ITS technology has the power to improve inclusivity, says ITS Australia president Silje Troseth.
Speaking about the recent ITS Australia Summit in Sydney, she said several presentations demonstrated "an intelligent transport future designed for everyone in our community, regardless of their specific needs".
"As a sector we are working hard to reduce transport disadvantage in both urban and rural Australia through the application of the latest technology.”
Addressing deaths on the road was another key focus, she added, with a technical tour to the Australian Centre for Advanced Robotics showing a live demonstration of a connected and automated test vehicle fitted with cooperative ITS (C-ITS) capabilities.
“In terms of road safety... we know that in recent years, our national road toll has been moving in the wrong direction," Troseth continued. "At this year’s Summit, we saw a range of solutions, such as the latest development in C-ITS, that will make vehicles on our roads far safer.”
The Summit also emphasised the importance of the next generation of transportation professionals, with the hosting of the inaugural Careers Expo.
This saw students from three leading NSW universities— University of Sydney, UTS, and UNSW Sydney—joining delegates on the final day of the event to learn more about Australia’s burgeoning ITS industry and to better understand the diverse career pathways it presents.
“The response from students was tremendous, with more than 150 students registering for the Careers Expo, which far exceeded our initial expectations and demonstrated a great interest in careers in ITS,” said ITS Australia CEO Susan Harris.
“Importantly, the Careers Expo was supported by some of the transport industry's biggest employers, with state government transport agencies from NSW, Queensland, and WA, as well as Transurban – one of the world’s leading toll-road operators – highlighting ITS careers to students in Sydney.’
“We look forward to further enhancing our Careers Expo in the future as part of our ambitions to build a resilient ITS workforce in Australia by supporting our industry in hiring the best and brightest students across various disciplines such as engineering, computer science and transport planning.”
The New South Wales Government, through Transport for NSW, highlighted technology operating on the state’s roads through a series of presentations.
NSW roads minister John Graham said: "The role of innovation in our roads network is just as important as opening a motorway or making the tolling system fairer, and in fact, technological innovation can help governments in a number of ways, including tolling and motorway management.”
“The next chapter of investment under this government is about how we use roads and other intelligent transport systems to connect our communities – that means connecting people to job opportunities, to their friends and families by building not just the roads, but the connected road networks of the future.”
Around 40 organisations supported ITS Australia Summit as sponsors and exhibitors, including Transport for NSW, Scats, Cubic Transportation Systems, TomTom, Amazon Web Services, Kapsch, NEC, Telstra, Deloitte and Sice.
