New funding of $1.7 million recently announced by the federal and New South Wales governments for trials of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technologies has been welcomed by national peak body Intelligent Transport Systems Australia.
The Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program funds pioneering projects involving heavy vehicle to infrastructure communication technologies to make roads safer.
On the busy South Sydney to Port Kembla truck corridor, the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems Initiative (CITI) provides for the fitting of dedicated short range communication transceivers to heavy vehicles that regularly travel this route.
Intelligent Transport Systems Australia CEO Susan Harris said this is one of the few C-ITS trials around the world focused on heavy vehicles.
“This facility will be set up with major players in the logistics industry to establish this corridor as a test bed for trialling a range of C-ITS technologies in real world conditions,” said Susan Harris.
“This corridor features steep gradients and carries a large portion of the trucks travelling to and from the port. These heavy vehicles are mixed in with light vehicle traffic, which creates testing driving conditions ideal for such development work,” Susan Harris said.
The CITI project has the potential to speed development and testing of C-ITS technologies such as:
Provision of real time traffic signal phase and timing (SPAT) information to the driver in the vehicle cabin. Provide advanced driver alerts about conditions at intersections, particularly at high risk junctions. Test approaches to communication spectrum allocation. Explore issues associated with C-ITS applications in remote areas away from fixed line power supply. Systems that streamline commercial activities, such as access to and from the port.
In addition, the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program will fund a Connected Rest Area Project using C-ITS to enable heavy vehicle drivers to locate rest areas and to explore the integration of this technology within existing systems, including drivers’ electronic work diaries.
“The safety and productivity of Australia’s road freight industry is critical to the nation’s international competitiveness and standard of living. C-ITS is the next major step forward to improving the safety, environmental and economic performance of our transport systems,” said Ms Harris.
“Enabling heavy vehicles to communicate with their surroundings introduces a new level of safety by alerting drivers to danger, or giving them confidence to continue on their journey.
“These heavy vehicle safety and productivity programs will help build the Australian body of knowledge about C-ITS. They will also help grow user acceptance as more people learn about and benefit from these systems. We expect to see these technologies being built into vehicles in the next three to five years.
“At a time when Australia must maximise the competitiveness of its industries, ITS Australia encourages governments to work with the business and research communities to develop technologies that can significantly increase the productivity of the transport network, while reducing risk to safety and the environment,” Ms Harris said.
