Variable Message Sign systems (VMS) have been designed and developed in an uncontrolled way throughout Europe and will anyway continue to be developed and installed in the next few years. They have not been comprehensively evaluated in large scale field trials, therefore something has to be done to recommend their use in an appropriate and cost-effective way. The VAMOS consortium whose main objective is to provide recommendations and specifications, where appropriate, for Variable Message Sign systems, is summarising all these recommendations in a "WHITE BOOK", a "Consultation Manual" representing a contribution to the standardisation process of VMS at the European level. It is expected that the distribution of the project recommendations may guide and rationalise the diffusion of Variable Message Signs and Systems design all over Europe. Further the early forwarding of these recommendations to the major European Manufacturers is expected to contribute to the development of more standardised and cost-effective systems. This paper presents the comments of the WHITE BOOK as well as the methods used to derive the project recommendations: results of interviews carried out with the major European manufacturers and road authorities are also reported; they provide the spectrum of apparent need for new designs, perspectives in the application fields and the assessment of existing national or local peculiarities which are now preventing the existence of more uniform VMS systems in Europe and expected European standardisation. Finally the WHITEBOOK discusses the integration and compatibility necessary between VMS systems and other emerging technologies.
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