This paper will describe the role of Systems Engineering in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects. There is growing evidence from the Standish Group and others that the majority of ITS projects do not deliver an operational system within time and budget, and in fact a significant number of projects are dismal failures. Systems Engineering and its associated processes have long been used in the Defense and Aerospace industries for development of hardware and software projects. Additionally, pure transportation capital projects (building roads and bridges and such) use a highly controlled development process with many checks and balances before building anything physical. However, in the ITS arena, many agencies and developers are reluctant to use these efficient and proven techniques and processes.
Abstract