ITS associations highlight road safety, video analysis, new regulations

ITS Australia

ITS Australia welcomes uniformity

858 ITS Australia has welcomed the country's National Transport Commission's roadmap of regulatory reform for automated vehicles (AVs), designed to replace an existing patchwork of conflicting requirements in different states and territories. Association CEO Susan Harris said: “Disjointed laws will lead to confusion, more risks on the road and barriers to movement.

“Nationally uniform laws with performance-based safety standards will encourage global players to consider investing in Australia for AV development and trialling. International jurisdictions are watching this space carefully, as they have similar challenges.”

At the October 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne, Harris presented the second annual Diversity in the ITS Workforce Award to electronic toll road operator, Transurban. The company runs networks in both Australia and the US.

“ITS has an extremely diverse user base, so embracing this equality is hugely important”, she said. The association has developed the award scheme in collaboration with ITS (UK).

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Ertico to lead video analysis initiative

374 Ertico-ITS Europe has been appointed as the work-package leader for dissemination, exploitation and standardisation for the EU’s Cloud LSVA (large-scale video analysis) project which runs to the end of 2018. This is developing software for more effective exploitation of big data in the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and digital navigation sectors of the European automotive industry.

It is addressing the current lack of software tools, and hardware platforms for handling video datasets containing massive quantities of digital information – an issue of key importance to the automotive industry. Advanced image sensors for vehicles are currently the primary area of innovation for camera manufacturers, offering the most functionality for the price in a cost-sensitive sector. By 2020 the typical mid-range car is expected to be carrying 10 cameras, generating huge quantities of data every day. Sensor capability is supporting rising customer demand for ADAS, seen as a key step on the road towards autonomous vehicles. The association will be helping to ensure that Europe’s automotive industry remains a world leader in the sector.

ITS France

ITS France plans cross-border initiative

French opportunities in the Italian ITS market formed the theme of 8082 ITS France’s first international breakfast meeting, held in November in Paris. Italy – “near at hand and easy to reach” – was France’s fourth most important export market overall in 2015 and the meeting had a particular focus on opportunities for smart parking technology. The event resulted from a new association policy strand focusing on optimising international openings for French ITS expertise. The choice of Italy followed a research study into the country’s most promising ITS export markets.

4155 TTS Italia

ITS Italy highlights road safety technology

TTS Italia vice president Diego Galletta highlighted the role of new technology solutions in boosting road safety at an international road safety meeting in Rome. The event was organised jointly by the World Road Association (PIARC) with Italian highway network agency ANAS. The latter has developed a new road management tool (ANAS RMT), designed to integrate all digital data emerging from the country’s on-road ITS installations. It is initially rolling this out at regional level.

ITS Canada

Canada’s new chair sets goals

Chris Philip, 74 ITS Canada’s new board chair, has a threepronged agenda starting with making the association the 'go-to' source for advice on ITS roles in enhancing the country's transport offer. Secondly, he is launching a membership drive within the industry. Thirdly, he is working to maximise the profile of the city of Montréal as host of the 29 October to 02 November 2017 ITS World Congress.

The world's fourth largest French-speaking metropolis is one of a select group of urban stars chosen to appear in the event's Smart Cities Pavilion. It initiated its own Smart and Digital City Action Plan in 2015.

Philip is director of transportation with multidisciplinary engineering consultant CIMA+, which has a presence in Africa as well as in North America.