (WWH-OBD)
– 71: Vehicle Application Layer communication requirements (see box
for titles of the four parts of the stand-
– 73: Application Layer – Diagnostics ard) was developed by ISO/TC 22/SC
3 WG 1, Data communication.
ISO/PAS 27145, Road vehicles – Implementation of WWH-OBD A dedicated group of highly
communication requirements motivated experts from industry, gov-
– Part 1 : General information and use case definition ernment and research began working
immediately. After extensive prepara-
– Part 2 : Common emissions-related data dictionary tory work by an ad-hoc group led by
– Part 3 : Common message dictionary Richard Price, at that time with Dear-
born Group, researching and develop-
– Part 4 : Connection between vehicle and test equipment ing a possible standardization route,
timing became critical. The New Work
ISO 15031, Road vehicles – Communication between vehicle and external Item Proposal (NWIP) was submitted in
equipment for emissions-related diagnostics December 2005 and the finalized Pub-
– Part 5 : Emissions-related diagnostic services licly Available Specification (PAS) had
to be published by September 2006 to
– Part 6 : Diagnostic trouble code definitions permit an adoption by WP.29 in Novem-
ber 2006.
SAE J1939, Recommended Practice for a Serial Control and
Close cooperation between dif-
Communications Vehicle Network
ferent stakeholders, e. g. WP.29 and the
– Part 03 : Implementation Guide for HD OBD on J1939 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
was therefore crucial. To increase the
– Part 71: Vehicle Application Layer
efficiency of the group, the task force
– Part 73 : Application Layer – Diagnostics was co-led by two experts from the auto-
motive industry, Christoph Saalfeld,
UNECE GTR No 5 – Technical requirements for on-board diagnostic DaimlerChrysler AG and Franklin Jos-
systems (OBD) for road vehicles ey, Volvo Trucks North America.
ISO 11898, Road vehicles – Controller area network (CAN) (several parts)

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.

ISO Focus March 2007 13

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.
“ For a smooth migration
from the existing
communication standards
to this worldwide standard,
the initial concept was
based on ISO 11898.”
14 ISO Focus March 2007
Mission accomplished
ISO/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 expanded
To 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.

Automotive
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
G
rowth 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 ;
Figure 1 – In the electronic network : ECUs HW & SW, wires, connectors, data transmission
protocol... there are ISO specifications.
• Exhaust gas recirculation ;
• Electronic stability program ;
• Particulate filter ;
• Adaptative cruise control ;
• Stop and start variable valve tim-
ing ;
• Hill assist.
“ 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.”
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.
Thee intelligent car
Th
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
ISO Focus March 2007 15
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.
16 ISO Focus March 2007
ISO/TC 22
The 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.

EMC 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.
“ If the car was a personal
computer, we would likely
see a sticker on
the keyboard proclaiming
ISO Inside.”
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 204
TC 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
Th
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.
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
Thee intelligent car
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
ISO Focus March 2007 17
Main Focus

Intelligent revolution. ITS refers to the integra-

tion and application of information
wider market must be accessed, with
lower cost technologies being incor-
transport systems technology to urban and rural surface porated into passenger cars, buses, fer-

(ITS) : Revolution
transportation. Its application will
allow both government and private
on the roadways 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
by Michael Noblett, travel more productive, convenient,
Chair ISO/TC 204, Intelligent environmentally friendly, and eco-
transport systems nomically efficient.
To date, many ITS technologies
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-

