Lexus Australia, NTT data and Aimsun are among the winners of the 12th annual ITS Australia Awards, which recognises projects that advanced transport technology throughout 2021.
Lexus won this year's Connected & Automated Vehicle Award for its cooperative ITS (C-ITS) research within the Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot. The research examines the capability and benefits of quick data exchange between vehicles and traffic light equipment and receiving important road network updates.
NTT Data earned the Intelligent Mobility Award for its Occupancy and Crowd Monitoring Solution, Smart Transit Victoria.
The solution gives the Victoria Department of Transport, and its customers, access to a dashboard with real-time data and future predictors of the occupancy levels of every train and platform in the Victoria Metro system. This allows travellers to make more informed decisions to prevent overcrowding, adhere to social distancing guidelines and boost their confidence in utilising the Victorian public transport network.
Aimsun received the Smart Transport Infrastructure Award for its M4 Smart Motorway Project – Simulation-Based Support for Smart Motorway Infrastructure. This real-time transport management support system fuses live traffic data, analytics and transport modelling. The system guides control room operators to apply the best response plan to minimise congestion using the ITS tools already at their disposal.
Robert Bosch (Australia) took the Excellence in Research & Development Award sponsored by iMOVE Australia for its Connected and Automated Vehicle Highway Pilot Trial on Victorian Rural Roads. Bosch partnered with the Victorian Department of Transport and the Transport Accident Commission to develop and trial automated vehicle technology on Victorian rural roads. The trial identified key areas for system developers, road safety practitioners and road managers, assisting them in enabling autonomous driving on Victorian regional roads sooner to reduce road trauma.
The Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications obtained the Excellence in Transport Data Award for the National Freight Data Hub.
This prototype website features interactive insights and uses geospatial visualisation tools for industry and governments to gain a national picture of freight movements. The website contains time-enabled maps and graphs, and serves as a publicly-searchable freight data directory for Australia.
George Funnell, systems engineer at Sage, won the Young Professional Award sponsored by Transurban. Funnell works on Sage’s smart school zone crossing project for approximately 600 sites in Tasmania. The project delivers dynamic school zone signage which provides a message to approaching drivers to reduce their speed if they are approaching too quickly when pedestrians are present.
Peter Bentley is the recipient of the Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award. He has contributed to the success of a range of companies in the transportation, infrastructure and defence sectors throughout his more than 45-year career. Bentley is a specialist in the management of large operational businesses and has been a long-time leader in Australian road tolling.
