ITS Australia has announced 34 finalists for its 13th annual awards.
“The work that has been submitted for awards consideration reflects the wealth and variety of innovation that has emerged from the intelligent transport systems industry over the past 12 months and reflects the renewed focus of our industry to provide solutions that are more equitable and sustainable, and which contribute to an overall better lived environment for all Australians,” said ITS Australia president Dean Zabrieszach.
The seven categories are: the Smart Transport Infrastructure Award; Intelligent Mobility Award; Excellence in Transport Data Award; Excellence in Research & Development Award; Connected & Automated Vehicle Award; and Young Professional Award.
“The finalists for this year’s ITS Australia Awards include a broad range of outstanding solutions being deployed across the country, reflecting the dynamic nature of the Australian sector. This year we see large multinationals, government innovators, and homegrown success stories all coming together to showcase excellence,” said Susan Harris, ITS Australia CEO.
“This year ITS Australia introduced its Mentorship Program, saw much activity led by our NextGens Committee, and here in amongst the Awards finalists we have eight outstanding early-career transport leaders in contention for the Young Professional Award. I look forward to seeing what all of these remarkable professionals will contribute to the industry in the years to come.”
An 18-person judging panel made up of ITS professionals from industry, government, and academia, decided on the following finalists:
SMART TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AWARD
IoT Insights for Real-Time Crowd Measurement at Melbourne Central Station
Cisco
In this unique trial, Cisco has used WiFi signals from devices such as mobile phones, tablets and watches to locate the placement and movement of people at Melbourne Central Station and on trains in real time. Leveraging AI, the solution then uses this data to predict congestion events enabling the possibility of early intervention and mitigation and improving overall customer experience.
Mobile Heavy Vehicle Detection and Classification System
National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
SenSen and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator delivered a world-first, camera-based Mobile Heavy Vehicle Detection and Classification system. The system is mounted on a variety of platforms across Vehicle Lightbars, Roadside Trailers and Surveillance Drones. The system uses ANPR and GPS technology to provide real-time sightings to the Regulator. The system uses Deep Learning to gather 20 data points from passing heavy vehicles including axle and articulation counts.
Road Safety at School Zones
SAGE Group
Road safety in school zones is a high priority, and SAGE delivered over 675 electronic speed limit signs (ESLS) across Tasmania, as part of an initiative funded by the Tasmanian Government. Fitted with a SAGE Edge device, the signs capture real-time traffic patterns to inform Tasmania’s Traffic Management Centre. Solar-powered variants operate in challenging weather conditions, assisting driver awareness of changed speed conditions and improving road safety.
Project Aardvark - Autonomous Recovery Device for Vehicles
Ventia - Brisbane Motorway Services
Project Aardvark is an autonomous recovery device for vehicles that are left abandoned or broken down on the side of high-speed, high-risk, open-road motorways. Road users and first response staff are now kept safer as a result of an internationally patented world-first safety innovation that is transferable to multiple industries.
INTELLIGENT MOBILITY AWARD
Bridj - 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games Fleet Management
Bridj Technology
Bridj is a supercharged booking and fleet management platform that helps you deliver better travel experiences for your passengers. Its tech allows you to optimise your on-road service and digitise your work processes. Bridj was appointed the Official Supplier for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games providing the Fleet Operations and Asset Management system.
ODIN PASS: A Mobility as a Service Trial in Queensland
Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads
The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads partnered with the University of Queensland and iMOVE Australia to develop and deploy ODIN PASS Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Trial. Participants can plan multi-modal journeys, purchase monthly transport bundles, access incentives and benefit from private and public transport modes. The trial seeks to understand consumer transport preferences within a MaaS subscription, and investigate sustainable business models and core elements MaaS applications.
Omniway
Intelematics
Omniway is an all-encompassing mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform that enables safer, more convenient, and more sustainable travel. In one user-friendly platform, Omniway offers a smarter ‘plan, pay, and ride’ experience to enable an efficient journey for users. It incorporates a suite of Omni-features geared towards commuters, drivers, cyclists and other transport modes. This includes multimodal journey planning, live transport updates, fuel station locations, parking and integrated account management and payment capability.
