Canadian at the wheel of international transportation standards

2006-07-17

Dr. Lewis Sabounghi is in the business of moving things forward – literally.

As the owner of a Canadian technology and management consulting firm and the convenor of a working group at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), both in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Sabounghi understands the important role of standards in keeping commercial transportation technologies rolling with the times.  

“Transportation used to be moving people and equipment and goods without communicating to the world,” says Sabounghi. “ITS is the marriage of computers, communication and transportation.”

ITS combines some of today’s newest technology with transportation devices - from cars to planes to ships. A signal in each vehicle provides information to its operator and the other vehicles around it, enabling the operator to make better decisions regarding their safety.

Sabounghi first saw the possibilities that ITS could offer while working at Transport Canada where he was managing research and development road transportation projects. In 1997, he received his PhD in intelligent transportation systems engineering from the University of Manitoba.

Today, as the convenor of ISO/TC 204/WG 7, General fleet management and commercial/freight, Sabounghi is working with other ITS experts from around the world to develop standards that will help ensure that technologies for commercial transportation vehicles are compatible and effective worldwide.

“There are different companies producing different cars in different countries,” he says. “All of those companies and countries have to accept and agree on producing the same knowledge and technology and communication methods their vehicles.”

Sabounghi says that, like people, if vehicles don’t speak the same “language,” they will not be able to communicate with each other. The likely result is accidents.

When companies adopt internationally recognized standards, Sabounghi says their vehicles will adopt a specified language that will eliminate this problem.

“Standards are absolutely needed when you have a multiplicity of players.”

Sabounghi’s main focus at ISO right now is work on a new standard to improve the safety of hazardous materials transportation through technology that allows for wireless communication and tracking between the vehicle and a control centre.

“If we have an accident, we will know right away what product we’re dealing with, how fast we can respond to it, and where it’s happening,” says Sabounghi.

He is also working on standards for vehicle-to-roadside communication devices, that when set up along highways will connect cars with other vehicles and the internet. Sabounghi says the first major deployments should begin in the United States and Europe in 2007.

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