The ITS Directive: More than a timeframe with privacy concerns and a means for access to public data for digital road maps?

Roads are ever more congested, pollution keeps rising and traffic-related deaths remain at unacceptable levels. It is clear that society’s needs with regard to transportation and mobility have become unsustainable. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are often heralded as a potential solution to this problem, yet have still to yield tangible results. The EU has, however, adopted the ITS Directive, aiming for an EU-wide implementation of ITS solutions. Three questions are raised. First, can the ITS Directive really provide for the required substantial provisions in this field? Second, as ITS solutions are often deemed to be pervasive and intrusive, how does the ITS Directive interact with the EU legal framework on privacy and data protection? Third, given the involvement of private commercial entities in the field of providing road, traffic and travel data, can a public–private partnership be found to allow for the re-use of both public and private sector data in ITS solutions?