FlexiRide Demand Responsive Transport: Victoria’s New Approach to Mobility
Moovit
In December 2020, Ventura Bus Lines and the Department of Transport Victoria launched FlexiRide Rowville, Melbourne’s first on-demand transport service. Within 14 months, the service was recognised by the UITP and awarded their highest honour in the design category. FlexiRide, powered by Moovit Transit On Demand, has no fixed route or timetable. Instead, it dynamically responds to demand, offering better public transport connections with decreased wait times.
Adapting MaaS Technology To Create People-Centric Mobility Solutions
SkedGo
Recognising that one size does not fit all, SkedGo has adapted its proven MaaS technology to a diverse range of communities. This approach allows governments, transport authorities, businesses and non-profits to launch highly tailored, localised solutions serving demographics such as commuters, employees, students, and underserved communities. The emphasis on people-centric MaaS solutions that are accessible, inclusive and sustainable has led to the global adoption of its technology.
SkyBus Launched Account-Based Ticketing System and Mobile Ticketing
SkyBus
SkyBus, Fujitsu and Masabi worked to develop a next-generation Account-Based Ticketing solution, powered by Masabi’s Justride platform. The solution gives passengers the ability to purchase tickets anywhere, anytime and enables fully contactless ticketing, with new Justride Validation units installed across the fleet. The solution is deployed in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Hobart, and supports online ticket purchases, and onboard and self-service kiosks. Since its launch, over a million people have used the service.
CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED VEHICLE AWARD
FLEX - Flinders Express
Flinders University
FLEX is an electric, autonomous vehicle trial, investigating key use cases and opportunities for the transport network. These new use cases will investigate new operational modes for autonomous vehicles, use vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications technologies to improve performance and finally develop a living lab that will in the future serve as a test bed for connected and autonomous vehicles.
National Regulatory Framework for Automated Vehicles
National Transport Commission
In February 2022, Australian Transport Ministers agreed to implement the recommendations of the National Transport Commission to establish an end-to-end regulatory framework for the supply and in-service operation of automated vehicles in Australia.
Enabling Emergency Service V2V Communication for Safety Applications in Australia
Q-Free Australia
Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) enable emergency service vehicles to share awareness messages with surrounding vehicles, request priority at signalised intersections, and consume event notification and information messages. Development of this technology by Q-Free Australia and real-world testing with collaborators including Lexus, Ambulance Victoria, and AIMES increases the broader Intelligent Transport Systems conversation in Australia and builds C-ITS expertise across industries.
Connected and Automated Vehicle Data Provision Framework
Transport Management Consulting
A CAV Data Provision Framework has been developed to assist road agencies to build capability in the provision and use of data for CAVs. The Framework enables agencies to establish their target CAV capability and plan towards their desired future state. Reference models are provided as business and technology blueprints for agencies to adopt and adapt to suit their future CAV support needs and evolving vehicle capabilities.
EXCELLENCE IN TRANSPORT DATA AWARD
Vehicle-as-a-Sensor - Road Condition Monitoring Program
Cisco
Cisco, Transport for NSW, the Australian Road Research Board, and The University of NSW have created a solution that uses the bus network to digitise the road surface and identify potholes. As part of a trial and following the recent floods in NSW a number of buses have been outfitted with Cisco IoT Edge routers to turn the movement of the vehicle into an index, effectively digitising the road surface.
Service Performance Data Management Solution
netBI
WA’s Public Transport Authority (PTA) undertook a three-year project with netBI to develop an automated data capturing and reporting system to measure 100% of its public transport operations’ performance. netBI's solution uses advanced AI to fuse and analyse data from multiple IoT devices and ITS solutions to accurately measure the PTA’s contracted operator’s performance. The system automatically processes 480 million data events per month to determine operational contract compliance.
Transdev's Network Solutions Analytics
Transdev Australasia
Leveraging cloud computing and machine learning, Transdev’s Network Solutions Analytics provides visibility of the entire customer journey by marrying operational data, ticketing information, weather data and other datasets to monitor past performance but also model future demand and schedule adherence. This visibility is made available at all points of the decision chain through dashboards tailored for specific audiences. Following initial successes, Transdev is now working on adding more data points.
