The Lombardy Region participated in the International Conference “Change the Change” last 6-8 March in Donostia/San Sebastian, where the Minister for the Environment and Climate, Raffaelle Cattaneo, presented the project MOVE-IN, a new technology aimed to improve air quality in the region and fight pollution without affecting the right to mobility.

The Lombardy Region will start the experimentation of the MOVE-IN project (Monitoring of Polluting Vehicles), a technological device to reduce emissions and achieve a significant improvement in air quality, allowing vehicles to be driven on their actual polluting potential. A technology to be applied on vehicles that not only takes into account the mileage of the vehicle, but also its actual use and driving style adopted, as so to increase the acceptance of different driving behaviours, while promoting innovative ways to verify the real mileage values in Lombardy.

“A tool that will allow us to measure real emissions based on mileage and driving style,” said the Minister for the Environment and Climate of Lombardy Region, Raffaele Cattaneo. “This will allow everyone to travel, even to those who are banned today, obviously based on the vehicle’s polluting potential. An absolute innovation and the Lombardy Region will be the first in Italy to experience it. We want to fight real emissions and not make war on technologies, for example, diesel. We prefer incentives to bans and above, we want to make all citizens aware and responsible with respect to the number of real emissions their vehicles release into the atmosphere. The objective is to make MOVE-IN available to users by 1 October, which is to coincide with the new thermal season.”

A technological infrastructure that enables the application of a framework of restrictions to the circulation of diesel and petrol vehicles, no longer addressed solely to prohibit or limit the use of the most polluting vehicles, but which takes into account the actual use of the vehicle and the driving style adopted, so as not to penalise those who, having the need for limited mileage, generate a modest contribution to air pollution. A device that is applied inside the vehicle will allow the detection of the information necessary for this purpose.

The black box is a small device that can be installed inside cars, trucks and motorcycles. The technology at its disposal makes it possible to record (in full respect of privacy) data relating to the vehicle and provide infotelematic services connected to the use of the same. The use of this technology is operated by the TSPs (Telematics Service Providers). Each TSP operator has its own Operations Centre that collects and processes the data.

Users’ adherence to the service offered by MOVE-IN will take place via a web portal made available by the Lombardy Region. Each user (which must coincide with the owner of the vehicle who will install the black box), must select one of the accredited TSP operators and proceed with the completion of the contract and activation of the service. The TSP operator will have to identify the subjects authorised to install the black box, agreeing with them, to ensure compliance with the conditions set by the MOVE-IN project. The TSP operator will collect, from the affiliated subjects, the communications of the installation of the device verifying at the same time the correctness of the details of the vehicle and of the owner collected during the adhesion. The operator is responsible for ensuring that the device is correctly installed and associated with the vehicle and maintains, for the entire duration of service provision, the ability to perform measurement, protection, recovery and consultation of data, with the characteristics indicated. To be accredited, the operator must guarantee the provision of an adequate first-level assistance service to the citizen.

The operator must offer the MOVE-IN service with an annual contract, not automatically renewable, which cannot exceed the following maximum limits, including VAT:

• the first year of installation: € 50 (of which € 30 installation cost and € 20 service supply); if the citizen already has a device installed on their vehicle, the maximum price allowed for the service will be € 20
• subsequent years: € 20 (service supply)

For data collection and transmission, the operator will have to detect:

• Belonging to the two bands 1 and 2 of the regional territory
• Belonging to the two zones, urban and extra-urban, of the regional territory defined specifically for the mileage tracking service.
• The typology, urban or extra-urban, of the travel area.
• The type, motorway or not, of the road travelled.
• The driving style adopted.

For each kilometre travelled, the operator is also required to determine the driving style adopted with respect to the ecological driving criteria, which can be differentiated according to the road section or the travel area.

Operators will have to ensure that the updated information flow is constantly maintained.