In the field of road transport information, RDS/TMC seems to be the first technology that will provide information to the end user on a large scale. In January 1997 the Dutch Ministry of Transportation commissioned the Nikita consortium, led by Siemens Netherlands, to develop the information technology and integrated systems needed for RDS/TMC. This way there is a first "private" run for this service by the Nikita consortium and for this time frame being paid by the MoT. While RDS/TMC is standardised in the CEN 278 committee, it is expected that manufacturers of the receivers will get into this market. The MoT of the Netherlands wanted to push the use of these services and give the industry confidence that this service will get on the air. The Ministry of Transport itself will provide the Nikita consortium with actual information from the motorways via the National Traffic information Centre. The Nikita consortium will do the editing and broadcasting of the information based upon the Alert-C protocol. In this paper the author outlines the Dutch situation in the field of traffic information, describes the organisation of the RDS/TMC consortium Nikita, describes the chances and dangers for private companies in the field of RDS/TMC, and describes how the project is done.
Samenvatting