This is what changes and what doesn’t

If we think about it coldly, the operation of traffic lights has not changed much for decades. It is still based on a programmed timer that changes from red to green regardless of whether there are ten cars waiting or none. Perhaps it has not changed because it is still just as effective for the use to which it is given, but the truth is that we are about to see a fairly important evolution in how traffic is organized in our country, and the Royal Decree 450/2026published in the BOE a few days ago, lays the regulatory foundations for this change.

And from this document, Spain establishes the legal framework to implement Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) on the country’s highways and urban roads. Below these lines we tell you all the details.

What are SITs? Intelligent Transportation Systems are basically the technological layer that turns any traditional road infrastructure into something capable of communicating, processing data and adapting in real time. This can be achieved through sensors, radars, lidar technologyor artificial intelligence. And all these types of technologies can be implemented, for example, in a traffic light, in a section of road or in a sign. And the moment this is done, they are no longer static elements.

The objective of the decree is to coordinate the implementation of these systems in a coherent and interoperable manner in Spain, systems that aim to more accurately manage traffic on our roads, improve road safety and provide useful information to the user.

Europe forces Spain to move. With the publication of this Royal Decree, Spain incorporates into its legal system the Directive (EU) 2023/2661 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of November 22, 2023, which “updates the European framework for intelligent transport systems to respond to the new mobility, digitalization and sustainability challenges identified by the European Union.”

The deadline to integrate this directive in the country expired on December 21, 2025, so Spain arrives several months behind schedule. The new standard replaces the previous Royal Decree 662/2012, which transposed the original directive on SIT.

lThe data becomes mandatory. Until now, administrations had a more or less diffuse obligation to make traffic information available to the user. The decree takes a leap here, as it makes the availability of mobility data in real time, such as incidents, works or adverse weather conditions, mandatory through the so-called National Access Points.

The royal decree configures these “National Access Points for Traffic and Mobility, Multimodal Transport and Safe Parking Zones” through critical nodes, with the aim of guaranteeing this real and efficient flow of data and services.

The idea is that this information is open and interoperable, accessible both to administrations and to the connected vehicles themselves.

That means for traffic lights in practice. A connected traffic light This data network can do things that are generally impossible today, such as detecting an approaching ambulance and chaining itself in green to create an automatic emergency corridor, analyzing the traffic density in a neighborhood and adjusting the cycles of an entire network of intersections to avoid a traffic jam before it happens, or reacting to a pedestrian crossing suddenly.

The technology for all this already exists and is being tested in some cities. In fact, we were already able to tell how it works here. of the one in Córdoba. However, what was missing until now was a regulatory framework that would standardize how these infrastructures should communicate with each other and with vehicles.

Not a Big Brother. The Royal Decree guarantees that the processing of personal data will be carried out exclusively when necessary for the provision of intelligent transport services and always in accordance with European and national data protection regulations.

In other words, the objective of the decree is not mass surveillance of drivers or a remote sanction system. In fact, the current obligation of these systems right now is for the administrations, not for the drivers, so no driver today is obliged to carry any SIT device in their vehicle (And no, the V16 beacon It is not a SIT device, even though it has IoT connectivity).

The previous step to the autonomous vehicle. What is intended is to standardize how Spanish infrastructures communicate in such a way that they speak the same language as those of the rest of Europe. And in the near future, the role of the SIT will be fundamental to enhance the functioning of the autonomous vehiclessince the aim is to improve connectivity and the digitalization of mobility.

Without this standardization, communication between autonomous vehicles and road infrastructure ends up being impossible, or at least not as precise as required.

What remains to be done. The decree establishes the framework, but does not set specific calendars or budget for the deployment of SITs in Spanish cities and roads. The standard enables the Ministries of the Interior and of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to develop it through future orders. So it is still early to see smart traffic lights, but it is not too early to talk about it now.

In Xataka | Starting in July, all new cars manufactured will incorporate an annoying novelty: many more beeps