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
18 ISO Focus March 2007
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
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/
 Thee intelligent car
Th
TC 204 is honored to be at the fore- Today, representatives from 24
front of this process. participating member countries (“ P ”
While the adoption of ITS holds countries) take part in ISO/TC 204, groups, each headed by a P-member
promise for all nations, perhaps the most with an additional 25 countries hold- nation reporting directly to the Chair-
significant gains stand to be realized ing observer status (“ O ” countries). man and Secretariat’s office.
in developing countries. As prosperity While most ISO technical commit- ISO/TC 204 maintains close liai-
increases in developing countries, so tees are broken down into subcommit- son relationships with nine technical
will automobile ownership – greatly tees composed of one or more work- committees and working groups. Exter-
increasing congestion. ing groups, the makeup of ISO/TC nal to ISO, TC 204 currently maintains
Within the transport commu- 204 is unusual. Subcommittees have liaison activities with ten organizations,
nity there is a clear enthusiasm for been bypassed in favor of 11 working including both the International Tele-
the deployment of new and emerging
ITS solutions, which will help devel-
oping countries eliminate or minimize Participating “ P ” member Observing “ O ” member
the problems of transport and trans- countries countries
portation logistics that arose in tra-
ditional “ steel-and-asphalt ” environ- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
ments, and “ leapfrog ” over existing Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark,
technologies. Czech Republic, France, Egypt, Finland,
For these reasons, TC 204 has Germany, Hungary, Greece, Indonesia,
begun a comprehensive outreach pro- India, Israel, Iran, Ireland,
gram designed to bring in key ITS Italy, Japan, New Zealand,
stakeholders from the developing Korea, Pakistan,
countries such as China, Malaysia and Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand, etc. Netherlands, Poland,
Norway, Romania,
Russian Serbia,
About the author Federation, Singapore,
South Africa, Slovakia,
Michael Noblett, Spain, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Chair of ISO/TC Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago,
204, is Vice United Kingdom, Turkey, Uruguay
President of Glo-
United States
bal Automotive
Initiatives for
Connexis LCC,
which is devel-
oping and pro- ISO/TC 204 Working Groups/Country Leads
moting a new
approach for
WG 4 : WG 7 :
wireless vehicle data communication to
WG 1 : WG 3 : Automotive WG 5 : General fleet
support advanced safety applications.
Architecture/ TICS database vehicle and Fee and toll management
Prior to joining Connexis, Mr. Noblett
spent nearly 20 years at General Motors United technology/ equipment collection/ and commercial/
Corporation and OnStar. As an expatriate Kingdom Japan identification/ Sweden freight/
manager in Europe, he led major interna- Norway Canada
tional technology projects for GM.
He also represented the global automobile
WG 9 : WG 15 :
industry as Program Manager of the Auto- WG 14 :
motive Multimedia Interface Collabora- WG 8 : Integrated WG 10 : Dedicated
Vehicle/road-
tion. Mr. Noblett is the Chair of ITS Public transport Traveler short range
way warn-
America’s Automotive, Telecommunica- transport/ information, information communications
ing and con-
tions and Consumer Electronics Forum, emergency/ management systems/ for TICS
trol systems/
and was recently appointed General Chair USA and control/ Germany application/
Japan
of the 2008 ITS World Congress in New Australia Germany
York. He is also a member of the Trans-
portation Research Board’s Committee on
Vehicle-Highway Automation, and a mem- WG 16P : Wide area communications/protocols and interfaces/USA
ber of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

ISO Focus March 2007 19

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.
“ While the adoption of
ITS holds promise for all
nations, perhaps the most
significant gains stand to
be realized in developing
countries.”
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:
20 ISO Focus March 2007
• Rear-end collision mitigation brak- Just as continuous communica-
ing systems ; tions form the backbone of the knowl-
edge economy ; so too will these stand-
• Intersection signal information and
ards form a key component of any suc-
violation warning systems ;
cessful ITS technology.
• Lane departure warning systems ; As an acknowledgement of
and this critical requirement, TC 204
• Emergency crash notification using has undertaken significant work to
any available wireless media. develop the requisite standards. Fall-
ing under the jurisdiction of Working
The second deals with technol- Group 16, nearly 20 CALM stand-
ogies to facilitate global interopera- ards are currently under develop-
bility for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehi- ment. CALM standards will enable
cle-to-infrastructure communications. a wide range of ITS services, such
Known collectively as CALM (con- as vehicle collision avoidance sys-
tinuous air interface, long- and medi- tems for passenger vehicles, based
um-range), these standards are intend- on ad-hoc networks linking multi-
ed to deliver the promise of seamless ple vehicles.
wireless communications and Internet Realizing the transport mar-
access on a global scale. ket is global in scope and that the
very nature of vehicle and infrastruc-
ture investments renders them quite
Internal expensive, CALM is intended to pro-
ISO/IEC liaisons vide for systems with a useful stand-
TC 8
ardization lifetime of 10-20 years, so
as to accommodate new technologies
TC 22 as they are developed.
TC 104
TC 154 “ Of all the potential
TC 211 benefits of ITS, perhaps
ISO/IEC/JTC 1 none ranks higher in the
ISO/IEC/JTC 1/SC 31
public’s conscious than
TC 122-TC 104 JWG
technologies capable of
IEC/TC 9
increasing personal and
public safety.”
Furthermore, the lower infra-
structure costs and ease of implemen-
External liaisons
tation associated with wireless tech-
ITU-R WP6M nologies means that CALM will serve
ITU-R WP8A as an excellent blueprint for develop-
ing nations looking to modernize their
CEN/TC 278
transport infrastructure.
APEC Another area of tremendous
importance to the successful world-
IEEE
wide dissemination and adoption of
OGC ITS technologies is a standardized,
UN/CEFACT/TBG 3 overarching ITS architecture to
provide the common framework for
IrDA
developing, denoting, and integrating
ETSI/TG 37 ITS systems.
In this space, the efforts of
WCO
Working Group 1, Architecture,

