The problem of road tunnel safety raised dramatically in 1999 after the Mont-Blanc tragedy. The whole society and specifically road operators started an intense activity of  analysis and granted huge investments in order to elaborate strategies and introduce new equipments aimed to avoid similar disasters. Tunnel is a particular environment and each abnormal event creates a potentially dangerous situation. From an analysis of  Frejus Tunnel data, in the year 2000 happened 482 incidents of which 281 were due to mechanic failures, 82 were caused by fuel tanks empty, 23  involved  property damage only accidents, 1 was  a collision involving  1 injured person, 34 were  fire incidents  and 47 were  incidents which had other or unknown causes. The introduction of measures capable to prevent failures inside the tunnel has consequently the possibility to significantly improve this situation.

From another perspective electronics, information and communication technology are more and more pervasive also in the automotive environment. A  new generation of telematic systems  based on open platform, able to host third party software and to download new applications along all the life cycle of the vehicle, are going to be launched in the next two years. Vehicle Telematics, originally conceived for infotainment application, may consequently enable new functions for mobility and safety.