L'acquis dell'Unione europea in materia di sicurezza stradale e i sistemi di trasporto intelligente

The paper aims at analysing the potential impacts of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) on road safety. After having identified the potential benefits stemming from a fore seeable growing automated and connected vehicles — seen as the next frontier in transport that will revolutionise how citizens enjoy mobility in the future —, the paper points out as, according to the current legi slation and policies, there are a number of drawbacks that risk to jeo pardize (if not nullify) the above-mentioned benefits. Among the main areas of concern, the paper focuses on digital divi de, personal data protection and mobility, cybersecurity, new forms of liability in case of accidents, as well as the impacts on jobs and skills. According to the findings of the investigation, it seems that, on one hand, the European Union approach (regulations and policies) are not sufficient and/or suitable to handle this complex scenario; in this res pect, the main road safety regulations in force and some options pro posed by the EU seem to be “tailored” for (digital) market needs only (or mainly). On the other hand, although the digital revolution has already begun, people (road users) are not prepared to this deep tran sformation (also with regards to the mobility system). Such a revolu tion requires some pre-conditions that are currently not met. In the light of that, the work suggests regulatory solutions with the aim to balance different interests. It concludes by putting forward some proposals on how those fundamental flaws concerning road sa fety and ITS could be mitigated. According to this view, public powers are called upon to play a stronger role, in terms of, inter alia, strategic plans and public transport.