reflect 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
21 st century transportation revolu-
tion.
As we celebrate our 15 th 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.
Thee intelligent car
Th
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
ISO Focus March 2007 21

Main Focus
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.
“Transport systems are
one of the main pillars of
economic growth, critical
to growing emerging
economies.”
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
22 ISO Focus March 2007
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.
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
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: neilfrost@willowstream.co.za
 Thee intelligent car
Th
on 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.
First ISO-APEC APEC Transportation
Working Group liaises
“ International Standards cooperation with ISO/TC 204
therefore improve global for ITS standards ISO/TC 204 is developing Inter-
competition and enhance national Standards on intelligent trans-
port systems (ITS) by reflecting world-
fair trade.” wide needs, and the APEC TPT strives
by Mr. Donggeun Choi, to foster economic development in the
International Standards there- Liaison ISO/ TC 204, APEC Asia-Pacific region through recommen-
fore improve global competition and dations to increase efficiency, sustain-
Transportation Working Group
enhance fair trade in the market place, ability and safety of the regional trans-

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.
T
his 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).
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
ISO Focus March 2007 23

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.
24 ISO Focus March 2007
Number of
ITS national
standards
USA (111)
Korea (79)  * CEN only
national standard
China (47)  France (24)
Developed
Japan (9)  Czech Rep. (9) 
Chinese Taipei (8)
Canada (5)
Sweden (3) 
Mexico (1) Australia (3) * ISO and CEN
South Africa Hong Kong (1)
* CEN & ETSI
Norway
United Kingdom
national standard
Not developed
* CEN only
Singapore
Austria
Peru Germany
Hungary
Switzerland
Brunei D. Slovakia
Recognition Adopted Automatic
only selectively adoption
Adoption policy of international/regional standards (as of early 2006)
Different approaches to ITS standards development
However, only 33 national stan- adopting ITS standards. These two
approaches are :
dards are adopted from out of 326 (289
from Asia-Pacific; 37 from European
1. The European approach of coun-
countries). This number is probably not
tries which do not develop their
satisfying. One reason is that Interna-
own national ITS standards but
tional Standards do not always reflect
work together through CEN, a
the particular needs of a country and
regional standards development
some adaptation is necessary.
organization, and then automati-
Also, there is no mechanism sim-
cally adopt the regional ITS stan-
ilar to CEN for non-European countries
dards from CEN as their national
to coordinate closely the joint develop-
ITS standards ; and
ment of the standards they use. There-
fore, these countries should focus on the 2. The APEC approach, championed
benefits of closer regional cooperation by most other countries outside of
to develop ITS standards and look for Europe, that develop national ITS
ways to accomplish this. standards, either a limited num-
ber or a comprehensive set, and
Different approaches then adopt ITS standards selec-
tively as national ITS standards as
to ITS standards
required.
development
The accompanying chart shows The existence of two approach-
that there are clearly two clusters of es is well known in the standards com-
countries representing two quite dif- munity. The survey results confirm
ferent approaches to developing and that these two approaches apply to

