The conference "ITS in Urban Agglomerations: Challenges and Development Prospects" organised by FAI “ROSDORNII” for experts of the national road industry took place on June 29, 2022 in the conference hall of the Analytical Centre under the Government of the Russian Federation.
The event was attended by representatives of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Ministry of Defence of Russia, the Federal Road Agency, the country's regions, leading industry enterprises, scientific and educational organisations, specialists in the field of road infrastructure development and digital solution integrators. Moreover, more than 200 people joined the meeting online.
Intelligence for Urban Roads
The main topic for discussion in the thematic sections of the conference was the deployment of intelligent transport systems in Russian cities and agglomerations, and the creation of regulatory and technical documents governing this process. The large-scale introduction of ITS in Russia will help to meet the growing demand for passenger and freight transportation, maintain a balance between the capacity of the street and road network of urban agglomerations and its actual load, ensure the safety of transportation and traffic, reduce the amount of emissions.
During the Plenary Session "ITS Development in Urban Agglomerations", the invited experts considered prospects of implementing local projects in the field of intelligent transport and ways of automating road traffic management processes in major populated areas.
FAI “ROSDORNII” General Director Aleksander Bedusenko emphasized the particular importance of a unified approach to regulation, standardization and pricing when working on technology projects and deploying ITS in urban agglomerations. According to him, Russian road builders had accumulated vast experience in implementing intelligent projects on major motorways and could use this experience to work on congested urban roads.
It is important to combine effective methods and develop an overall vision of work on federal and regional levels.
"The withdrawal of foreign equipment fr om the market has opened up space for our developments and become a new challenge. Therefore, the exchange of expert experience is very important for the further ITS development. Today's dialogue will be useful for all of us," said Aleksander Bedusenko.
The importance of the conference was highlighted by Grigory Volkov, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of the Russian Government, noting that the development of intelligent systems is closely linked to the industrial and economic future of the country.
"We need a result that will solve transport problems in urban agglomerations. I am sure that our experts and road experts will be able to give a detailed view of what is happening and outline an action plan to solve this problem," said Grigory Volkov.
The greatest role in strengthening ITS deployment in Russia was played by the National Project "Safe High-Quality Roads", wh ere large scale automation of road traffic management processes is planned.
Anton Kozlov, Deputy Director of the Department for State Policy in the Field of Road Industry of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation reminded that the national project has been extended until 2030: "We are at the beginning of our journey. We need to share experience and offer fresh ideas for the development of such technologies - that is the main message of today's event".
In turn, Sultan Zhankaziyev, Director of the ITS Academy of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) auto-road complex, said that shaping the ITS concept is still underway in the world: " However, without uniting experts in this field, we will not be able to move forward. It is very important that today we are making a big step with you, working out an actual concept of ITS development with great benefit for the country".
Yury Fedyukin, Deputy Director of the Federal State Institution “Roads of Russia”, noted that the gradual emergence of intelligent technologies in Russian cities requires a detailed study with the regions, which is exactly what FAI “ROSDORNII” specialists are doing. The Institution develops of the concept of the national ITS network, an important component of the digital transformation of the transport system, and provides scientific and methodological support for the implementation of such projects in the regions.
"The ITS conference is very useful for those who are modernising technology implementation processes in Russia. I am sure that colleagues from the regions will benefit from the vivid and unprecedented experience of FAI “ROSDORNII” specialists," added Mr Fedyukin.
Yury Fedyukin also spoke about the roadmap for ITS implementation in 2022. It was used in urban agglomerations including cities with over 300,000 inhabitants. Its content helped Russian regions to timely prepare documentation for tender procedures with regard to creation of intelligent systems and to start works planned for this year in due time.
According to Denis Kiryukhin, Deputy Director of the Regional Development and National Project Implementation Department of the Federal Road Agency, the use of intelligent technologies in the transport sector is becoming not just a prospect but a necessity: "I would like to express my gratitude to FAI “ROSDORNII” for their high attention to ITS deployment in the regions and assistance to the constituent entities in implementing this task. The motorisation of the population continues every day and only intelligent technology will allow us to maintain road safety.
Intelligentisation will significantly expand the capabilities of the existing road infrastructure and strategically important facilities, according to Vasily Elistratov, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Technology Development Department at the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
"Without exaggeration, we can use all the efficient projects presented at the conference not only to strengthen the country's economy, but also for national defence as a whole," a representative of the Ministry of Defence of Russia specified.
Intelligent Technology Standards
The importance of correct documentation of intelligent projects and their uniform standardisation was pointed out by most of the invited experts. Anton Svistelnikov, Head of Comprehensive Audit of Intelligent Transport Systems Projects at FAI “ROSDORNII”, prepared the report "Analysis of Implementation of Local ITS Projects in Urban Agglomerations in Constituent Entities of Russian Federation". According to the expert, a number of regions recorded low quality of reports on the implementation of measures for the introduction of intelligent systems in urban agglomerations. One of the reasons is the lack of a unified approach to updating documents on innovative technologies. In order to urgently correct this omission, Mr Svistelnikov recommended the representatives of such regions to apply to FAI “ROSDORNII” for consultations.