STREAMS Smart Motorways Dashboard
Transmax
The STREAMS® Smart Motorways Dashboard provides a suite of visuals and reports designed to monitor, assess, and optimise motorway performance using live data. Within the first 10 months of deployment along 13km of Perth’s Kwinana Freeway, travel time was reduced on average by 20%. The dashboard generates insights from live traffic data to manage motorway congestion and enables rapid incident identification and response.
Customer Journeys Platform
Transport for NSW
Transport is placing the customer at the Centre. Our aspiration of creating seamless, connected journeys is dependent on understanding the travel patterns and demands of our customers. Transport for NSW and PwC have jointly developed a near-real-time insights and simulation platform, providing a customer-centric view of Transport’s multimodal public transport network.
Using Data Science for Active Transport Benefits Tracking and Investment Decisioning
Transport for NSW
The Active Transport Data and Analytics Program at Transport for NSW uses a variety of transport data sources and innovations to ensure taxpayer value for money of the Active Transport Program and support future investment in infrastructure. By supporting investment in Active Transport, the program delivers community benefits through improved health, reduced CO2 emissions, cost savings, congestion reduction and improved transport accessibility for all citizens of NSW.
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Heads-Up Solution - Acusensus
Acusensus Australia
The ‘Heads-Up’ solution has been designed to give authorities an effective tool to address distraction and other illegal driver behaviour. The system captures high-resolution, prosecutable evidence of individuals undertaking illegal driver behaviour, 24/7 in all weather conditions, operating autonomously to capture photographic evidence of illegal driver behaviour. The system hardware is compact, light and unobtrusive, permitting economical deployment on a wide range of pre-existing infrastructure.
Autonomous Vehicle Technologies for Transport Across Roads, Defence, Mines, Countries and Farms
Centre for Robotics, Queensland University of Technology
The QUT Centre for Robotics is leading a range of local, federal and international projects developing new technologies for autonomous vehicles with multiple Fortune 500 companies, government and startups. This technology has a wide range of application areas spanning on-road autonomous vehicles to mine sites to farms to all-terrain transport.
Community Transport of the Future Research Project
Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney
This new research from the UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance presents a first-ever comprehensive assessment of community transport in Australia. The findings address the growing challenge of transport disadvantage and the ageing population, community transport's critical role and social value, the systemic challenges facing the sector, and the opportunities for technology, service and systemic innovation.
The Kapsch Intelligent Corridor in AIMES
Kapsch TrafficCom Australia
The Kapsch Intelligent Corridor covers a 2.5 km stretch of Nicholson Street between Alexandra and Victoria Parade in the AIMES environment. The aim is to reduce congestion by changing driver behaviour and increase the safety of vulnerable road users by utilising the rich ecosystem of sensors and real-time data to improve traffic management by creating a true multimodal ecosystem; easing congestion, improving road safety and reducing emissions.
Portable Traffic AI System
Sensor Dynamics
The Sensor Dynamics Portable Traffic Detection System consists of cameras and sensors mounted on a portable and self-contained platform. The system utilises renewable energy sources and cellular communications making it suitable for even the most remote locations. The system is designed for rapid deployment and retrieval. Up to 12 units can be deployed in a single payload allowing for cost-effective blanket coverage of an area in a day.
SmartGarbos - AI-Powered 5G Garbage Trucks for Roadside Asset Management
Swinburne University of Technology
SmartGarbos is a first-of-its-kind, AI-powered, 5G Garbage Truck for real-time assessment and reporting of maintenance issues with roadside assets in local government areas (LGAs). This solution is now deployed and operational on 11 waste collection garbage trucks in Brimbank City Council.
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL AWARD
Amirtha Chidambara Raj
Engineer, Arcadis
Benjamin Kaufman
New Mobilities Specialist, Liftango
Edwin Lai
Graduate Transport Engineer, Jacobs
Lewis Hyman
Software Developer, Mastercom Australia (Orion Network)
Liam Kennerson
Systems Test Engineer, Cubic Transportation Systems
Nick Collins
Acting Manager Transport Strategy, The Victorian Department of Transport
Ryan Spence
Systems Engineer, Cubic Transportation Systems
Sanchia Morris
Senior Customer Program Manager, Directed Technologies
In addition to these, the winner of the Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award will also be announced at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, on 16 February 2023.