ITS 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
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.
Thee intelligent car
Th
have largely responded “ adopted unless
there is a national reason not to do so ”,
in practice this means the same as the • ALL SDOs should re-examine their
US response “ available but not adopt- achieved deliverables and deliv-
ed ”, because the use is voluntary and erables in progress to establish if
not mandated. there are adequate specified proce-
dures to determine whether some-
thing is in compliance with/or out
Strategic of compliance with the standard.
recommendations • Despite significant improvements
A summary of the recommen- in the processing of ISO standards,
dations from this report follows. It is it still needs to be improved further
not possible to prioritize such a list, in order to retain the support of
although clearly some recommenda- the experts who develop the stan-
tions are more significant or of greater dards.
strategic impact than others.
• Relationships can be improved
• Standards development organiza- even further between ISO/TC 204
tions (SDOs) like ISO are encour- and the Institute of Electrical and
aged to develop standards in a more Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at
user oriented manner in order to Central Secretariat level, and with
narrow the gap between develop- the International Telecommmunica-
ers and users, keeping in mind tion Union (ITU) at working party
that standards are not for authors levels, as can exchanges with other
(developers) but for their readers liaison SDOs.
(users).
• It is recommended that ISO/TC
• Regional bodies like APEC and the 204 review and update its work
European Union are encouraged to programme.
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.
ISO Focus March 2007 25
Main Focus
ISO/TC 204
collaboration with
other partners
on ITS
by Tamás Szafko, Hungarian
Head of Delegation to ISO/TC
204 and CEN/TC 278
I
SO/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).
26 ISO Focus March 2007
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.
About the author
Tamás 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.

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.
“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
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)
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-
Thee intelligent car
Th
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
ISO Focus March 2007 27
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 ”
Digital maps and standards and a Japanese standard
for the exchange of digital map data
standards – past, among the data providers. There were
present and future 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
by Masao Shibata, Convenor of location referencing (New Project (NP)
ISO/TC 204/WG 3 17572) started several years later. The

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
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
navigation data delivery structure and
protocol started in 2006.
Geographic data files
Geographic 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.

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/
28 ISO Focus March 2007

Perspective of work items of WG 3.
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,
About the author
Masao 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.
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
Thee intelligent car
Th
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 referencing
Location 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
ISO Focus March 2007 29
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 Outreach organizations and standards develop-
ment organizations (SDOs).
the ability of a consumer to receive
fresher data. programme Under these circumstances, TC

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.
of TC 204
by Hironao Kawashima,
Keio University, Japan,
Vice Chairman of ISO/TC 204
Establishment of
the outreach programme
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 2005, the Chairman
of TC 204 proposed an

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.
30 ISO Focus March 2007
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
outreach programme to
ensure the work of TC 204
corresponds to external
demands.”
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

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.
“ Since ITS also concerns
public safety, standards
are developed not only by
industry, but also by public
organizations from many
countries.”
Thee intelligent car
Th
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.

assigned Hironao Kawashima as the TC 204

Vice Chairman of TC 204 to conduct Outreach
this programme.
As can be observed from Fig- Chairman’s
ure 1, the role of Vice Chairman in TC Initiative
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
Increasing
of TC 204 to gather are used to con-
Research ITS
duct events planned for the outreach awareness
community professional Recruiting
programme. of ITS
development
standards

About the author

Network Identifying O members
Hironao
of ITS professional Awareness
Kawashima is a
of TC 204 to
professor at the implemen- compet- P members
Center for Open
Systems Manage-
tation encies
ment at the
Faculty of Science
and Technology, Network for Awareness
Keio University,
and has served as
dissemin- of TC 204 Developing
the head of the ating ISO standards countries
Japanese delegation to ISO/TC 204 since
the formation of the TC in 1993. He has
standards
been the Vice Chairman of ISO/ TC 204
since 2006. Figure 1 − The outreach programme.

