Overview
ISO/TS 14812:2025 - Intelligent transport systems - Vocabulary is a Technical Specification published by ISO that standardizes terminology used across intelligent transport systems (ITS). As a second edition (2025), it replaces the 2022 edition and provides a consolidated, concept-model–based glossary to support consistent communication, system design and interoperability across ITS projects, products and policies.
Key topics
This vocabulary covers a wide range of ITS domains and architectural views. Major topic groups include:
- Core terms: entity, system, architecture, views (communication, enterprise, functional, physical), system engineering and information security terminology.
- Technology terms: ITS station, device components, centre/field/personal/vehicle physical objects, ITS applications and processes.
- Infrastructure terms: road reservation components, carriageways, physical traffic separators, kerbs, footpaths, junctions, road equipment and facility terms.
- Location and referencing: coordinate tuples, point/area/network locations, geographic and infrastructure descriptors, jurisdictional terms.
- Service and user terms: generic and transport service vocabulary, shared transport and vehicle-sharing concepts, traveller and occupant categories.
- Vehicle and automation: vehicle components and attributes, automation levels, connectivity terms, speed and environment classifications.
- Financial and operational models: payment and contractual model vocabulary supporting transport service economics.
The 2025 edition documents specific updates (for example, revisions to information security terms, connected-vehicle roadside equipment, carriageway types, kerbside usage and payment terms), ensuring contemporary alignment with ITS technology and deployment practice.
Practical applications
Although ISO/TS 14812:2025 is a vocabulary rather than a prescriptive technical standard, it delivers essential practical value:
- Improves interoperability by providing unambiguous definitions used in interface specifications, data models and communications standards.
- Supports procurement and contracts by reducing ambiguity in requirements and deliverables.
- Aids system architects and developers in aligning designs to common ITS concepts and architecture views.
- Assists regulators and policymakers to draft consistent rules and guidance for ITS deployment and safety/security assessments.
- Facilitates research and documentation, ensuring that academic and industry reports use standardized terms.
Who uses this standard
- ITS system architects and integrators
- Vehicle and roadside equipment manufacturers
- Transport agencies and infrastructure operators
- Software developers working on ITS applications and data models
- Policy makers, procurement teams and standards bodies
- Researchers and consultants in mobility, connected vehicles and automated driving
ISO/TS 14812:2025 is a foundational reference for anyone needing a consistent ITS glossary to support design, specification, deployment and governance of intelligent transport systems.
