The growing role of IT in transportation

The automobile and railway industries have grown more reliant on IT, but future intelligent transportation systems must also address potential security breaches. This article focuses on the security issues that ITSs must address before a full-blown implementation becomes feasible. The broad spectrum of our transportation-related articles is simply the tip of the iceberg. On 25 August 2003, the Altamont Commuter Express train that serves the San Francisco bay are became one of the first commuter rail systems in the US to serve as a mobile IEEE 802.11 hot spot for commuters. IEEE 802.11 is a family of specifications that the IEEE developed for wireless LAN (local area network) technology. Now, for better or for worse, commuters can maintain nearly door-to-door broadband connectivity between their homes and their offices. Even in automobiles, phones based on Bluetooth - an open standard for short-range digital transmissions - and personal digital assistants are likely to become integrated with fully wired onboard dashes. Meanwhile, government agencies are continuously enhancing traffic-monitoring systems to better route highway resources and increase public safety.