ISO Focus March 2007 31

Main Focus

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.
32 ISO Focus March 2007

There 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 drivers
The 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-
About the author
François
Abram,
Technical
Programme
Manager,
ISO Central
Secretariat
Thee intelligent car
Th
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 This proposal put forward by
with them to develop and adopt relevant OGP stems from the will of compa-
International Standards that are recog- nies already engaged in the work of
nized worldwide. a number of ISO technical commit-
The OGP recommendations deal tees to promote a worldwide industry
with issues such as : code of ethics. It should further be not-
1. seatbelts, ed that this approach in the form of a
“management system” can apply just
2. driver training and qualification, as well in developed countries as it can
3. in-vehicle monitoring systems, in developing countries, which is not
4. cellular telephones and two-way the least of its advantages.
communication devices (e.g. CB), It can include some amount of
flexibility in regard to “ circumstances
5. journey management plans, in the field ” in the countries concerned,
6. driving under the influence while maintaining competition between
of alcohol, drugs, narcotics or the companies concerned.
medications, It now remains to be seen wheth-
er organizations interested in road safe-
7. driver fitness and alertness,
ty wish to encourage ISO to follow
8. vehicle equipment, that course and, if possible, bring their
9. management systems. contribution to the work. If so, such
a management system would serve to
extensively promote the existing rules
Auditing and certification (standards and regulations) developed
All of the above items are highly by competent organizations on a much
factual and provide sound advice. They broader scale than is the case today.
International standardization can then
can be applied on a voluntary basis and be
the subject of internal or external audit- become a powerful tool for promoting
ing. It may also be beneficial to obtain good practice in the field of road safety
certification through an independent and in this, we are all concerned.
external body. Moreover, recognition on Visit the OGP website at :
a world scale clearly requires Internation-
http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/365.pdf
al Standards such as those produced by
or contact François Abram:
an organization like ISO. At this early
stage, there is a need for consultations abram@iso.org
between the organizations involved in
the extensive field of road safety.
ISO Focus March 2007 33
Developments and Initiatives
The Linux Standard Base –
Standardizing open source
by Amanda McPherson, Director,
Marketing and Communication,
Free Standards Group

L
ast 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 These components include also ensures end users will have a
other standards workgroups including libraries, compilers, text editors, a broad set of applications for the Linux
Openi18N (the internationalization UNIX-like shell and the kernel 1). The distribution of their choice and that
initiative for Linux) and the Linux distribution vendors decide which they will not be locked into a single
Accessibility Project. versions of these elements (and many Linux distribution.
It is not surprising, given the other applications and packages) to
unique characteristics of the Linux include in their distribution.
operating system and open source The increasing popularity of the Facilitate development
software, that the Linux Standard Linux operating system has spawned with a unique structure
Base would also be unique. a large number of these distributions
Because of this unique struc-
with variations in the features they
ture, the LSB does not define the
What is a Linux operating deliver. These variations can make
standard and dictate to the distribution
it difficult for software providers to
system ? vendors what to implement; rather,
target the Linux platform.
it documents best practices that have
A Linux operating system The FSG delivers access to
emerged in the Linux community
represents an amalgamation of standards, tools and compliance test-
through natural market forces. The
software projects – created by vari- ing, which allows software develop-
goal of the LSB is to make is easy for
ous organizations and individuals ers to concentrate on adding value
– which are integrated into a single to Linux, rather than spending time
computing solution (in this case a dealing with verification and porting 1) UNIX is a multi-layered system. The
Linux distribution from a vendor like issues between the various distribu- kernel and shell are frequently referred to as
Novell or Red Hat). tions. Compliance with the standard the “ operating system ”.

34 ISO Focus March 2007


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.
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/1 4) , 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.
ISO Focus March 2007 35
Developments and Initiatives

Future ISO 26000

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,
standard on social
responsibility reaches
and the LSB will open the door to
Linux as a requirement in large scale
(e.g. government) procurements. The

