Study finds US intelligent transportation industry has grown to $48B; total North American ITS products and services market of $52B
12 August 2011
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The US ITS market is sized at $48 billion in this new report. Source: ITS America. Click to enlarge. |
A new study released by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) found intelligent transportation to be a fast-growing sector valued at approximately $48 billion, slightly larger than the direct mail industry. Results indicate that cities and states with drastically reduced budgets are turning to technology solutions to maximize existing highway capacity.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the collective term for the use of electronics, communications, and information processing technology to improve all aspects—such as safety, mobility and the environment—of the surface transportation system. A few examples of ITS applications include advanced traffic and incident management systems; electronic tolling and payment systems; vehicle crash avoidance technologies; smart traffic signals; and real-time traffic, transit, and parking information. (Earlier post.)
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National ITS Architecture Products & Services. Source: ITS America. Click to enlarge. |
The two-phase study was commissioned by the US Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to develop accurate and comprehensive estimates of the breadth and size of the US and North American ITS markets. Prior to this study, the ITS industry, and particularly the private sector portion, had never been extensively characterized.
ITS America and its partner, IHS Global Insight, identified and validated 3,000 US companies operating in ITS. The study identified total company revenues and then focused in on the less than 3% attributable to ITS end-use products and services—the ultimate applications for which these ITS products/services have been designed. The report estimates Calendar Year (CY) 2009 US ITS company revenues of $48 billion for end-use ITS manufacturing products ($26.1 billion) and end-use ITS services ($21.9 billion).
Projections for the US ITS industry are for continuing growth, with CY 2015 projected end-use revenue increasing by almost 41% (over CY 2009) and private sector employment of more than 205,000. Total industry employment—including providers of enabling services and ITS components as well as end-use products and services—is projected to exceed 500,000. US patent statistics likewise point to continued ITS industry growth and innovation, with US ITS-related patent applications growing 17% from 2007 to 2008, when overall patent applications were static.
The study concludes that, in addition to the $48 billion US ITS end-use products and services market, the rest of North America (Canada and Mexico) contributes another $4 billion in ITS revenues, for a total North American ITS end-use product and services market of $52 billion.
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It seems time for the US DOT and DOE to join in a prototype "smart highway" project. This would be a multi-lane freeway section on cheap (BLM?) land where Advanced Vehicle Control Systems could be tested and proved.
Even a single lane on a busy freeway limited to vehicles meeting an AVCS standard would alleviate congestion and inspire technology adoption. Since, presumably, people seeing AVCS vehicles speed past them (like the HOV lane is supposed to do) - will be all the advertising needed.
An immediate program to develop an AVCS system that gets you on and off a freeway segment requiring (once on) no driver control - is appropriate. We can beat pollution and energy consumption but if we have bumper to bumper EVs - light transport remains a quagmire.
I have not been able to find any significant proposals for production or retrofit AVCS systems near term. But longitudinal and adaptive cruise controls seem well within reach.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 15 August 2011 at 09:43 AM
$48B and they still can't make a car that can't exceed the speed limit. Should be easy and cheap to do with GPS and electronic engine control.
Posted by: Zhukova | 17 August 2011 at 06:23 PM