Anna Moskaleva, Deputy Director of FAI «ROSDORNII» Comprehensive Audit Department for Intelligent Transport Systems Projects, listed typical mistakes made when preparing applications for inter-budgetary transfers for ITS implementation. Most often, the authors of the documents admit discrepancies in the explanatory notes and draft projects, omit description of subsystems and centres existing at the time of ITS creation. Participants of the conference proposed to hold an interregional seminar to address relevant issues.
The round table "Challenges of Shaping ITS in Cities" started with discussion of sanctions risks, which also influenced the implementation of ITS projects. Mikhail Belov, Deputy Director of Intelligent Transport Systems Department of FAI “ROSDORNII”, spoke about it in detail.
Intelligent systems are critically dependent on foreign components. For example, foreign parts are needed for operation of traffic light control subsystems, monitoring of traffic flow parameters, weather monitoring and video surveillance.
"The situation can be improved by "parallel import" or replacement of the already deployed equipment with domestic analogues and a state contract for domestic equipment manufacturers on the basis of requests from the regions for ITS implementation," Mikhail Belov emphasised.
The session "Prospects of Creation of Regulatory Legal and Regulatory Technical Documents in the Field of ITS" was opened by Igor Evstigneev, Deputy Director of the ITS Development and Design Department of FAI “ROSDORNII”. The expert made his presentation on "ITS Regulatory and Legal Management".
"On numerous occasions we have mentioned that there is no federal law regulating the ITS field in the structure of the current Russian legislation. However, its development is impossible without the main regulatory document," said Igor Evstigneev.
FAI “ROSDORNII” is currently developing a draft of the federal law "On the national network of intelligent transport systems on public roads and amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation" and other regulations and future standardization programmes in this field. Igor Evstigneev urged industry experts to get involved in this work.
The report of Nikolai Toropov, Head of Methodology Department for the Development of Intelligent Transport Systems of FAI “ROSDORNII”, was devoted to standardisation in ITS. The representative of the institution introduced the stages of development of the Perspective Programme of Standardization on Intelligent Transport Systems for the period up to 2026.
"The priority of the Programme is shaping a national system of regulatory and technical documentation in ITS, complying with the provisions of the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and agreements within the Customs Union in the field of technical regulation. This will guarantee the safe functioning of intelligent technologies," said Nikolai Toropov.
Questions from the regions and the exhibition
The conference ended with a round table entitled "What to do about regulatory documents?". The moderator was Sultan Zhankaziev, Director of the ITS Academy of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) auto-road complex. The expert presented the report “ITS in Mobility Management”.
"Transport planning and modelling is a highly complex process that requires the involvement of experienced scientists, managers and experts in incident management. In addition, in Russia, an intelligent transport model must be adjusted for each of the country's 85 regions. We have a lot of work ahead of us," said Sultan Zhankaziev.
FAI “ROSDORNII” cooperates with constituent entities of the Russian Federation at all stages of regional ITS concept shaping and direct work on the implementation of intelligent technologies. At the conference, the Institute's experts advised participants from the constituent entities on a number of issues.
In particular, topical questions were asked by representatives of the Volgograd and Yakutsk regions present at the conference. The delegates from the regions were interested in the possibility of updating projects for the financing of implementation of ITS in the case of increase in prices for components, and in the possibility of specification of criteria of "digital maturity of territories". In addition, there were questions from the online participants at the event. Questions from each of the topics were answered in detail.
The exhibition of achievements of domestic developers in ITS organised as part of the conference was of great interest. The expositions were prepared by 13 companies from different regions, specializing in the implementation of solutions in the field of intelligent transport systems.
Link to conference materials (photos, presentations, recording): https://disk.yandex.ru/d/Nnl5sOWVaLPKRQ
Reference information
FAI “ROSDORNII” carries out extensive work in the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).
The Institute's specialists carry out a survey of territories and existing transport schemes, carry out expert studies of projects for the creation of ITS, provide scientific, methodological and advisory support for the formation of a national ITS network, provide methodological support for the creation and maintenance of digital infrastructure, introduce technical requirements and standards for road construction using digital technology, conduct the search and testing of new technologies and solutions in ITS, including on the basis of the Road Industry Accelerator.
FAI “ROSDORNII” convinces conferences and seminars related to various aspects of ITS implementation in the road sector. In particular, in May 2022, an inter-industry conference entitled "ITS on Roads. Polygons and Test Areas for Creating Safe Transport Environment" (https://»ROSDORNII».ru/press-center/news/otraslevye-novosti/»ROSDORNII»-i-nami-proveli-mezhotraslevuyu-konferentsiyu-po-teme-ispytaniy-its-i-vats-na-poligonakh/).