positive turning point

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

The LSB primarily benefits soft-

ware developers who are targeting the
Linux platform. This can include com-

T
mercial software developers as well as he development of the future ISO the Sydney meeting was increased par-
internal corporate developers. They can 26000 standard giving guidance on ticipation by experts from developing
use the specification and the support social responsibility has reached countries and the programme included
services provided by the FSG to write a positive “turning point” in terms of a developing countries workshop.
portable applications and target the consensus and trust among the broad Among the main activities was
broadest Linux market with their soft- base of participating stakeholders. work on the key topics which had been
ware. Testing, development and support This was the opinion of the lead- identified among the 5 176 comments
costs are minimized. Distribution ven- ership of the ISO Working Group on received from the WG SR’s experts on
dors (Red Hat, Novell, Asianux, etc.) Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) the second working draft of ISO 26000
are the enablers of the standard. As of at the end of its fourth plenary on 29 circulated in October 2006.
today, all major Linux distributions are January-2 February 2007 in Sydney, Core issues were agreed at
compliant with the standard and all par- Australia. Sydney and grouped in the following
ticipate in the LSB workgroup, many Some 275 people from 54 ISO four clusters (each assigned a draft-
as steering committee members. End member countries and 28 internation- ing team) :
users can also profit from the stand- al organizations attended, representing • environment,
ard by writing LSB-compliance into the following interests : industry; gov-
their procurement and support con- • human rights and labour practices,
ernment; labour ; consumers ; non-gov-
tracts with hardware and distribution ernmental organizations ; and service, • organizational governance and fair
vendors. They can then buy application support, research and others. Notable at operating practices, and
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

36 ISO Focus March 2007

• 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.

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
munities, and the environment. After port of the Austrian Government
the UN Global Compact – with whom
Sydney, I am even more confident that and Austrian Development Agency
it recently signed a memorandum of
ISO 26000 will contribute to helping (ADA), together with the UN Glo-
understanding for enhanced coopera-
all kinds of organizations to improve bal Compact and the United Nations
tion – and its networks to collaborate
in socially responsible behaviour.” Industrial Development Organiza-
by establishing links with WG SR
In addition, the ISO/WG SR tion (UNIDO).
national “ mirror ” committees.
finalized the establishment of the ISO • 2008, in Santiago, Chile, hosted by
Chair, Mr. Jorge E.R. Cajazei-
SR Trust Fund which is now accept- the national standards body, INN.
ra, nominated by the ISO member for
ing donations to support the group’s
Brazil, Brazilian Association for Tech-
work. Further information on the ISO/
nical Standards (ABNT), commented :
The next meetings of the ISO/ WG SR and ISO 26000 is available on
“A growing number of global leaders,
WG SR are : its public Web site : www.iso.org/sr
many countries and related stakeholders
have added their voices to those urg- • 5-9 November 2007, in Vienna, Aus- Its working documents are
ing organizations to remember their tria, hosted by the Austrian Stand- publicly accessible at :
obligations to their workforces, com- ards Institute (ON) with the sup- www.iso.org/wgsr
ISO Focus March 2007 37
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 Secretariat
1, ch. de la Voie-Creuse
Case postale 56
CH-1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
Tel + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 733 34 30
E-mail central@iso.org
Web www.iso.org
Individual ISO/CS e-mail addresses,
telephone and fax numbers are
unchanged.
© Henri Dam
38 ISO Focus March 2007
New on the shelf
ISO/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 21482 :
New supplementary
radiation
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-
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.
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.
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.
ISO Focus March 2007 39
Coming up
Main Focus
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.
40 ISO Focus March 2007
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).
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.
Developments and
Initiatives
The Fully Networked Car IMS6-2006E.indd C2 2006-10-30 16:35:29
Following up on our March issue on the
intelligent car and intelligent transport
ITS is a global market and the ability
systems, the April issue of ISO Focus
for suppliers to build and distribute
will feature a report on the Workshop
consistent products worldwide is a sig-
and Exhibition on ICT in motor vehi-
nificant market stimulus. In addition,
cles, sponsored by the International Tel-
many ITS products, especially those
ecommunications Union (ITU), ISO and
that are communications-enabled, are
the International Electrotechnical Com-
aimed at travellers who want consist-
mission : The Fully Networked Car.
ent access to ITS services wherever
The workshop will demonstrate the they go.
importance of standards to vehicle
Find out all about the latest develop-
safety, fuel efficiency and emissions
ments on wireless interfaces, includ-
reduction and the importance of stand-
ing mobile use of the Internet and how
ards to transport systems.
ITS systems can increase both safety
Rapidly evolving technology, as well and convenience in the report on The
as an increasing public interest for the Fully Networked Car.
Probably, you’ve heard the expression,
“ One good idea can change your life ! ”

Definitely, one good ISO standard could

change your business – for the better
ISO has more than 16 500 great standards for you to choose from !
 The bar has just got higher.
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 sales@iso.org.