RDS-TMS services, under consideration since 1984, offer a promising perspective of a future traffic information system. Many reports about the underlying technologies have been written. After a lengthy research and development period, the introduction of this service as a regular operation is imminent. Many countries are on the threshold of their introduction. After some full-scale tests (BEVEI I & II; Bessere VErkehrsInformationen = Better Traffic Information), this will happen in Germany in 1997. This report focuses on some of the main difficulties, more on institutional and organisational barriers and on conflicts of interests than on technology.
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